SānWú shuǐkǎo 三吳水考
Examination of the Hydraulic Works of the Three Wú by 張內蘊 (Zhāng Nèiyùn, fl. 1580) and 周大韶 (Zhōu Dàsháo, fl. 1580) — zhuàn 撰
About the work
A 16-juan late-Míng compilation on the hydraulic system of the Three Wú (Sūzhōu, Sōngjiāng, Chángzhōu, Zhènjiāng) prepared in connection with Censor Lín Yìngxùn 林應訓’s six-year (1576–1582) Wàn-lì-era hydraulic-management campaign. Begun in Wànlì 4 (1576) on the proposal of remonstrating officials that the SūSōngChángZhèn hydraulic system had long been silted up; the Wànlì emperor dispatched the Censor Lín Yìngxùn to direct the management. Lín conducted six years of inspection and reorganization, and on completion ordered Zhāng Nèiyùn — Wújiāng shēngyuán (Wújiāng Tributary Student) — and others to compile this book.
Tiyao
We respectfully note: this is the joint work of Zhāng Nèiyùn 張內蘊 and Zhōu Dàsháo 周大韶 of the Míng. Nèiyùn was a Wújiāng shēngyuán (Wújiāng Tributary Student); Dàsháo a Huátíng jiānshēng (Huátíng Imperial-University Student). Their full careers are not known.
In Wànlì 4 (1576), the remonstrating officials argued that the hydraulic works of Sūzhōu, Sōngjiāng, Chángzhōu, and Zhènjiāng had long been silted up and ought without delay to be dredged and reorganized; they sought the dispatch of one Censor to direct the matter. The order issued: Censor of Huáiān Lín Yìngxùn 林應訓 was sent. Yìngxùn surveyed and planned; after six years the works were completed; he assigned Nèiyùn and others to edit this book.
The previous Wànlì gēng-chén-year (1580) preface by Xú Shèn 徐栻 calls it Shuǐlì túshuō (Hydraulic Works Atlas with Explanations); the xīnsì (1581) preface by Liú Fèng 劉鳳 and the rénwǔ (1582) preface by Huángfǔ Fāng 皇甫汸 call it SānWú shuǐkǎo — for the book having been completed underwent a name-change. Huángfǔ Fāng’s preface says it was Yìngxùn who ordered the various literati to compose; Xú Shèn’s and Liú Fèng’s prefaces both say Yìngxùn himself composed it. They differ.
We examine: the book records Yìngxùn’s memorials and stipulations, all bearing his rank and surname but not his given name — they appear not to have come from Yìngxùn’s hand. Likely Nèiyùn and others edited it, while Yìngxùn directed its completion. The book is divided into twelve categories: Zhàolìng kǎo (Edicts) 1 juan, Shuǐlì kǎo 4 juan, Shuǐyuán kǎo 1 juan, Shuǐdào kǎo 3 juan, Shuǐnián kǎo 1 juan, Shuǐguān kǎo 1 juan, Shuǐyì kǎo 2 juan, Shuǐshū kǎo 3 juan, Shuǐyí kǎo 1 juan, Shuǐtián kǎo 1 juan, Shuǐjì kǎo 1 juan, Shuǐwén kǎo 1 juan. The editorial form is somewhat over-extended, the headings in many cases freely-coined. Yet the source-and-course of the various waters, and the merits and demerits of the various methods, are all set out in detail. It serves practical use, not the writing of books — and so should not be judged by literary form.
Abstract
The SānWú shuǐkǎo is the principal Wàn-lì-era documentary monument of Tàihú-basin hydraulic policy. Its compilation is the bureaucratic counterpart to Pān Jìxùn’s Héfáng yīlǎn (KR2k0066) for the Yellow River: where Pān documented his own four-tenure career, Lín Yìngxùn 林應訓 directed Zhāng Nèiyùn and Zhōu Dàsháo to assemble the documentary record of his six-year (1576–1582) Censor’s administration of the SūSōngChángZhèn hydraulic works. The work’s twelve-fold categorical structure (most categories prefixed with shuǐ- + administrative function) is an editorial innovation foregrounding administrative process over topographic-historical compilation.
CBDB has 周大韶 (id 294823, no dates) but no entry for 張內蘊. Both compilers were SūSōng provincial-school students (shēngyuán / jiānshēng) at the time of compilation; neither subsequently rose to high office. The text is preserved in the Wényuāngé Sìkù quánshū (vol. 577.2).
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). Standard reference: Wáng Yī, Tàihú liú-yù shuǐlì shǐ (1992).
Other points of interest
The work’s authorship problem — whether the editorial work belongs to Lín Yìngxùn (the directing official) or to Zhāng Nèiyùn / Zhōu Dàsháo (the assigned compilers) — is exemplary of late-Míng documentary-anthology editorial conventions, where the directing official’s preface and signature establish the compilation’s authority but the actual editorial labor falls to subordinate students.