Abstract

This article is a study of the editions of song lyrics by the Southern Song dynasty poet, musician, and calligrapher Jiang Kui in the context of the process of “canonization.” It focuses on the editorial or canonization process as it unfolded in the Qing dynasty, led by the two proponents of Jiang Kui, Zhu Yizun, founder of the Zhexi school of ci, and his follower Li E. Drawing on a wide range of primary sources and building on secondary scholarship from the Qing to the present day, the article exposes the intricate trajectory of Jiang Kui’s canonization. Through close examination of a number of unpublished manuscripts of Jiang’s ci, it moreover uncovers the literati circles engaged in their production. The analysis of Zhu Yizun’s valorization of the veiled and indirect Southern Song style over the expressive-heroic Northern Song style further supports the argument for a political and “psychological” motivation of the ci revival after the Qing conquest.