Preface 序 by Wu Mingji 吳明濟 in Chaoxian shixuan 朝鮮詩選

In the dingyou year of the Wanli period, Sima Gong was sent east to bring aid to, so I followed as an assistant. In the spring of wuxu year, the troops crossed the Yalu River and stationed at Yizhou. The first month of summer, we followed Sima Gong in pursuit to Chengnan. At a ditch the horses failed. There was steady rain, so we took shelter in a village home, where we encountered Li Wenxue. He knew how to compose poetry and understood Chinese. The following day, he visited me at the Longwan Inn and we exchanged poems with each other. Wenxue gradually introduced me to more of his friends, and that is how I came to meet famous Korean official named Cui Zhiyuan. When I asked him for a compilation of his poems, he declined saying, "Our small country is mired in chaos. Lords and servants have been barely getting by for seven some years. If we can't even protect our heads, how can we even think of preserving poetry? " But there were some who had memorized poems and they wrote them down and brought them to me, which totaled two hundred poems. I went to the capital and stayed with the Hŏ family. There were three brothers called Sŏng, Pong, and Kyun. They were famous throughout Korea for their writings. Kyun was the most clever, he could recite several hundred Korean poems. I obtained two hundred poems of his younger sister. Aside from these, I also received many damaged volumes from Yingenshou of title Panshou. These filled up the box. Then in the jihai year, I went to Changan and returned to Chosŏn, where I stayed with Li Dexiang. He was also a good poet. I also asked him for collections of famous authors. From Silla to Chosŏn, there were more than three hundred authors. I flipped through them for about two months and picked out the best poems. I compiled these into a book.

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Postscript 後序 by Hŏ Kyun 許筠 in Chaoxian shixuan 朝鮮詩選

In Chosŏn they followed the righteous teachings of Zhou Taishi. Hence the virtue of our customs is on par with that of the middle kingdom. In the past, Zhou Guan collected poems, and so did Confucius. But they didn't reach Han (present-day Korea). Was it because it was too far that they didn't reach it? Now, what was lost one thousand years ago has been encountered a thousand years later; such is the sound of my small country. It began with Zhou and now Ziyu (Wu Mingji)'s efforts have carried it to completion.

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Introduction 引 by Zhu Zhifan 朱之蕃 in Nansŏrhŏn Jip 雪蘭軒集

For a woman of the inner chambers (kyubang) to compose poetry suggests a fusion of heaven and earth, mountains and streams; this is a fusion that cannot be forced nor forcibly stopped. Cao Dajia (Ban Zhao) of Han carried on her family’s honor and distinction when she completed the Han Shu (Book of Han); similarly, Xu Xianfei of Tang impressed Emperor Taizong by advising him to conquer Koguryŏ. These acts are difficult for even virtuous men to accomplish—that a single woman’s efforts achieved so is indeed rare in all of eternity.
One cannot comprehend each and every intention as recorded in the compilations by women’s brush strokes, and by principle, wise nature and ethereal talent cannot disappear. Though mocking the wind and serenading the moon, how could these words extinguish? 
Looking now at the Collection of Hŏ Nansŏrhŏn’s Works, it flutters above the dust of the mundane, is graceful without being artificial, full of strength without losing its form. The “Song of Idle Immortals” meets with the standards of Tang poetry. To speak of its nature, it is like the time when Shuangcheng and Feiqiong, who were condemned by Heaven and exiled to an island in the sea near Mount Penghu and Jade Island, received a summons from the gods through a phoenix after the jade tower was built. Every written line falls to this mortal land like precious jade stones, being eternally worthy of deep appreciation. Furthermore, [her poems] do not lament or agonize like Shu Zhen or Li Qingzhao of Song, and [her] expressions of intimate and distressed thoughts differ from simple love stories that entertain the brows of women.  There is much talent in the Hŏ family, whose siblings are all respected in the Eastern Kingdom (i.e., Korea) for their literary achievements. The loyalty among the siblings allowed for the preservation of these few priceless manuscripts for editing and transmission. I have looked over them and written a word or two for a preface. Upon reading this collection, one will realize that my words are not false. 
On the 20th day of the fourth lunar month in the bingyu year (1606) of the wanli period, Zhu Zhifan wrote this preface at Biti (Pyŏkche) Embassy.  

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Foreword 題辭 by Liang Youyu 梁有 (上禾＋下亏) in Nansŏrhŏn Jip 雪蘭軒集

When I went to Chosŏn as an emissary, Hŏ Kyun presented a manuscript in his family and asked me for a word or two.  Among the collection of manuscript was one titled Nansŏrjip, which was said to have belonged to his late older sister.  With the time to go back approaching fast, I could not compose an introduction for him and had to return home.  Hŏ Kyun sent a copy of the manuscript.  At opening of the manuscript, I learned the poems by heart.  Looking back upon them now, indeed, how brilliant the poetic voice of the deceased, flutters upon flutters they rise above the worldly trivialities of life.  Truly this is not a common occurrence in the world.  From this I figured that the ethereal quality mountains and streams of the Eastern Kingdom cultivated a woman of such talent.  Under favorable auspices, in the Hŏ clan alone countless number men of excellence came forth in succession.  During the early Yonghui period of Tang, Queen Zhende (Chindŏk) of Silla wrote the Taiping poem on silk, which was recorded in “Tang Yin” and continues to be mentioned even today.  Thus she is called daughter of the former King Zhenping.  Therefore, women in the East reciting poetry is a time-honored tradition.  Even so, Nansŏrjip is remarkable on the aesthetic front and stands out in its prominence.  Whether it will thrive in history eternally as a part of the refined poetic tradition of Ming Dynasty rests in the hands of historians. 

Liang Youyu of the South is of scholar-official origin, a man of literary circle. While stationed at the Criminal Law Unit, as a former top-ranking scholar-official of the Imperial Academy, was appointed as a vice-envoy to Chosŏn and received a robe for a first rank official.  Written on the sixteenth day of twelfth month in the bingyu year of wanli period.

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Postscript 跋 by Hŏ Kyun 許筠 in Nansŏrhŏn Jip 雪蘭軒集

The family name of the lady is Hŏ, styled herself as Nansŏrhŏn. The third older sister of Kyun, she married into the eighth-rank scholar-official Kim Sŏngnip family. She departed this life in her early years. With no children, she devoted her entire life to writing and authored many pieces. Per her testament, all were burnt to ashes, leaving very few extant pieces for transmission. All came from records of what Kyun transcribed. Anxious about losing the poems over time, I carve them onto wood in order to broaden their reach.

In the first third of fourth month of the 36th year of the Wanli era, younger brother Hŏ Kyun (style Tanbo) writes this postscript at the Hall of Open Clouds.

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Brief Biography 略傳 by Zhong Xing 鍾惺 in Mingyuan shigui 名媛詩歸

Xu Jingfan (Hŏ Kyŏngbŏn), style Lanxue (Nansŏl), was a Korean.  At age eight, she wrote a prose piece called “The Topmost Rafter in the Jade Tower of the Guanghan Palace of the Moon.”  She was married to a jinshi named Jin Chengli (Kim Sŏngnip).  After Jin died a martyr for his country during the Hideyoshi invasion, Xu became a Daoist nun.  Her brother Xu Jun (Hŏ Kyun) was a zhuangyuan (top-ranked among the jinshi degree holders in a given year) and brother Xu Feng (Hŏ Pong) a man of righteousness.  Fan (Bŏn)’s talent in the art of letters was parallel to that of her brothers.  When the Zhu of Jinling went to Chosŏn as an ambassador, he brought back her writings.  They were engraved so they could travel throughout the world. 

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Brief Biography 略傳 by Zhao Shijie 趙世杰 in Gujin nushi ji 古今女史集

Xu Jingfan. Her younger brother is Hŏ Kyun, a scholar-official of the top rank, and older brother is Hŏ Pong, a righteous man. She was widowed at an early age. Her talent at the art of writing equaled that of her younger brother (Kyun).

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Introduction by Qian Qianyi 錢謙益 and Liu Shi 柳是 in Liechao shiji 列朝詩集

This introduction was translated by Yu-Shih Chen and published in “Female Critics and Poets” in Kang-i Sun Chang and Haun Saussy ed., Women Writers of Traditional China, 698-700.

A Young Woman of the Xu Family [Hŏ Kyŏngbŏn]

Xu Jingfan [Hŏ Kyŏngbŏn], style Lanxue [Nansŏrhŏn], was a Korean. Her brothers Feng and Jun were both zhuangyuan [“Optimi,” top-ranked among the jinshi degree holders in a given year]. When she was eight years old, she wrote a prose piece called “The Topmost Rafter in the Jade Tower of the Guanghan Palace of the Moon.” She was known as being more talented than her two brothers in the art of letters. She was married to a jinshi named Jin Chengli, but her husband could not tolerate her ways. After Jin died a martyr for his country [during the Hideyoshi invasion], Xu became a Daoist nun. When the zhuangyuan Zhu of Jinling was sent as an ambassador to Korea, he brought back a collection of Xu’s writings. Thus her works became widely known in China.

Liu Rushi said: The poems of the young woman Xu are highly ornate and extremely popular. However, I noticed that the following lines in her “Song of the Roaming Immortal” – “I merely sought the company of the Mao brothers, / and ten thousand years have gone by in the human world” – come from two poems by Cao Tang. “They know how to say farewell but not how to say welcome,” from her song-lyric “Willow Branches,” is taken from Pei Yue. “The carpets and the screens are newly installed” in her palace poem is taken verbatim from Wan Jian’s line. “You once laughed at someone else’s entry, and never expected that you yourself would be here today” is a direct copy of Wang Ya’s words. “Bundled inside the red silk is the tea from Jianxi, / The maid sealed the bundles and tied colored flowers over them. / After an imperial seal in vermilion ink was pressed onto them, / They were carried by officials of the inner court and bestowed to the leading aristocratic families” combines Wang Zhongchu’s stanza beginning “in a case of yellow gold, there lies the red-snow tea” and Wang Qigong’s line “Tea for the emperor was presented in a new container from the palace provision bureau.” Her “Standing by the screen, now and again [the parrot] tossed her jewel-pinned head, / chatting casually with the emperor about Longxi,” on the other hand, steals Wang Zhongchu’s line about the parrot “Repeatedly reminiscing with the emperor about the old days in Longshan.” The lines in her poem “Written After Secretary Sun’s Beili Poem,” “Newly made up she looked into the mirror time and again; / Brooding over last night’s dream, she hesitated to go downstairs,” is from the brilliant untitled poem by Zhang Guangbi of the Yuan dynasty.

Wu Ziyu said in his Selection of Korean Poems that there exist three hundred “Songs of Roaming Immortals.” I have acquired eighty-one in his manuscript copies. Most of those in circulation today borrow lines from Tang poets. The “Roaming Immortals” verses written by Ma Haolan of the present dynasty, which can be found in the Xihu zhiyu, are also included. The same is true of poems that carry such familiar titles as “At the Frontier,” “Willow Branches,” “Bamboo Branches.” Could it be that the books of Chinese poetry that reached Korea were taken there as exotic curiosities, little known to the world, and so Korean writers thought they could claim those poems for their own? Literati of our country, easily impressed by whatever is new and strange, noticed only that these poems were written by a foreign woman and in their surprised delight did not bother to inquire into their sources.

Lady Fang of Tongcheng has compiled a history of poetry. In evaluating Xu Yuan’s poetry, she dismissed all of the women-of-letters in the Wu area with a single phrase:  haoming wuxue [avid for fame but lacking learning]. But about this woman Xu’s poems, she went on at great length. I cannot understand how she could do it.

My husband asked me to collate and edit “poems from the scented trousseaux.” Whenever something caught my attention, I added a collation note. I chose twenty or thirty percent of Xu’s poems from the Selection of Korean Poems. Where she has borrowed words or lines, I have picked out some typical examples—not all of them, certainly. I leave it to readers to do it more thoroughly.

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Brief Biography 略傳 in Mingyuan shiwei chubian 名媛詩緯初編

(same as biography in Mingyuan shigui 名媛詩歸)

Xu Jingfan (Hŏ Kyŏngbŏn), style Lanxue (Nansŏl), was a Korean.  At age eight, she wrote a prose piece called “The Topmost Rafter in the Jade Tower of the Guanghan Palace of the Moon.”  She was married to a jinshi named Jin Chengli (Kim Sŏngnip).  After Jin died a martyr for his country during the Hideyoshi invasion, Xu became a Daoist nun.  Her brother Xu Jun (Hŏ Kyun) was a zhuangyuan (top-ranked among the jinshi degree holders in a given year) and brother Xu Feng (Hŏ Pong) a man of righteousness.  Fan (Bŏn)’s talent in the art of letters was parallel to that of her brothers.  When the Zhu of Jinling went to Chosŏn as an ambassador, he brought back her writings.  They were engraved so they could travel throughout the world. 

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Commentaries by Wang Duanshu 王端淑 and Tang Hairuo 湯海若 in
Mingyuan shiwei chubian 名媛詩緯初編

Duanshu says: This caliber of language comes from the great white pure light. People of this generation complain that it has the air of a ladle that stifles. But because it comes from the mouth of a woman, it already contains deep feeling.
She also says: The many rotations of “Ancient Parting” on into the distance are like Meng Dongye’s “Parting in Youth.” How could such a stomach full of grief and indignation exist in the heart of a woman? How could she be so heroic as to show it with powdered lead? Her “Song of Summer” is worthy of being sent to Mount Yi and burned at the Temple of Sorrows there.
Tang Hairuo of Linchuan says: Jingfan (Nansŏrhŏn)’s nickname is Cui’e (Emerald Moth). She was the younger sister of the zhuangyuan scholar Xu Yun (Hŏ Kyun). As a child, she excelled in the classics and histories and was versed in the six classics. She picked up a brush and composed texts before seven steps had been taken. At age twenty, she was widowed; her talent and fame is equal to that of her brother. I obtained one volume of an anthology of her work by chance near the capital, and upon reading it, found that it was both vibrant and poignant; I would not have thought that a woman of another land could possess such gentle wisdom.

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Brief Biography 略傳 in Mingshi zong 明詩綜

Jingfan (Kyŏngbŏn), style Lanxue (Nansŏl), was the sister of Feng (Pong) and of Jun (Kyun).  She was married to a jinshi named Jing Chengli (Kim Sŏngnip), but after Jin died a martyr for his country she became a Daoist nun.  There is a collection of her works. 

According to Chen Wozi, Madame Xu (Hŏ) studied Li Bai and then composed poetry.  Her poetry possesses the refinement of High Tang poetry.  That a woman from a vassal state is able to compose refined poetry with such ease indicates the profound influence of our kingdom’s culture and education.

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