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輿地廣記

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Text ID
KR2k0006
Date
1111–1117
Dynasty
宋

Yúdì guǎngjì 輿地廣記

Extensive Geographical Records by 歐陽忞

About the work

A 38-juan late Northern Sòng comprehensive gazetteer composed in the Zhènghé era (1111–1117) by Ōuyáng Mín 歐陽忞 (fl. 1111–1121, said to be a younger relation of Ōuyáng Xiū 歐陽修), distinctive for prefacing four juan of successive-dynasty historical geography (Yáo–Shùn through Wǔdài) before launching into the Sòng jūnxiàn register from juan 5. Prefectures and counties of earlier dynasties not under Sòng control — the Sixteen YōnYún Prefectures and similar — are appended at the end of each dào under the rubric huàwài zhōu 化外州 (states beyond the suasive influence). The work is one of the more scholarly Northern Sòng comprehensive gazetteers and is praised by the Sìkù editors for its clean structure and balanced coverage of historical and contemporary geography.

Tiyao

We respectfully note: the Yúdì guǎngjì in 38 juan is by Ōuyáng Mín of the Sòng. Cháo Gōngwǔ’s Dúshū zhì says there was no such person — that the author’s name was the writer’s invention. Chén Zhènsūn’s 陳振孫 Shūlù jiětí however holds that the book was composed in the Zhènghé era (1111–1117), and that Mín was a younger relation (cóngsūn 從孫, grand-nephew or younger paternal cousin) of Ōuyáng Xiū, the evidence being that the hángmíng (generational characters) all use the xīn 心 element. This book breaches no contemporary taboos, so why should the author conceal his identity? Chén’s argument seems the more probable. Yet Xiū was a man of Lúlíng 廬陵, while the present copy contains Mín’s own preface in which he calls himself a man of Guǎnglíng 廣陵: are the characters guǎng 廣 and lú 廬 close enough in shape that copying error could account for the discrepancy?

The book’s first four juan first set out the territorial extent of successive dynasties, sketching the principal outlines; from the fifth juan on it lists the prefectures and counties of the Sòng. Its arrangement is especially clean and analytical. For the prefectures and towns of earlier dynasties which the Sòng did not control — such as the YōnYún Sixteen Prefectures — these are also appended at the end of each dào and called huàwài zhōu; this too can serve for evidential research. Although at that time the territory was narrowly contracted, insufficient to encompass the whole yúdì (geographical world), the headings and full extents are detailed and clear, and easier to follow than other works — it is also one of the fine (jiā běn 佳本) recensions in the geographical school.

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 work is essentially a hybrid: juan 1–4 are a historical geography (a sequential survey of the territorial reach of each dynasty from Yáo and Shùn through the Wǔdài), and juan 5–38 are a contemporary gazetteer of the late Northern Sòng lùzhōuxiàn register, organised under the prevailing 23-lù division. Each lù concludes with an appendix of huàwài zhōu — administrative units that had once existed within the Han-Chinese cultural sphere but were not under Sòng control at the time of writing. This treatment of the Sixteen Prefectures of YōnYún (and analogous units in Héxī, Huáiběi, etc.) is the work’s most distinctive contribution; the Sìkù editors praise it as helpful for kǎozhèng 考證 even where the underlying entries are necessarily thin. Wilkinson notes the modern collated edition of Lǐ Yǒngxiān 李勇先 and Wáng Xiǎohóng 王小紅 (Sìchuān dàxué chūbǎnshè, 2003, 2 vols.) as the standard reference, and reproduces Cháo Gōngwǔ’s tart suspicion that “Mín” was a pseudonym appended to help sell the book (tè jiǎ míng yǐ xíng qí shū 特假名以行其書).

The author Ōuyáng Mín is poorly attested. Cháo Gōngwǔ’s Jùnzhāi dúshū zhì 郡齋讀書志, 2B, denied that any such person existed; Chén Zhènsūn rebutted this by linking him generationally to Ōuyáng Xiū (the hángmíng convention argument). Modern Sòng-history scholarship has not been able to add much: the discrepancy between Xiū’s Lúlíng 廬陵 native place and Mín’s claimed Guǎnglíng 廣陵 in his preface (which the Sìkù editors tentatively put down to a guǎng/lú graphic confusion) remains unresolved. The dating is fixed by Chén Zhènsūn to the Zhènghé era (1111–1117), and confirmed by internal evidence (the work’s lù-divisions are those in force at that time and not later). The Wényuāngé Sìkù copy descends from the Bào Shìgōng 鮑士恭 family of Zhèjiāng presentation copy.

The work’s structural innovation — opening with a self-contained historical-geographical narrative before the synchronic jūnxiàn register — was influential on later imperial gazetteers, especially the DàMíng yītǒng zhì KR2k0008 (which in turn folds historical-geographical synopses into each prefectural entry). Wilkinson cites Mín as one of three principal Sòng comprehensive gazetteers (after the Yuánhé jùnxiàn zhì KR2k0003, the Tàipíng huányǔ jì KR2k0004, and the Yuánfēng jiǔyù zhì KR2k0005 — items 1–3 in the standard sequence at CHNM §16.3.3).

Translations and research

  • Lǐ Yǒngxiān 李勇先 and Wáng Xiǎohóng 王小紅, eds. and annot. Yúdì guǎngjì 輿地廣記. 2 vols. Sìchuān dàxué chūbǎnshè, 2003. Standard modern critical edition; collates the Wényuāngé and Bào Shìgōng recensions.
  • Wilkinson, Endymion. Chinese History: A New Manual, 6th ed., §§16.3.3, 62.3.3.1, with the explicit note (after Cháo Gōngwǔ) on the suspicion of pseudonymous authorship.
  • Hartwell, Robert M., et al. Digital Gazetteer of Song Dynasty China (DGSD). UCMerced — incorporates the Yúdì guǎngjì alongside the Yuánfēng jiǔyù zhì and the Sòngshǐ dìlǐ-zhì.
  • No book-length European-language study located.

Other points of interest

The work’s huàwài zhōu appendices to each lù are one of the few sustained Sòng-period attempts to keep the YōnYún sixteen prefectures (and the Western Xià territories) in the geographical record despite their political detachment; this is a counterpart to the Tàipíng huányǔ jì’s KR2k0004 inclusion of the same units within the main register, and reflects late Northern Sòng anxiety over the Liáo and Western Xià frontiers in the Zhènghé era.

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