Xíngshuǐ jīnjiàn 行水金鑑
Golden Mirror for Practical Hydraulic Engineering by 傅澤洪 (Fù Zéhóng, fl. 1725) — zhuàn 撰
About the work
A 175-juan Yōngzhèng-era hydraulic compendium — the most extensive Chinese hydraulic-engineering compilation of all time prior to the Qiánlóng-era Sìkù, and the principal documentary archive of pre-1722 Yellow River, Huái River, Yangtze, Hànshuǐ, Jìshuǐ, and Grand Canal management. Compiled by Fù Zéhóng (Hànjūn Bordered-Red Banner, HuáiYángdào ànchásī fùshǐ) ca. 1721–1725, with possible co-editorship by Zhèng Yuánqìng 鄭元慶 (a hypothesis advanced by Quán Zǔwàng but unverified). The work organizes citations from primary sources by water-system: 60 juan on the Yellow River; 10 on the Huái; 10 on the Hànshuǐ and Yangtze; 5 on the Jìshuǐ; 70 on the Grand Canal; 8 on the Liǎnghé zǒngshuō (overview); 12 on officials, levies, transport, and conventions. The Kāngxī 60 (1721) cut-off of imperial decrees recorded in the work is a specific feature called out in the Sìkù tíyào: all post-1721 imperial-decree material is excluded.
Tiyao
We respectfully note: this is the work of Fù Zéhóng 傅澤洪 of our dynasty. Zéhóng, zì Zhìjūn 穉君, of the Hànjūn Bordered-Red Banner (镶紅旗漢軍), rose to Fēnxún HuáiYáng dào ànchásī fùshǐ. The book was completed in Yōngzhèng yǐsì (1725). Quán Zǔwàng’s epitaph for Zhèng Yuánqìng holds it to come from the hand of Yuánqìng, suspecting that he was a guest in Zéhóng’s mù (private secretariat) and may have participated in the editing — but with no other clear evidence we cannot verify in detail.
In setting out the watercourses, from the Yǔgòng down: Sīmǎ Qiān composed the Héqúshū (Treatise on Waterways and Canals) and Bān Gù the Gōuxùzhì (Treatise on Channels and Ditches), each making one chapter of the entire history. Of those who composed it as a separate book, the inception was the Shuǐjīng; yet it set out only the source-and-flow, the proofs of branch-and-tributary — and was as yet not occupied with dredging and dyking. The works of Shàn È, Shākèshí, and Wáng Xǐ began to set out in detail the methods of water-management. After the Míng, compilations gradually multiplied, but in general they only treated of one corner, only spoke of one water.
For comprehending past and present, setting out merits and demerits, joining earlier dynasties to the present dynasty, the four dú (great rivers) divided and combined, the canal-routes’ innovations and inheritances — gathered to form one compilation — there is none more detailed than the present book. The opening is crowned with maps; next 60 juan on the Yellow River; next 10 juan on the Huái; next 10 juan on the Hànshuǐ and Yangtze; next 5 juan on the Jìshuǐ; next 70 juan on the Grand Canal; next 8 juan of Liǎnghé zǒngshuō; next 12 juan on officials and labor-levies, canal-transport and conventions.
The format throughout: extracts from various authors’ original texts, ordered by chronology, so that each entry mutually verifies, beginning-and-end run-through. Where the original text is not complete, also occasionally with personal opinion, it adds verifying notes appended below. For the past several thousand years, the variations of topography, the merits and demerits of human affairs, woven together strand by strand and bound rope by rope, the beginning-and-end clear from start to finish.
As to our State, in the spreading of soil and the gathering of rivers, the hundred streams accept their commissions; reverently with the bestowed Sage-Ancestor Humane Sovereign — His Heavenly Carriage parading personally, His instructions setting out the strategic detail, His Sage Calculation full and in close detail, eternally illuminating the smooth course — sufficient indeed to set norms for the myriad ages. Zéhóng, on imperial decrees received before Kāngxī 60 (1721), all reverently records in the compilation, to display the mòxùn (model-instruction). For the shūyuè (drainage and excavation) it is especially the zhǐnán (south-pointing direction-needle). Those who speak of waterways — observing this single compilation — its broad principles and its great items, also see the general outline.
Abstract
The Xíngshuǐ jīnjiàn is the most extensive Chinese hydraulic-engineering compendium ever compiled, and the principal documentary archive of all pre-1722 Chinese hydraulic management. Its compiler Fù Zéhóng (CBDB id 125464; dates not recorded — fl. 1725), of Hànjūn Bordered-Red Banner, served as Fēnxún HuáiYáng dào ànchásī fùshǐ (Vice-Provincial Surveillance Commissioner of the HuáiYáng Circuit). The work was completed in Yōngzhèng 3 (1725). The Sìkù tíyào notes the unverified hypothesis (advanced by Quán Zǔwàng in his epitaph for Zhèng Yuánqìng) that the actual editorial labor may have been Zhèng’s, working as Fù’s mùbīn; the hypothesis is unverified.
The 175-juan structure is organized hierarchically by river-system: 60 on the Yellow River (the largest single section); 10 on the Huái; 10 on the Hàn-shuǐ-Yangtze; 5 on the Jìshuǐ; 70 on the Grand Canal (the second largest, reflecting the canal’s institutional preeminence); 8 on cross-river overviews; 12 on labor and administration. The format is documentary: extracts from primary sources arranged chronologically per water-system, with editorial notes (ànyǔ) added by the compiler where needed. The work was extended in the Qiánlóng era by Lí Èshū 黎廷甡’s Xù xíngshuǐ jīnjiàn 續行水金鑑 (1832, 156 juan) covering the period 1722–1820. The text is preserved in the Wényuāngé Sìkù quánshū (vols. 580.1–582.1).
Translations and research
No comprehensive English translation. The work is the principal primary-source compendium for all studies of Yellow River and Grand Canal hydraulic engineering: Randall A. Dodgen, Controlling the Dragon (Hawaii, 2001); Charles Greer, Water Management in the Yellow River Basin of China (Texas, 1979); Hoshi Ayao, Min-Shin daiundō no kenkyū (Tokyo, 1971); Pierre-Étienne Will, “Un cycle hydraulique en Chine” (BEFEO, 1980); David A. Pietz, The Yellow River (Harvard, 2015). Standard Chinese reference: Yáo Hàn-yuán, Zhōngguó shuǐlì shǐ (1987). The principal Chinese critical edition is the Shuǐlì-diànlì-chūbǎn-shè reprint (1990).
Other points of interest
At 175 juan, the Xíngshuǐ jīnjiàn is the second-longest single-author technical compendium in the Sìkù quánshū — exceeded only by some of the great encyclopedic compilations. Its institutional importance for Qīng hydraulic administration extended into the late nineteenth century, when it served as a standard reference for both Chinese and Western-educated hydraulic engineers managing the post-1855 Yellow-River-north-shift system.