Zhèng Kāiyáng zázhù 鄭開陽雜著
Miscellaneous Writings of Zhèng Kāi-yáng by 鄭若曾 (Zhèng Ruòzēng, fl. 1505–1580) — zhuàn 撰
About the work
An 11-juan compilation of the surviving works of the late-Míng coastal-defense polymath Zhèng Ruòzēng — the principal editorial hand behind Hú Zōngxiàn’s Chóuhǎi túbiān (KR2k0081). Originally circulated as separate works (Chóuhǎi túbiān, Jiāngnán jīnglüè, Sìào túlùn); reorganized in early-Kāng-xī era by Zhèng’s fifth-generation descendant Zhèng Qǐhóng 鄭起泓 and his son Zhèng Dìngyuǎn 鄭定遠, who culled the duplicates and reassembled the surviving works into a single 11-juan compendium: Wànlǐ hǎifáng túlùn 2 juan; Jiāngfáng túkǎo 1 juan; Rìběn túzuǎn 1 juan; Cháoxiǎn túshuō 1 juan; Ānnán túshuō 1 juan; Liúqiú túshuō 1 juan; Hǎifáng yīlǎn tú 1 juan; Hǎiyùn quántú 1 juan; Huánghé túyì 1 juan; SūSōng fúliáng yì 1 juan. Notably absent: Jiāngnán jīnglüè (perhaps lost during the editorial reassembly).
Tiyao
We respectfully note: this is the work of Zhèng Ruòzēng 鄭若曾 of the Míng. Ruòzēng, zì Bólǔ 伯魯, hào Kāiyáng 開陽, of Kūnshān; gòngshēng (Tribute Student) of the early Jiājìng era. This book formerly was divided as Chóuhǎi túbiān, Jiāngnán jīnglüè, Sìào túlùn — each a separate book.
In the Kāngxī era of our dynasty, his fifth-generation grandson Qǐhóng 起泓 and his son Dìngyuǎn 定遠 again pruned and reassembled, combining them into a single compendium. They divided into: Wànlǐ hǎifáng túlùn 2 juan; Jiāngfáng túkǎo 1 juan; Rìběn túzuǎn 1 juan; Cháoxiǎn túshuō 1 juan; Ānnán túshuō 1 juan; Liúqiú túshuō 1 juan; Hǎifáng yīlǎn tú 1 juan; Hǎiyùn quántú 1 juan; Huánghé túyì 1 juan; SūSōng fúliáng yì 1 juan. The Hǎifáng yīlǎn tú is the first draft of the Wànlǐ hǎifáng tú — preserved with the others because of the mutual interplay of detail and abridgment.
Ruòzēng has another book called Jiāngnán jīnglüè — uniquely missing and not included; the reason is unclear, perhaps the editor inadvertently lost it. Ruòzēng in his youth studied under Wèi Xiào 魏校, then under Zhàn Ruòshuǐ 湛若水 and Wáng Shǒurén 王守仁; with Guī Yǒuguāng 歸有光 and Táng Shùnzhī 唐順之 he also collated and exchanged. Among these several men, only Shǒurén and Shùnzhī taught the jīngjì (statecraft) learning. Yet Shǒurén’s application achieved effect; Shùnzhī’s application did not much achieve effect.
Ruòzēng, although not greatly used, was an aide in 胡宗憲’s mù; in suppressing the wōkòu he had merit. So Shùnzhī sought it from empty words; Ruòzēng obtained it through experience. These ten books — for the topographies of canal-defense and sea-defense, all observed personally; for the various examinations of Japan and so on, all from informant-inquiry and investigation, with substantive evidence at hand — they did not pluck and combine from histories and biographies to form a book. They differ indeed from the paper-talk of book-students.
Abstract
The Zhèng Kāiyáng zázhù is the principal collected works of the late-Míng coastal-defense polymath Zhèng Ruòzēng (1503–1570; CBDB has him with c. 1503–1570 dates, zì Bólǔ, hào Kāiyáng) — the man who actually compiled the Chóuhǎi túbiān attributed to Hú Zōngxiàn (KR2k0081). Zhèng was a gòngshēng (Tribute Student) of Kūnshān 崑山 in the early Jiājìng era and a student of Wèi Xiào 魏校, Zhàn Ruòshuǐ 湛若水, and Wáng Shǒurén 王守仁 (Wáng Yángmíng) — placing him in the Sūzhōu Yángmíng Confucian circle alongside Guī Yǒuguāng and Táng Shùnzhī. From 1556 to 1562 he served in Hú Zōngxiàn’s mùfǔ (private secretariat) at the Zǒngdū headquarters at Hángzhōu, where he undertook the principal editorial labor for both Chóuhǎi túbiān and the present collection.
The 11-juan reassembly was performed in the early Kāngxī era by his fifth-generation descendant Zhèng Qǐhóng and Qǐhóng’s son Zhèng Dìngyuǎn from the surviving manuscript and printed editions of his individual works. The Sìkù tíyào singles out the omission of Jiāngnán jīnglüè as inexplicable — that work survives in separate editions but was not incorporated into the zázhù by the family editors. The text is preserved in the Wényuāngé Sìkù quánshū (vol. 584.2).
Translations and research
No comprehensive English translation. Cited and discussed in: Kwan-wai So, Japanese Piracy in Ming China (Michigan State, 1975); James K. Chin, “Junk Trade, Business Networks, and Sojourning Communities,” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 20 (2010); Wong Sin-kiong, Japanese Studies in China during the Late Ming and Early Qing (Stanford, dissertation 1989). For Zhèng Ruò-zēng’s career see DMB s.v. Cheng Jo-tseng. Standard Chinese reference: Lǐ Zhì-zhōng 李致忠, Chóu-hǎi tú-biān jiào-zhù (Zhōnghuá, 2007); Cào Yǒng-niàn 曹永年, Zhèng Ruò-zēng zhuàn-jì 鄭若曾傳記 (Yuǎnliú, 2003).
Other points of interest
The Rìběn túzuǎn, Cháoxiǎn túshuō, Ānnán túshuō, and Liúqiú túshuō together constitute the most extensive Míng-era ethnogeographic-cartographic survey of East Asia outside China — preserving substantial detail on the Ryūkyū Kingdom, Chosŏn Korea, Lê-dynasty Vietnam, and Sengoku-period Japan. The Liúqiú túshuō is one of the principal sources for sixteenth-century Ryūkyūan history.