Héfáng tōngyì 河防通議
Comprehensive Discussion of Yellow River Defense by 沙克什 (Shākèshí / Shamsi al-Din, 1278–1351) — zhuàn 撰
About the work
A 2-juan Yuán-era technical manual on Yellow River flood-control engineering, compiled by the Sěmù 色目 polymath Shākèshí (sinicized name 贍思 Shànsī, 1278–1351, zì Zǐtíng 子亭, of Western Regions origin). The work consolidates two earlier compilations into a single revised technical handbook: the Northern Sòng Héfáng tōngyì of Shěn Lì 沈立 (Biànběn) and the Jīn Dūshuǐjiān (Imperial Waterways Commission) handbook. It is divided into six categories with sub-headings, covering material requirements, labor specifications, levée pile-driving and matting, levée raising and dyke-repair methods — a comprehensive technical handbook of pre-modern Chinese hydraulic engineering.
Tiyao
We respectfully note: this is the work of Shākèshí 沙克什 of the Yuán. (The original wrote 贍思 Shànsī; we have now corrected.) Shākèshí was of Sěmù origin; he rose to Mìshū shǎojiān (Junior Vice-Director of the Imperial Library). His career is recorded in the Yuánshī. This book gives full account of the methods of Yellow River management, drawing on the Biànběn of Shěn Lì of the Sòng and the Dūshuǐjiānběn of the Jīn, combining them into a single compilation; it is what the Yuánshī calls the “Re-revised Héfáng tōngyì.”
Shākèshí descended from the Western Regions, was deeply learned in the Classics, and there was nothing in astronomy, geography, music-pitch, and arithmetic in which he was not penetrating. In the Zhìyuán era he was once summoned to discuss matters of the river — having for long been thoroughly engaged with hydraulic engineering. Hence in this composition he divides into six categories, each category with sub-headings: from material specifications and labor accounts, dispatching of laborers and transport, to the methods of pile-laying and net-weighting, levée-raising and dyke-repair — the conventions and specifications are all set out in brilliant order, sufficient to supplement the lacunae in the standard histories’ geographical treatises.
In former times Ōuyáng Yuán [Ōuyáng Xuán] used to say that Sīmǎ Qiān and Bān Gù in their accounts of waterways and irrigation set out only the principles of water-management, not its methods, leaving those who took up the matter in subsequent ages without source-material. What is recorded in this compilation, although all of it pertains to the institutional codes of earlier dynasties — and although the topography has shifted and human affairs have moved — its measure-and-rule remain present; it is also fitting that those who handle river-affairs should consult it for adapting and varying.
Abstract
The Héfáng tōngyì is the most important technical handbook of pre-modern Chinese hydraulic engineering. Its compiler Shākèshí (Shamsi al-Din in some Western reconstructions; sinicized 贍思 Shànsī, 1278–1351) was a major Yuán polymath of Western Regions Muslim background, holding the position of Mìshū shǎojiān. The CBDB and Yuánshī (j. 190) record him as a major figure in mathematics, astronomy, music-theory, and Confucian classics scholarship as well as hydraulic engineering. The work consolidates the Northern Sòng Biànběn (capital-edition) of Shěn Lì 沈立 (1007–1078) and the Jīn-era Imperial Waterways Commission handbook into a single revised manual; it preserves substantial documentary materials on Sòng and Jīn engineering specifications that are otherwise lost. The Sìkù tíyào notes that although the text is rooted in earlier-dynasty conventions and the topography has changed, the underlying measure-and-rule principles remain useful for hydraulic engineers.
The standardized name 沙克什 (Sha-ke-shi) is the Sìkù-era restoration; the same compiler appears in older texts as 贍思 (Shànsī), and in modern transliteration is sometimes given as Shamsi al-Din. The text is preserved in the Wényuāngé Sìkù quánshū (vol. 576.3); the Yuán-era full title is Chóngdìng Héfáng tōngyì 重訂河防通議. CBDB has no entry for this person under either form.
Translations and research
No English translation. Cited in: Joseph Needham, Science and Civilisation in China, vol. 4 part 3 (Cambridge, 1971), §28 (hydraulic engineering), as a principal Yuán-era technical source. Charles Hartman, “The Making of a Confucian Scholar: Sima Guang and the Han River dispute,” AOH 38 (2000); Pierre-Étienne Will, “Un cycle hydraulique en Chine,” BEFEO 68 (1980). Standard Chinese reference: Yáo Hàn-yuán 姚漢源, Zhōngguó shuǐlì shǐ 中國水利史 (Shuǐlì diànlì, 1987).
Other points of interest
The work is a rare and valuable witness to Yuán-era Sino-Islamic scientific exchange: Shākèshí brought Western Regions mathematical and astronomical methods to bear on traditional Chinese hydraulic engineering. The Sìkù-era restoration of his name from 贍思 to 沙克什 — typical of the Qiánlóng-era Manchu and Mongol re-transliteration program — remains controversial; the original 贍思 reading is closer to the medieval Persian/Arabic Shamsi. CBDB has no confident entry for him.