Wúzhōng shuǐlì shū 吳中水利書
Treatise on the Hydraulic Works of Wú by 單鍔 (Shàn È, 1031–1110) — zhuàn 撰
About the work
A 1-juan Northern Sòng treatise on the water-control system of the Wú region (Sūzhōu, Chángzhōu, Húzhōu), the foundational document of the SòngYuánMíngQīng Tàihú-basin hydrology debate. Composed by Shàn È over more than thirty years of personal field investigation by small boat through the canals and creeks of the three prefectures, and presented to the throne by Sū Shì 蘇軾 in Yuányòu 6 (1091) when Sū was Prefect of Hángzhōu. The submission was suspended when Sū was impeached by Lǐ Dìng 李定 and Shū Dǎn 舒亶 and detained at the Censorate.
Tiyao
We respectfully note: this is the work of Shàn È of the Sòng. È, zì Jìyǐn 季隱, of Yíxìng 宜興; jìnshì of Jiāyòu 4 (1059), one of the candidates selected by Ōuyáng Xiū at his examination administration. After receiving his rank, he did not take office, but devoted himself singly to the hydraulic works of Wú. He used to ride alone in a small boat, traveling among Sūzhōu, Chángzhōu, and Húzhōu — passing more than thirty years; not one ditch or channel that he did not survey at its source and trace at its course, examining its topography. From these field experiences he composed the present book.
In Yuányòu 6 (1091), when Sū Shì was Prefect of Hángzhōu, he submitted a memorial to the Court. As Shì was being impeached by Lǐ Dìng and Shū Dǎn and brought to the Censorate for examination, the proposal was thereupon suspended. In the Yǒnglè era of the Míng (1403–1424), Xià Yuánjí 夏原吉 dredged the Wújiāng water-gates and excavated the Bǎidú 百瀆 of Yíxìng; in the Zhèngtǒng era (1436–1449), Zhōu Chén 周忱 raised the two embankments at Lìyáng — both following È’s proposals.
In the Jiājìng era, Guī Yǒuguāng 歸有光 composed the SānWú shuǐlì lù (KR2k0067) and held: rather than treat the Tàihú, treat the Sōngjiāng. Shàn È wished to repair the Five Weirs and open the Jiāzhùgàn channel, in order to cut off the waters coming from the west and prevent them from entering the Tàihú; not realizing that the marshes of Yángzhōu were heaven’s own reservoir for the waters of the southeast. Water that brings harm to the people also brings them benefit; if one now uses human labor to dam it up — even were the Tàihú to dry up — how would that benefit the people? His view differs slightly from È’s. The years and ages stretch on, hills and valleys are transformed, the topography differs from the ancient to the modern; each presents arguments on his own observation. To put it in a phrase: the older methods cannot be wholly retained, nor can they be wholly discarded; one must allow for the rise and fall in time.
Sū Shì’s memorial of presentation is preserved in juan 59 of his collected works, with the present book appended. The original carried, on a yellow strip pasted to the text, the words: “The drawings have been roughly done; we have not dared to submit them. We beg that the relevant office calculate and meet with Shàn È to draw them anew.” The present version has removed this yellow strip, retaining only the words “Biéhuà 別畫” (“draw anew”) as a separate line — for this work has long had no single edition, the gazetteers extracted it from the Dōngpō jí, and the present version has been further extracted from the gazetteers; the rotating transmission has produced corruptions and lacunae of just this kind.
Abstract
The Wúzhōng shuǐlì shū is the foundational document of the Tàihú-basin hydrology debate that ran from the Sòng through the Qīng. Shàn È’s central thesis is the closure of the Wǔyàn 五堰 (five weirs upstream of the Tàihú) and the dredging of the Jiāzhùgàndú 夾苧干瀆, both intended to divert the western inflow waters away from Tàihú. Implementation followed in stages: Yǒnglè era (Xià Yuánjí), Zhèngtǒng era (Zhōu Chén). The Míng polemic position of Guī Yǒuguāng (in the SānWú shuǐlì lù, KR2k0067) — favoring the dredging of the Sōngjiāng outlet over upstream diversion — represents the major counter-tradition; the Sìkù tíyào takes a synthetic position. The text was preserved within Sū Shì’s collected works (Dōngpō jí 59) and extracted from there into local gazetteers; its present form is the result of repeated re-extractions, with consequent textual problems. CBDB confirms 1031–1110 (CBDB id 24489).
Translations and research
No English translation. Standard study: Mark Elvin, “Market Towns and Waterways: The County of Shanghai from 1480 to 1910,” in The Chinese City between Two Worlds (Stanford, 1974); Pierre-Étienne Will, “Un cycle hydraulique en Chine: la province du Hubei du XVIe au XIXe siècles,” BEFEO 68 (1980); Mark Elvin, The Retreat of the Elephants: An Environmental History of China (Yale, 2004), §10 on Tàihú-basin hydrology. For the Sòng context see Hugh R. Clark, Community, Trade, and Networks: Southern Fujian Province from the Third to the Thirteenth Century (Cambridge, 1991), and Robert Hartwell-tradition studies.
Other points of interest
Shàn È’s text is the original instance of the documentary genre of Chinese individual-investigator hydraulic monographs — the genre tradition that culminates in Pān Jìxùn’s Héfáng yīlǎn (KR2k0066). The thirty-year personal-survey method described in the tíyào — riding alone in a small boat through the canals — is a characteristic feature of the Sòng-era literati-engineer ethos.