Zhèxī shuǐlì shū 浙西水利書
Treatise on the Hydraulic Works of Western Zhèjiāng by 姚文灝 (Yáo Wénhào, 1455–1504) — zhuàn 撰
About the work
A 3-juan Míng compilation of historical and contemporary documents on the hydraulic system of western Zhèjiāng — the Tàihú-basin sub-region encompassing SūzhōuSōngjiāngChángzhōu of Nánzhílì and HángjiāHú of Zhèjiāng — collected and arranged by Yáo Wénhào during his tenure as Hydraulic-Works Inspector of Sōngjiāng et al. in the Hóngzhì era of the Míng. The work assembles selections from Sòng-through-early-Míng hydraulic-policy writings on the region, with Yáo’s editorial selection foregrounding the principles of canal-opening, sluice-gate installation, and embankment construction.
Tiyao
We respectfully note: this is the work of Yáo Wénhào 姚文灝 of the Míng. Wénhào of Guìxī 貴溪; jìnshì of Chénghuà jiǎchén (1484), Gōngbù zhǔshì (Director of the Bureau of Works). Examining the Míng Xiàozōng shílù: it records that in Hóngzhì 9 (1496), seventh month, the Inspector of Sōngjiāng and Other Hydraulic Works Gōngbù zhǔshì Yáo Wénhào memorialized on six matters of water-management; the emperor approved. The book was probably composed at this time.
The main thrust holds that the empire’s tax-revenues are remitted by the southeast: the three prefectures of Sūzhōu, Sōngjiāng, and Chángzhōu of Nánzhílì, and the three prefectures of Hángzhōu, Jiāxìng, and Húzhōu of Zhèjiāng, surround the Tàihú on all sides — particularly low-lying. The Tàihú stretches several hundred lǐ, receiving the mountain-streams of the various sub-prefectures and dispersing into the lakes Diànshān etc., flowing through the Sōngjiāng to the sea. The portions of higher elevation receive the waters of Háng and Hé, conveyed through the Huángpǔ to the sea. When floodwaters arrive in turn, they overflow as calamity. This results from the embanking and walling-in of fields, which leaves the water-power no place to discharge — and so the dykes and harbors silt up.
He therefore selected the works of Sòng-to-early-Míng authors on western-Zhèjiāng hydraulic works and edited them into one compilation. The major principle: opening rivers, installing sluice-gates and dyke-walling are first business; while river-channels and irrigation-fields are to be managed concurrently. As to the views of various authors, there is some editorial selection: Shàn È’s Wúzhōng shuǐlì shū and Rén Dūshuǐ’s Shuǐlì yìdá are detailed in their right and abbreviated in their wrong. The various proposals of the Sòng-era Jià brothers, judged unsubstantial, are not recorded. The mediating of topography is fairly carefully done — not merely a paper compilation.
Abstract
The Zhèxī shuǐlì shū is the principal Míng-era documentary anthology on the hydraulic system of western Zhèjiāng / southern Jiāngnán — assembled by Yáo Wénhào (CBDB 129305; 1455–1504) during his Hóngzhì 9 (1496) tenure as Tídū Sōngjiāng děngchù shuǐlì gōngbù zhǔshì. CBDB and the Míng Xiàozōng shílù corroborate the date and the post; the Sìkù tíyào takes the shílù entry as direct evidence for dating composition. The work’s editorial approach is selective rather than comprehensive: it incorporates Shàn È’s Wúzhōng shuǐlì shū (KR2k0061) only in part (retaining Shàn’s strengths and abbreviating his weaknesses), explicitly excludes the various Sòng-era proposals of the Jiàshì brothers, and centers the policy axis on dredging the Sōngjiāng outlet — anticipating Guī Yǒuguāng’s SānWú shuǐlì lù (KR2k0067) of the Jiājìng era.
The text is preserved in the Wényuāngé Sìkù quánshū (vol. 576.5). Yáo’s six-point memorial of 1496 is the principal contribution to early-Míng hydraulic-policy thought; it foregrounds the link between embankment-and-field-walling (圍田) and the silting of canal-and-harbor outlets — a thesis that becomes central to all subsequent MíngQīng Tàihú-basin hydraulic discourse.
Translations and research
No English translation. Cited in: Mark Elvin, The Retreat of the Elephants (Yale, 2004); Anne Osborne, “Highlands and Lowlands,” in Sediments of Time (Cambridge, 1998); Pierre-Étienne Will, “Un cycle hydraulique en Chine” (BEFEO, 1980). Chinese standard: Yáo Hàn-yuán, Zhōngguó shuǐlì shǐ (1987); Wáng Yī 王毅, Tàihú liú-yù shuǐlì shǐ 太湖流域水利史 (Hé-hǎi dàxué, 1992).
Other points of interest
Yáo Wénhào’s argument that wéitián 圍田 (embanked fields) cause silting of natural drainage channels is one of the earliest formulations of the principle of “anthropogenic hydrological imbalance” in Chinese environmental writing — a thesis foundational to all subsequent debate over Jiāngnán water-control.