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明一統志

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Text ID
KR2k0008
Date
1461–1461
Dynasty
明

Míng yītǒng zhì 明一統志

Comprehensive Gazetteer of the Unified Míng by 李賢 (奉敕撰)

About the work

The official Míng-dynasty empire-wide gazetteer in 90 juan, compiled under the chief editorship of the Lìbù shàngshū jiān Hànlínyuàn xuéshì (Minister of Personnel concurrently Hànlín Academy Reader) Lǐ Xián 李賢 (1408–1466) by imperial command of Yīngzōng 英宗 after his second restoration to the throne (1457). Presented and titled by imperial preface in the fourth month of Tiānshùn 5 (1461). Originally titled simply Tiānxià yītǒng zhì 天下一統志 (Comprehensive gazetteer of all under heaven) — Wilkinson notes the dual title (CHNM §65.3.3) — it is the third officially-sponsored empire-wide gazetteer of the Chinese imperial era, after the (lost) DàYuán dà yītǒng zhì of 1294/1303 and (much earlier) the Sòng works treated above (KR2k0003–KR2k0006). It was the obligatory geographical reference of the late Míng and is registered in the Sìkù despite the editors’ very low opinion of its scholarship.

Tiyao

We respectfully note: the Míng yītǒng zhì in 90 juan is by Lǐ Xián, Lìbù shàngshū jiān Hànlínyuàn xuéshì, of the Míng, by imperial command. According to Shěn Wén’s 沈文 Shèngjūn chūzhèng jì 聖君初政記, in Hóngwǔ 3 (1370) Tàizǔ ordered six scholars including Wèi Jùn 魏俊 to compile a DàMíng zhì 大明志 from the topographical notices of all prefectures and counties; this book is no longer transmitted. Later, Chéngzǔ collected gazetteers and tújīng from across the empire and ordered scholars to assemble them into a single book; this also did not reach completion before being abandoned. Then under Yīngzōng’s restoration, Lǐ Xián and others were ordered to re-edit; in the fourth month of Tiānshùn 5 (1461) the book was completed and presented to the throne. Imperial preface placed at the front, and printed and distributed.

Of geographical works produced by imperial command, leaving aside the Táng Yuánhé jùnxiàn zhì and the Sòng Yuánfēng jiǔyù zhì, only the Dà yītǒng zhì edited by Yuè Lín 岳璘 et al. of the Yuán is recognised for full coverage and scope. The Guóshǐ jīngjí zhì records its total at 1,000 juan; this is now scattered and lost. Although extensive parts can be glimpsed in the various yùn-classified entries of the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn, the segments are torn and scattered and abundantly lacking, and cannot be recombined into a continuous work. Only in the presentation copy from the Wāng family of Zhèjiāng there still survives an original printed edition in two juan, which is fairly informative for inferring the format. By it one can know that when this book (the Míng Yītǒng zhì) was edited, its categorial scheme entirely retained the Yuán zhì’s old form, so the title was carried forward as well.

But because the various scholars who did the compilation were not all of one hand, errors and contradictions, and crude lapses, were especially numerous: e.g., the Táng Línqú 臨泃 is treated as a Hàn county; the Liáo had no Zhāngzōng, yet the work places the tomb at Sānhé; Jīn Xuānzōng was buried at Dàliáng, yet the work places the tomb at Fángshān; the Hàn Jǐběi wáng Xìngjū 興居 is treated as an Eastern Hàn mínghuàn (notable official); the Cháoxiǎn 朝鮮 enfeoffment of Jīzǐ 箕子 is treated as falling within Yǒngpíng’s territorial extent — all these are mutually contradictory and irreconcilable, and were sharply mocked by Gù Yánwǔ in the Rìzhī lù 日知錄. As to the work’s quotation of Wáng Ānshí’s Chǔzhōu xué jì with the line “the land most spacious, the mountains long and the valleys vast” (dì zuì kuàngdà, shān cháng gǔ huāng 地最曠大山長谷荒), it cannot even punctuate the line correctly.

The present copy includes a great deal of material on establishments down to the Jiājìng and Lóngqìng eras (mid–late Ming), so later hands have inserted continuations into it; it is not entirely the Tiānshùn original. Our state, in orientating and fixing positions, gives prime weight to topographical maps; the DàQīng yītǒng zhì has lately been re-edited by imperial command, with categorial scheme and headings ever more refined. The lapses of this earlier book are essentially uncorrectable, but as imperial topographical books are a constant in every dynasty, and there cannot be only the Míng without one, we accordingly retain it on record to provide the institutional documentation (zhǎnggù 掌故) of the dynasty.

Reverently collated and submitted, tenth month, Qiánlóng 45 (1780). 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 Míng yītǒng zhì is the result of three successive Míng-court attempts at an empire-wide gazetteer: a Hóngwǔ-3 (1370) DàMíng zhì under Wèi Jùn (lost), a Yǒnglè-era project that was abandoned, and the Tiānshùn-era restart that finally produced the present 90-juan compilation. The Tiānshùn project began on Yīngzōng’s order shortly after his restoration in 1457 and was completed in the fourth month of Tiānshùn 5 (1461). Lǐ Xián (1408–1466, zì Yuándé 原德, native of Dèngzhōu 鄧州) was the senior compiler in his role as Lìbù shàngshū jiān Hànlínyuàn xuéshì; he was at that time also the leading Grand Secretary in the Nèigé. The structure follows the Yuán Dà yītǒng zhì: the empire is divided into the two metropolitan regions (Liǎngjīng 兩京) and the thirteen provinces (shísān bùzhèngshǐsī 十三布政使司), each subdivided into prefectures, with sub-headings for jiànzhì yán’gé 建置沿革, fēngsú 風俗, xíngshèng 形勝, shānchuān 山川, gōngshǔ 公署, xuéxiào 學校, címiào 祠廟, gǔjī 古跡, guānsuǒ 關所, qiáoliáng 橋梁, mínghuàn 名宦, rénwù 人物, and liúyù 流寓.

The Sìkù judgment — voiced sharply both in the tiyao and in Gù Yánwǔ’s Rìzhī lù — is that the work is uneven and frequently erroneous. The standard examples are: (i) misidentification of the Hàn Línqú with a Táng-period Línqú; (ii) attribution of a non-existent “Liáo Zhāngzōng” tomb at Sānhé; (iii) attribution of the JīnXuānzōng tomb (in fact at Dàliáng) to Fángshān; (iv) misidentification of the Hàn dynastic prince Liú Xìngjū as an Eastern-Hàn mínghuàn; (v) placement of the Jīzǐ Cháoxiǎn enfeoffment within Yǒngpíng prefecture. Wilkinson observes that the Míngshǐ dìlǐzhì in fact “contains nothing that cannot be found in the DàMíng yītǒng zhì” (CHNM §49.2), so the work, despite its philological lapses, was the de facto basis for later official Míng administrative geography. The Wényuāngé Sìkù copy reflects mid- and late-Míng continuations: Jiājìng- and Lóngqìng-era administrative changes have been silently inserted, so it is no longer the pure Tiānshùn-5 recension.

The work was reprinted many times in the Míng (sometimes under the original title Tiānxià yītǒng zhì) and was issued in Korea and Japan. The 1965 Taipei facsimile of the original palace edition (10 vols.) and the Sānqín chūbǎnshè 1990 reprint (2 vols.) are the standard modern reproductions. A popular abbreviation, Gù Chōng’s 顧充 HuángMíng yītǒng jìyào 皇明一統紀要 (late 16th century), survived into the Qīng. Gù Yánwǔ’s Tiānxià jūnguó lìbìng shū 天下郡國利病書 and Gù Zǔyǔ’s Dúshǐ fāngyú jìyào 讀史方輿紀要 are both, in part, programmatic supplements to and corrections of the DàMíng yītǒng zhì; Gù Zǔyǔ’s project was explicitly framed as such (Wilkinson §16.3.4).

Translations and research

  • Dà-Míng yītǒng zhì 大明一統志. 10 vols. Photolithographic reprint of the original palace edition. Taipei, 1965.
  • Dà-Míng yītǒng zhì 大明一統志. 2 vols. Sānqín chūbǎnshè, 1990. Standard mainland reprint.
  • Wilkinson, Endymion. Chinese History: A New Manual, 6th ed., §§16.3.3, 49.2, 65.3.3.
  • Brook, Timothy. Geographical Sources of Ming-Qing History. CCS (Michigan), 1988; rev. 2002 — discusses the Dà-Míng yītǒng zhì as the principal Míng official gazetteer.
  • Lin Ping 林平 and Zhāng Jìliàng 張紀亮, Míngdài fāngzhì kǎo 明代方志考. Sìchuān dàxué chūbǎnshè, 2001 — extensively cites the Yītǒng zhì in its discussion of Míng official geographical compilation.
  • Wú Hóng 巫鴻 and other modern scholars routinely cite the work for Míng-period imperial topography of Beijing and Nanjing.

Other points of interest

The work’s late-Míng continuation layer (Jiājìng- and Lóngqìng-era inserts noted by the Sìkù editors) makes it a useful primary source for mid-Míng administrative change as well as for the Tiānshùn baseline; modern researchers have begun separating the layers (cf. Brook, Geographical Sources). The Tiānxià yītǒng zhì alternative title preserved in some Míng impressions reflects the work’s intended programmatic scope.

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