Chúnxī Sānshān zhì 淳熙三山志
Chúnxī-era Gazetteer of the Three Mountains [Fúzhōu] by 梁克家 (zhuàn 撰)
About the work
The earliest extant prefectural gazetteer of Fúzhōu 福州 — and also the earliest extant gazetteer of Fújiàn 福建 province — completed in the ninth year of the Chúnxī reign (1182) by Liáng Kèjiā 梁克家 in his second tenure as zhī Fúzhōu 知福州, with Chén Fùliáng 陳傅良 as his lieutenant in compilation. It is conventionally called Sānshān zhì 三山志 (lit. “Gazetteer of the Three Mountains”, a biéhào for Fúzhōu derived from its three urban hills Yúshān 于山, Wūshān 烏山, and Píngshān 屏山) and was known under the title Chánglè zhì 長樂志 before the Míng. Architected as nine mén 門 (large divisions) covering 115 sub-categories: dìlǐ 地理 (geography), gōngxiè 公廨 (offices), bǎnjí 版籍 (registered land and population), cáifù 財賦 (revenue), bīngfáng 兵防 (defence), zhìguān 秩官 (officials), rénwù 人物 (eminent persons — confined to those who passed the examinations), sìguàn 寺觀 (temples and abbeys), tǔsú 土俗 (local customs). The work covers all twelve counties then under the prefecture: Mǐn 閩, Hóuguān 侯官, Huái’ān 懷安, Chánglè 長樂, Fúqīng 福清, Yǒngfú 永福, Mǐnqīng 閩清, Gǔtián 古田, Chángxī 長溪, Níngdé 寧德, Luóyuán 羅源, Liánjiāng 連江.
Tiyao
We respectfully note: the Chúnxī Sānshān zhì in 42 juan is by Liáng Kèjiā 梁克家 of the Sòng. Kèjiā, zì Shūzǐ 叔子, was a man of Jìnjiāng 晉江 in Quánzhōu 泉州. In Shàoxīng 30 (1160) he ranked first in the palace examination (tíngshì dìyī 廷試第一); he was assigned as qiānpàn of Píngjiāng 平江, summoned to court as zhèngzì 正字 of the Imperial Library, and during the Qiándào (1165–1173) advanced through the offices to yòu chéngxiàng 右丞相, was enfeoffed Duke of Yí (Yíguógōng 儀國公), and after his death was given the posthumous title Wénjìng 文靖. His career is given in detail in his biography in the Sòng shǐ. The Sòng shǐ describes his prose as “weighty, ample, lucid, and self-contained” and his címìng 辭命 (drafted edicts) as “particularly warm and refined”, much circulated in his time. Today his other works rarely circulate; only this gazetteer survives in manuscript transcripts.
The work is divided into nine sections: 1) dìlǐ, 2) gōngxiè, 3) bǎnjí, 4) cáifù, 5) bīngfáng, 6) zhìguān, 7) rénwù, 8) sìguàn, 9) tǔsú. Zhū Yízūn’s 朱彝尊 Pùshūtíng jí 曝書亭集 contains a colophon to this book in which he objects that placing shānchuān 山川 (mountains and rivers) under sìguàn (temples and abbeys) is a breach of order; on the present examination of the work, the rénwù division registers only those who succeeded in the examinations, while the tǔsú division gives a separate place to yáochèn 謠讖 (popular songs and prognostications) — both these likewise are not entirely settled in their classification. However, the gazetteer’s intent is on the jìlù zhǎnggù (recording of administrative lore), not on extolling local worthies and amplifying lists of famous sites — this is precisely the path of factual verification, and constitutes a distinctive structural type of gazetteer; it is not to be measured by ordinary standards. Concerning the affairs of the Ten Kingdoms (shíguó 十國) period, what it records often supplies what the standard histories have lost, and is sufficient to serve as supplementary evidence. Compared with the lower category of works such as Hé Qiáoyuǎn’s 何喬遠 Mǐn shū 閩書, with its disordered and confusingly multiplied sub-categories, [the Sānshān zhì] is a great distance superior.
Reverently collated and submitted, eleventh month of Qiánlóng 45 (early 1781). 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
Liáng Kèjiā (1128–1187), zhuàngyuán of 1160 and yòu chéngxiàng under Xiàozōng, returned to his native Fújiàn after political setbacks, served first as prefect of Jiànníng 建寧, and was reassigned to Fúzhōu in Chúnxī 6 (1179). He took up the gazetteer because, as his own preface (Chúnxī 9 / 1182, fifth month, eighth day, dīngchǒu) explains, the older Fúzhōu gazetteer tradition was largely lost: he could trace only three earlier works — the now-lost jì of Táo Kuí 陶夔 (Western Jìn / Tàikāng era, ca. 285); a Táng-era expansion by the Fúzhōu native Lín Xún 林諝, also lost; and Lín Shìchéng’s 林世程 Mǐn jì 閩記 of Sòng Qìnglì 3 (1043), which had circulated but was thin in coverage and now 139 years out of date. Compilation took three years (1179–1182). Liáng directed the project at the macro level while the actual writing and source-verification was handled chiefly by his vice-prefect Chén Fùliáng 陳傅良 and a working group of local scholars and serving officials. The completed manuscript was 40 juan; CBDB id 10900 confirms 1128–1187 for Liáng.
The current 42-juan recension reflects two later additions. During the Chúnyòu reign (1241–1252), Zhū Bǐsūn 朱黼孫 (and others) supplemented juan 41 and 42 with jìnshì lists running from Jiādìng 15 (1222) to Bǎoyòu 4 (1256), and revisions to the jùnshǒu (prefects) list in juan 22 also reach down to Jiādìng 15. The earliest printed edition is the Chúnxī 9 (1182) Fúzhōu cut; a Yuán supplement followed; the standard transmission stems from the Wànlì 41 (1613) re-cut by Lín Cǎi 林材 from a manuscript in the Mǎ Sēn 馬森 household, which fixed the 42-juan structure inherited by the Sìkù.
The work’s distinctive contribution lies in two areas. First, it preserves much detail on the kingdom of Mǐn 閩 (909–945), one of the Ten Kingdoms, that is not found in the standard histories — the Sìkù editors and modern scholars (Schottenhammer, Clark) regard it as a key source for the political and economic history of Fújiàn in the Five Dynasties period. Second, the long bǎnjí and cáifù sections (juan 10–17) are an unusually substantial economic-administrative dossier on a Southern Sòng coastal prefecture, with detailed treatment of guānzhuāngtián 官莊田 (state-estate land), shànxué tián 贍學田 (school-supporting land), shāzhōu tián 沙洲田, hǎi tián 海田, salt monopolies, port traffic on the Mǐn river, and the hǎichuán hù 海船戶 (sea-going boat households). The Tǔsú lèi in juan 41–42 includes a major early treatment of Fújiàn product economy — gǔ (grains), huò (commercial goods), sīmá (silk and hemp), guǒshí, yào (medicinal materials), woods (especially Mǐnshānmù), bamboo, livestock, and fauna — and is heavily cited in modern Fújiàn economic and social history.
Structural Division
Nine mén across 42 juan as inventoried by the Sìkù editors:
- Dìlǐ lèi 地理類 (juan 1–6): xùzhōu 敘州, xùxiàn 敘縣, the four city-walls (zǐchéng, luóchéng, jiáchéng, wàichéng), city moats and bridges, post-stations and ferries, jiāngcháo 江潮 (river tides) and hǎidào 海道 (sea routes).
- Gōngxiè lèi 公廨類 (juan 7–9): the prefectural yámen, the circuit and supervisory bureaus (zhuǎnyùn xíngsī, tídiǎn xíngyùsī, tíjǔ xíngsī, xīwài Zōngzhèngsī), the offices of subordinate functionaries, granaries, monopoly-bureau warehouses, the dūshuìwù, river-side Línhéwù, the zuòyuàn (workshops), shipyard, kiln-bureau, etc.; juan 8 covers state altars (Qǐyùngōng 啟運宮, shèjìtán, the prefectural Confucian school, and the címiào 祠廟); juan 9 covers the same categories at the county level.
- Bǎnjí lèi 版籍類 (juan 10–16): kěntián (cultivated land), hùkǒu, sēngdào, guānzhuāng tián, shànxué tián, zhítián, shāzhōu tián, hǎi tián, zhōuxiàn yìrén (corvée registers), hǎichuán hù, lúhù (smelting households, with kēngyě), and shuǐlì (irrigation/hydraulics — given two juan).
- Cáifù lèi 財賦類 (juan 17): suìshōu (annual receipts), tāsī yìngfù qiánwù (transfers to other circuits), suìgòng (annual tribute).
- Bīngfáng lèi 兵防類 (juan 18–19): regular garrisons (zhūxiāng jìnjūn) and stockade militias (zhūzhài tǔjūn).
- Zhìguān lèi 秩官類 (juan 20–25): prefects from Táng to Five Dynasties (juan 20–21) and Sòng (juan 22), Sòng pacification-commission and military-administration officials, county magistrates, supervisorial officials of every rank.
- Rénwù lèi 人物類 (juan 26–32): kēmíng 科名 (examination success), one juan for Táng / Latter Táng and six juan for the Sòng.
- Sìguàn lèi 寺觀類 (juan 33–38): Buddhist monasteries (with mountains as appendix) over five juan plus Daoist abbeys.
- Tǔsú lèi 土俗類 (juan 39–42): tǔgòng, jièyù (admonitions), yáochèn, suìshí, wùchǎn (extending across two juan, exhaustively itemising local products).
Translations and research
No complete English translation. Standard punctuated edition: Liáng Kèjiā 梁克家 (Chén Shūrén 陳叔仁 et al. 點校), Chúnxī Sānshān zhì, Sòng-Yuán fāngzhì cóngkān 宋元方志叢刊, Zhōnghuá Shūjú, 1990, vol. 8 (the standard punctuated zhōnghuá edition); also Sānshān zhì, with collations by Fú Pèng 福鵬, Fújiàn Rénmín Chūbǎnshè, 2000.
Western-language scholarship draws on the work especially for Fú-jiàn maritime and commercial history. Hugh R. Clark, Community, Trade, and Networks: Southern Fujian Province from the Third to the Thirteenth Century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991) and the same author’s later Portrait of a Community: Society, Culture, and the Structures of Kinship in the Mulan River Valley (Fujian) from the Late Tang Through the Song (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 2007) cite this gazetteer extensively. Angela Schottenhammer, Das songzeitliche Quanzhou im Spannungsfeld zwischen Zentralregierung und maritimem Handel (Stuttgart: Steiner, 2002) draws on it as a comparative source for prefectural-level economic record-keeping. Joseph R. Dennis, Writing, Publishing, and Reading Local Gazetteers in Imperial China, 1100–1700 (Harvard, 2015) cites it as one of the foundational examples of the Southern Sòng míngzhì 名志 corpus. The zhuàngyuán preface and Chén Fùliáng’s collaborative role have been studied in Lǐ Fēng 李峰, “Chúnxī Sānshān zhì zuǎnxiū kǎo”, Fú-jiàn Shīfàn Dàxué xuébào (2008.3).
Other points of interest
The work is the earliest extant gazetteer that distinguishes the xíngsī 行司 (peripatetic circuit-bureaus passing through Fúzhōu) from the prefectural-level offices: the structural decision in juan 7 to give each xíngsī its own entry under the Gōngxiè division supplied a model for later coastal gazetteers. The Mǐnguó (909–945) material in the Zhìguān and Rénwù divisions is one of only two substantive contemporary witness-corpora for that polity (the other being the dispersed Mǐn shū fragments and the Mǐn dàjì of Wáng Yīngshān 王應山 of the late Míng).