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Preface to Volume I
When, several years ago, I decided on a
translation of the Po hu t'ung, I did not realize what
the undertaking was going to involve. At first the task seemed to be
comparatively easy. The Po hu t'ung abounds with
quotations from the Classics, and as these Classics are all accessible in
translations, half of the work seemed already to have been done before I
embarked on my actual task. However, it soon became apparent that the existing
translations, by James Legge, S. Couvreur, Richard Wilhelm, Arthur Waley,
Bernhard Karlgren, in numerous cases could not be used, because they did not
fit into the context of the Po hu t'ung. Moreover, the
body of the text itself appeared not to be merely a string connecting the
Classical quotations, as one might have expected from the nature of the work,
but to constitute a substantial element of the book, frequently forming
independent treatises not related to the subjects treated in the Classics.
Besides containing innumerable errors, it is often so strange and incoherent
that it was necessary to habituate myself to a good deal of 'classificatory
thinking' before its meaning could be apprehended.
Anyone who has had to translate a Chinese text
is acquainted with the hardships accompanying such a task. Not only is a
Chinese text always full of allusions which have to be identified, but the
rendering of technical terms often confronts the translator with well-nigh
insuperable difficulties. Nevertheless the task of translation is the best
discipline to which a student of Chinese may submit himself; apart from the
efforts he has to make in order to see through the elusive grammatical
structure, the fact that so many Chinese expressions may be regarded as
representing the whole ancient Chinese culture in nuce
compels him to take extensive excursions into fields of a most diversified
character. A profusion of notes is therefore indispensable, which, though
forming an irritating feature to the general reader, is only the necessary
account of the pergrinations of one who has been attempting to unlock a
treasure-room, and has been obliged to ransack the neighbourhood in order to
find the suitable keys. This is my excuse for the great number of notes I had
to supply in my translation of chapters I, II, XVIII, and XL of the
Po hu t'ung; numerous though they are, however, I am
afraid there are still many points which have been left unexplained. The rest
of the translation, which I hope to publish sometime in a second volume, will
only contain the most necessary explications. To pursue the abundance of notes
throughout the whole work would, it seems to me, not have justified by its
results the labour and expense involved.
The translation of the Po hu
t'ung could not have been done without the help of commentators,
especially Ch'ên Li. I feel bound to express my great indebtedness to these
scholars, whose wide knowledge and learning continually fill the student with
astonishment and respect. To be conducted by them through the vast maze of
Chinese literature is an experience as exhilarating as it is, at times,
fatiguing. Even the ten pages of Professor William Hung's Prolegomena to his
Index to the Po hu t'ung acquainted me with a great
number of works which I had never heard of, and of problems which I had never
suspected. Though I may disagree with him on some points concerning the
Po hu t'ung, I cannot but express my admiration for the
way in which, in his numerous scholarly writings, Professor Hung always manages
to stimulate the reader to sound reflection.
It was not my original intention to write the
Introduction otherwise than an introduction should be, i.e. a preliminary
presentation of the subject, in casu the translated
text. Involuntarily, however, I was driven into directions which, without
necessity and of my own accord, I should have hesitated to take. I feel
compunction for the perfunctory way, due to my unpreparedness, in which I have
now touched on so many important problems. After finishing my cursory survey of
the history of Classical studies in the Han period, which has no pretention
either to comprehensiveness or finality, I am left with the full consciousness
of my imperfect knowledge of this most interesting but intricate subject.
I am under great obligation to the Trustees of
the 'Sinological Institute' of Leyden University. Only by their liberal grants
the writing and the publication of this book have been made possible, while the
scholarship which they awarded to me enabled me to commence my Chinese studies
at the University of Leyden and to pursue them for many happy years.
My thanks are due to Professor G. Haloun of
Cambridge, who with so much kindness allowed me to copy the articles by Hung
I-hsüan, Sun I-jang, and Liu Shih-p'ei, which were accessible nowhere else.
To Professor Homer H. Dubs of Oxford I am
indebted for the way I was able to profit from his admirable translations of
The History of the Former Han Dynasty. The many times I
have quoted him in my study may prove how often I have relied on his great
knowledge of the Han period.
I have to thank my friends and colleagues of
the Sinological Institute A. F. P. Hulsewé and R. P. Kramers for the interest
they have taken in my work, and the way they helped me in many cases.
To Miss A. G. G. Izaks and Miss A. F. van
Doornum I owe my acknowledgement for their willingness to type out my
manuscript for the printer.
Mr. W. A. C. H. Dobson (Christ Church, Oxford)
and Mr. Peter C. Swann (St. Edmund Hall, Oxford) have put me under a great
obligation by correcting the faulty English in my manuscript, the former for
the four chapters and the notes, the latter for the remaining chapters.
Messrs. E. J. Brill's part in the publication
of this book cannot be too highly praised. Having been a printer myself I can
fully appreciate the zeal and efficiency with which they overcame the
difficulties in printing this work in so short a time.
Professor J. J. L. Duyvendak read through the
whole of my manuscripts and proofs. From his valuable suggestions I have
greatly profited. It causes a feeling of grateful comfort to know that the
beginner's work has passed the scrutiny of an experienced scholar.
Leyden, June 10th, 1949.
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