The Transmission of Texts through Characters: The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Poems of the Orchid Pavilion

Abstract: The original Poems of the Orchid Pavilion (《兰亭集诗》) is no longer extant.What is passed down today is a selection compiled by a Tang Dynasty anthologist based on the original,in the form of excerpts.This selection was later adapted by another anthologist into a new one.The copy by Liu Gongquan and the collection by Huai Ren are both based on the latter.By examining the historical information and related records carried by the Liu copy and the Huai Ren collection,it can be determined that the original Poems of the Orchid Pavilion did not contain the 37 poems seen today,and the poetic forms were not regulated verse or quatrains.The editing style was based on age,with four-character poems first and five-character poems second.Wang Xianzhi's three characters indicated the position of the compiler,but it is not certain whether he was the compiler.The Lanting gathering was a family and friends'outing,and the participants were not a strict lineup of literary figures.Moreover,their works belonged to the genre of Xuanyan (“玄言”) poetry,which was not highly regarded in the Six Dynasties.The extant Poems of the Orchid Pavilion is a microcosm of the creation of Xuanyan poetry,through which one can fully appreciate its profound historical connection with Xuanyan poetry of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.