聞分館君 Ask BunKanKun

太平寰宇記

7 min read

Text ID
KR2k0004
Date
979–987
Dynasty
宋

Tàipíng huányǔ jì 太平寰宇記

Gazetteer of the World during the Tàipíng era by 樂史 (撰)

About the work

The first comprehensive empire-wide gazetteer of the Sòng, originally in 200 juan, by the Sòng Tàicháng bóshì and Zhí shǐguǎn Yuè Shǐ 樂史 (930–1007), composed in the wake of Tàizōng’s reunifications of the MǐnYuè region (978) and BěiHàn (979) and presented to the throne (preface dated). The text begins at the eastern capital and runs out to the four borderlands; it includes the Sixteen Prefectures of YōnYún 燕雲十六州 ceded by Shí Jìngtáng 石敬瑭 to the Liáo, even though they were not in fact under Sòng control. The work greatly expands the scope of the empire-wide gazetteer by adding biographies of local notables (rénwù 人物), local literary works (yìwén 藝文), and míngshèng gǔjì 名勝古蹟 — features that became standard in later imperial and local gazetteers. Wilkinson treats it as the watershed text in the formation of the gazetteer genre (CHNM §16.3.3, §61.3.3). The Wényuāngé Sìkù copy preserves only 193 of the original 200 juan; juan 113–119 are lost.

Tiyao

We respectfully note: the Tàipíng huányǔ jì in 193 juan is by Yuè Shǐ of the Sòng. Shǐ, zì Zhèngzǐ 正子, served as Tàicháng bóshì (erudite of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices) and Zhí shǐguǎn (erudite of the Office of Historiography). His doings are given in the Sòngshǐ Wényuàn zhuàn. In Sòng Tàizōng’s reign, when MǐnYuè was first pacified and BěiHàn annexed, Shǐ accordingly combined what fell under his territorial map, investigated their origins and ends, and assembled them under categories to make this book. It begins with the Eastern Capital and runs out to the four borderlands. At that time, however, the sixteen prefectures of Yōu, Guī, Yíng, Tán, etc. — which had been carved off by Jìn (under Shí Jìngtáng) and given as bribes to the Liáo — had in fact not yet entered the imperial pale; Shǐ followed the existing entries of Jiǎ Dān’s 賈耽 Shídào zhì and Lǐ Jífǔ’s Yuánhé jùnxiàn zhì, simply listing their names. This is because Tàizōng established the Fēngzhuāng kù 封樁庫 in the hope of retaking the YōnYún region and never relaxed that ambition all his life; Shǐ, anticipating the imperial intent, recorded them in the volume — it was not idle copying without warrant.

Shǐ’s preface mocks Jiǎ Dān and Lǐ Jífǔ for being incomplete; accordingly the work’s reach is sweeping, prizing breadth: figures from every dynasty are entered one by one, and even epigrams and inscriptions on antiquities — for instance Zhāng Hù’s 張祜 poem on Jīnshān 金山 — are likewise all entered. The later convention of including rénwù and yìwén sections in every gazetteer all goes back to Shǐ; for it is in this book that geographical writing first becomes properly comprehensive in record-keeping, and the genre’s template likewise undergoes a great change. But although Shǐ’s book is voluminous, his evidential research is exact and rigorous, and one cannot, on account of the cluttered detritus of imitators, retrospectively blame the source of the stream.

The original was 200 juan; the various holdings were all alike heavily damaged. Only the presentation copy from the Wāng family of Zhèjiāng has lost merely the seven juan from 113 to 119. We accordingly take this for our official entry. The Wénxiàn tōngkǎo renders the title as Tàipíng huányǔ zhì 太平寰宇志, but the present copy is actually titled Tàipíng huányǔ jì; the various works that quote it use both forms. Examining Shǐ’s own preface, it gives jì 記; the Tōngkǎo is a copyist’s slip and is unreliable.

Reverently collated and submitted, twelfth month, Qiánlóng 46 (early 1782). Editors-in-chief: Jì Yún 紀昀, Lù Xīxióng 陸錫熊, Sūn Shìyì 孫士毅. General collation officer: Lù Fèichí 陸費墀.

Abstract

The Tàipíng huányǔ jì is the second extant comprehensive imperial gazetteer (after Lǐ Jífǔ’s Yuánhé jùnxiàn zhì KR2k0003) and the largest single geographical work surviving from before the Yuán. Its compiler, Yuè Shǐ (930–1007, native of Yízhōu 宜州 / Línchuān 臨川), was a transitional Wǔdài–Sòng figure who held office under Southern Táng before passing the Sòng jìnshì and entering the Hànlín and Tàicháng establishments. The work was completed during Yuè Shǐ’s tenure as Zhí shǐguǎn; the imperial preface and Yuè Shǐ’s jìnbiǎo date it after the conquest of BěiHàn (979) and probably to the early 980s — Wilkinson and most modern scholars give the late 10th century. The original organisation was hierarchical: empire → “ten dào” of the Táng → prefecture → county; under each unit, the entries cover yán’gé 沿革 (administrative history), xīngdòng 星宿 (astronomical correspondences), fēngyù 封域 (boundaries), fēngsú 風俗 (customs), xìngshì 姓氏 (surnames), rénwù 人物 (personalities), tǔchǎn 土產 (local products), shānchuān 山川 (mountains and rivers), gǔjī 古蹟 (antiquities), and yìwén 藝文 (poems and inscriptions). The inclusion of biographies and literary extracts under each prefecture — already foreshadowed in the Yuánhé jùnxiàn zhì but here vastly expanded — is the principal innovation, and is the model adopted by every subsequent imperial and local gazetteer.

The work is also a major repository of fragments from earlier (now lost) Táng geographical works, especially Jiǎ Dān’s 賈耽 Shídào túzhì 十道圖志, the Yuánhé jùnxiàn zhì (whose now-lost juan can in part be recovered from the Huányǔ jì), and various Táng fēngtǔ jì 風土記. Wilkinson stresses that the work is “an important source for Táng geography” precisely because so much of its substance is recopied from Táng materials (CHNM §16.3.3, §49.7.2 [Songshi geographical materials], §61.3.3, §62.3.3.1).

The 200-juan original is partially preserved. The Wényuāngé Sìkù copy (193 juan, lacking 113–119) was based on the LiǎngJiāng zǒngdū cǎijìn / Wāng family presentation copy, which the Sìkù tiyao judges to be the most complete. Other Sòng and Yuán recensions survive in fragments; an incomplete Sòng-period imprint preserved in the Imperial Household (Kunaichō) of Japan was reissued in facsimile by Zhōnghuá shūjú in 2000 (8 cè). The standard modern critical edition is the Wáng Wènchǔ 王文楚 et al. edition (Zhōnghuá shūjú, 2007, 9 vols.), which incorporates the Kunaichō Sòng fragments and provides a unified juan numbering. Wáng Huī’s 王恢 Tàipíng huányǔ jì suǒyǐn 太平寰宇記索引 (Wénhǎi, 1975) provides a place-name index. The work is one of the principal sources for the Digital Gazetteer of Song Dynasty China (UCMerced).

The internal title discrepancy noted in the Sìkù tiyao (jì 記 vs zhì 志) is a Wénxiàn tōngkǎo 文獻通考 transcription error; the correct title is Tàipíng huányǔ jì, fixed by Yuè Shǐ’s own preface.

Translations and research

  • Wáng Wènchǔ 王文楚 et al., eds. Tàipíng huányǔ jì 太平寰宇記. 9 vols. Zhōnghuá shūjú, 2007. The standard modern critical edition; incorporates the Kunaichō Sòng-edition fragments.
  • Sòngběn Tàipíng huányǔ jì 宋本太平寰宇記. 8 cè. Zhōnghuá shūjú, 2000. Photolithographic reprint of the incomplete Sòng print held in the Kunaichō.
  • Wáng Huī 王恢, comp. Tàipíng huányǔ jì suǒyǐn 太平寰宇記索引. Taipei: Wénhǎi, 1975. Place-name index.
  • Hartwell, Robert M., et al. Digital Gazetteer of Song Dynasty China (DGSD), University of California Merced — uses the Tàipíng huányǔ jì and the Yuánfēng jiǔyù zhì KR2k0005 as principal sources.
  • Wilkinson, Endymion. Chinese History: A New Manual, 6th ed., §§16.3.3, 49.7.2, 61.3.3, 62.3.3.1.
  • Aoyama Sadao 青山定雄, Tōdai shūken seido no kenkyū 唐代州縣制度の研究. Tōkyō: Kazama, 1963 — uses the Huányǔ jì extensively for the Táng administrative substrate.

Other points of interest

The work’s incorporation of literary and biographical material was the formal innovation that turned the gazetteer from an administrative-geographical handbook into a cultural-geographical compendium; Wilkinson notes that the practice of including rénwù and yìwén in every later gazetteer derives from the Tàipíng huányǔ jì. The work’s coverage of the YōnYún sixteen prefectures — even though they were never under Sòng control — was a deliberate political statement consistent with Tàizōng’s Fēngzhuāng kù policy of accumulating funds toward an eventual reconquest, as the Sìkù tiyao explicitly argues.

Graph View

Backlinks