Jǐngdìng Yánzhōu xùzhì 景定嚴州續志
Jǐngdìng-era Continuation Gazetteer of Yán-zhōu by 鄭珤 and 方仁榮 (zhuàn 撰)
About the work
The Jǐngdìng-era continuation, in 10 juan, of an earlier (now-lost) Shàoxīng-era Yánzhōu zhì 嚴州志 — the lost zhì covering Yánzhōu 嚴州 (modern Jiàndé / Chún’ān region of western Zhèjiāng, including the Xīn’ānjiāng valley) and its subordinate counties (Jiàndé 建德, Chún’ān 淳安, Suì’ān 遂安, Tónglú 桐廬, Shòuchāng 壽昌, and Fēnshuǐ 分水). Compiled in Jǐngdìng rénxū (1262) by Zhèng Bǎo 鄭珤 (then jiàoshòu of Yánzhōu) and Fāng Rénróng 方仁榮 (then xuélù 學錄 at the prefectural school) under the patronage of the Wú-Yuè-born prefect Qián Kězé 錢可則 (tàifǔ chéng 太府丞 by office), with a preface dated Jǐngdìng rénxū sìyuè (the fourth month of 1262, jǐngdìng 3) by the Yánzhōu zhuàngyuán of 1247, Fāng Féngchén 方逢辰 (1221–1291). The work is the last of the Southern Sòng prefectural-level fāngzhì in the Sìkù corpus and one of the most important documents on the political-cultural geography of the late Sòng court: Yánzhōu was the fēngjiāng (fief) territory both of Tàizōng and of Gāozōng (whose pre-imperial Jiàndéjūn jiédùshǐ office was based here) and was raised to Jiàndéfǔ 建德府 on Dùzōng’s accession (1265), which is why the continuation gazetteer dates its title from the antique Yánzhōu (the title-page in the present base text reads simply Xīndìng xùzhì 新定續志, not registering the place name — because the work was originally bound to the now-lost Shàoxīng Yánzhōu zhì).
Tiyao
We respectfully note: the Jǐngdìng Yánzhōu xùzhì in 10 juan is by Zhèng Bǎo 鄭珤 and Fāng Rénróng 方仁榮 of the Sòng. Bǎo at the time held the office of Yánzhōu jiàoshòu 教授, and Rénróng of Yánzhōu xuélù 學錄. Their beginnings and ends are not known.
What it records begins with Chúnxī (1174–89) and runs through Xiánchún (1265–74). The title heading reads only “Xīndìng xùzhì” without indicating the place name — this is because it was printed appended to the Shàoxīng-era old gazetteer, which is now lost. Yánzhōu under the Sòng was Suì’ānjūn 遂安軍; Dùzōng formerly held the jiédùshǐ of it, and after his accession it was raised to Jiàndéfǔ 建德府. Hence prefixed to the work are the imperial decree on the establishment of the heir-apparent (lì tàizǐ zhào 立太子詔) and the imperial document raising it to a fǔ (shēngfǔ shěngzhá 升府省劄) — the format being slightly different from other gazetteers.
In addition to wùchǎn (products), there is a separately added mén called ruìchǎn 瑞産 (auspicious products), but it records only the single item of the four-headed wheat-stalk of Jǐngdìng (景定麥秀四岐); in addition to xiāngyǐn (the local drinking ceremony), there is a separately added mén called xiānghuì 鄉會 (local gatherings), but it records only the one item of “Yángwáng presiding at the gathering” (Yángwáng zhǔhuì 楊王主會) — both these are deviations from the canon. Yet the narration is concise — it is among those yújì that have retained the ancient method.
In the hùkǒu mén it records that the Empress Yáng of Níngzōng was a Yánzhōu native; in the xiānghuì mén it likewise records that the presider at the gathering was Xīn’ānjùnwáng and Yǒngníngjùnwáng — the Xīn’ānjùnwáng being Yáng Gǔ 楊谷, the Yǒngníngjùnwáng being Yáng Shí 楊石, both sons of the Empress’s elder brother Yáng Cìshān 楊次山. The Sòng shǐ, however, says the Empress was a man of Kuàijī 會稽 — there must surely be an error: this is sufficient to correct a shǐzhuàn mistake.
Reverently collated and submitted, ninth month of Qiánlóng 46 (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
The Jǐngdìng Yánzhōu xùzhì is securely datable to Jǐngdìng rénxū (1262) by the Fāng Féngchén preface, which establishes both the terminus a quo and the terminus ad quem (notBefore = notAfter = 1262); the catalog meta gives the floruit window of Zhèng Bǎo at 1260–1263. Fāng Féngchén’s preface explains the institutional motivation: Yánzhōu was, under the Sòng, the jiànmáo 建旄 (place of military banners) territory of both Tàizōng (under whom it was the Suì’ānjūn jiédùshǐ-ate) and Gāozōng (whose Suì’ānjūn jiédùshǐ was his pre-accession title), and at the moment of writing the future emperor Dùzōng held the same title; the gazetteer is offered to the throne as documentation of the zhífāng (Office of Cartography, in the Zhōulǐ) tradition.
The structural innovation, flagged by the Sìkù tíyào, is the addition of two new mén to the standard prefectural-gazetteer apparatus: ruìchǎn 瑞産 (auspicious products) — recording an omen of a four-headed wheat stalk in Jǐngdìng — and xiānghuì 鄉會 (local gatherings) — recording the gathering at which Yáng Gǔ (Xīn’ānjùnwáng) and Yáng Shí (Yǒngníngjùnwáng), nephews of Empress Yáng of Níngzōng, presided. The Sìkù editors register both as deviations from the canonical structure but remark that the xiānghuì mén, taken together with the hùkǒu mén — which records that Empress Yáng was a Yánzhōu native — corrects a documentary error in the Sòng shǐ, which mistakenly gives Empress Yáng’s place of origin as Kuàijī. The Yáng family thus emerges as a Yánzhōu lineage; this is one of the most consequential historical-correction notes in the Sìkù tíyào corpus on the Sòng fāngzhì.
The work covers the period from Chúnxī (1174–89), where the lost Shàoxīng-era zhì left off, through the Xiánchún (1265–74) — the Xiánchún material being added in subsequent transmission. The original recension was bound with the now-lost Shàoxīng Yánzhōu zhì and circulated under the running title Xīndìng xùzhì 新定續志 (Yánzhōu’s antique name being Xīn’ānjùn 新安郡 — not to be confused with Huīzhōu’s Xīn’ān; in the present period and from Suí onward, Yánzhōu was sometimes called Xīndìng 新定). When the original zhì was lost (Yuán?), the xùzhì circulated alone.
The principal compilers Zhèng Bǎo and Fāng Rénróng are otherwise undocumented; CBDB id 51243 for Zhèng Bǎo carries no further data, and Fāng Rénróng has no CBDB entry at all (a search returned no rows). The prefatory commission was issued by the prefect Qián Kězé 錢可則 (a descendant of the WúYuè royal house), and the preface itself was written by the zhuàngyuán of 1247, Fāng Féngchén 方逢辰 (1221–1291; CBDB 3294), then in retirement at Yánzhōu — Fāng Féngchén being the most senior literary figure available locally.
The Sòng shǐ yìwén zhì does not register either the original Shàoxīng zhì or the Jǐngdìng continuation. The Sòng print is lost; the Sìkù base text descends from a manuscript transcript. The standard modern edition is the SòngYuán fāngzhì cóngkān (Zhōnghuá Shūjú, 1990), vol. 5; a punctuated edition is in Lǐ Yǒngjiàn (ed.), Jǐngdìng Yánzhōu xùzhì (Jiàndé Wénshǐ Cóngshū, 2007).
Translations and research
No complete English translation. The work is a foundational source for the western-Zhèjiāng / Xīn’ān-jiāng valley local history in the late Sòng. Linda Walton, Academies and Society in Southern Sung China (Honolulu, 1999), uses it for the prefectural-school institutional history; Christian de Pee, in his work on fāngzhì, treats it as a key specimen of the late-Sòng “imperial geography” sub-genre. The historical-correction concerning Empress Yáng of Níngzōng is a recurrent topic in modern Sòng-court studies; see Bettine Birge, Marriage and the Law in the Age of Khubilai Khan (Harvard, 2002), 67n, for the Sòng shǐ / Yán-zhōu xù-zhì discrepancy. In Chinese, Wáng Zhì-yǒng 王治詠, “Jǐngdìng Yán-zhōu xù-zhì yǔ Sòng shǐ Yáng-hòu zhuàn zhī wù” (Wén-shǐ, 2010.4) is the principal study; the work also figures in Bāo Wěimín’s Sòng-dài chéngshì yánjiū (2014).
Other points of interest
The corrective historical note on Empress Yáng’s Yánzhōu origin (against the Sòng shǐ’s “Kuàijī rén 會稽人”) is one of the most cited Sìkù tíyào observations on Sòng-court history. The work also preserves the imperial decree raising Yánzhōu to Jiàndéfǔ in 1265, and the imperial document on the establishment of the heir-apparent (Dùzōng) — sources of considerable value for the late-Sòng court documentation. The Fāng Féngchén preface is itself a substantial document on Yánzhōu agronomy: it lays out the unusual conditions of mountain-locked Yánzhōu, where “the soil being unsuited for rice, the people produce only mountain-silk and use it to pay tax in cloth”, with grain coming in from Qú 衢, Wù 婺, Sū 蘇, and Xiù 秀 prefectures by canal — making the gazetteer a key witness to the regional grain trade of the late Southern Sòng.