Guìshèng 桂勝
Choice Scenes of Guì (with appended Guìgù 桂故 in 8 juan) by 張鳴鳳 (Zhāng Míngfèng, fl. 1613) — zhuàn 撰
About the work
A 4-juan late-Míng monograph on the renowned scenic landscape of the Guìlín region, with appended Guìgù 桂故 in 8 juan on the historical-administrative dimension of the same region. Both works completed in Wànlì 41 (1613, guǐchǒu); Guìshèng preface dated 5/6, Guìgù preface dated 7/1. Liú Jìwén 劉繼文’s preface explains the relation: the first 16 juan (i.e. the Guìshèng in 4 juan in the present count, plus an early version of more) are Guìshèng — recording the scenic outlines; the latter 8 juan are Guìgù — recording historical-institutional matters. The two are mutually supporting and constitute in substance a single book in two parts. The Sìkù tíyào explicitly identifies this work and its editorial method as the model for Dǒng Sīzhāng’s Wúxìng bèizhì and Zhū Yízūn’s Rìxià jiùwén.
Tiyao
We respectfully note: this is the work of Zhāng Míngfèng 張鳴鳳 of the Míng. Míngfèng has the Xīqiān zhù 西遷註, already catalogued. These two books were both completed in Wànlì guǐchǒu (1613). The Guìshèng preface is dated the sixth day of the fifth month; the Guìgù preface is dated the first day of the seventh month. Liú Jìwén’s preface states: “the first sixteen juan are Guìshèng, recording the outlines of Guì; the latter eight juan are Guìgù, recording historical-institutional matters.” Míngfèng’s Guìshèng self-preface also says “and externally the Guìgù in 8 juan, used to support and to walk.” The Guìgù self-preface says “I have written Guìshèng, secretly tracing the affairs of past times” — etc. So the two books are mutually-causing in composition; they are in fact a single book.
Guìshèng uses mountain-and-water as its headings; each entry is supported by citations from various texts laid out in narrative; immediately the verses and prose of successive ages are appended below the rubric; for stone-cut inscriptions and signed-name records, the gathering and selection are especially detailed. He further appends notes of kǎozhèng (evidentiary verification) wherever appropriate, with much rectification.
Subsequently Dǒng Sīzhāng’s Wúxìng bèizhì and Zhū Yízūn’s Rìxià jiùwén completely emulate its editorial form. Within the dìzhì literature, this is the most stately and ornate. Guìgù is divided into the six categories of Jùnguó, Guānmíng (Office Names), Xiānzhèng (Earlier Governance), Xiānxiàn (Earlier Notables), Yóuyù (Visitor Lodging), and Zázhì (Miscellaneous).
The Jùnguó examination — successive-age successions, set out in detail with histories’ treatises — distinguishes that the present Guìlín is not the ancient Guìlín. The Guānmíng lists the institutions of successive ages — for the territory being clear, the Earlier Notables have proper limits; the office-systems being clear, the Earlier Governance has proper verification. So as not to fall into the manner of other gazetteers’ biographical and famous-official sections — forced association and pulled-together — therefore set at the head.
The Xiānzhèng and Xiānxiàn — each with biographies — for the most part recasts the older text, prunes branching language, and seeks essence in what relates to the place — not extending widely to the lifetime. He further extensively gathers gold-and-stone (epigraphic) writings, not relying entirely on historical books. Hence his prose is concise and not over-extended, broad but with grounds. The Yóuyù and Zázhì also for the most part rest on inscribed-name steles — surnames, names, years, months, all clearly examinable.
In Míng-era yújì literature, alongside Kāng Hǎi’s Wǔgōng zhì and Hán Bāngjìng’s Cháoyì zhì, this stands as a separate strain — to be set in tripod-balance with the three. Other authors do not reach. The two books’ content extends only to the Southern Sòng — for years remote are easily buried, times near are easily over-extended; detailing what others abridge, abridging what others detail — the book is full and methodical. This is moreover the subtle intent of Míngfèng’s invention.
Abstract
The Guìshèng (with Guìgù) is the most refined late-Míng monograph on the Guìlín region — and the principal model for the documentary-anthology genre of the Qīng-era míngshèng (famous-place) literature. Its author Zhāng Míngfèng 張鳴鳳 (CBDB has at least two homonymous candidates; the relevant one is the Guìlín native and Wàn-lì-era jìnshì whose lifedates are not securely fixed but who fl. in the late Wànlì era, 1590s–1610s) was a Guǎngxī native who completed both works in Wànlì 41 (1613, guǐchǒu).
The Sìkù tíyào’s praise of the work’s editorial method — míngshèng (scenic) and gù (historical-institutional) divided into separately-titled but mutually-supporting works, with each entry supported by citations and kǎozhèng — is among the strongest in the Sìkù for any Míng-era míngshèng work. The compilers explicitly identify the work as the model for two of the most celebrated Qīng-era documentary monographs: Dǒng Sīzhāng 董斯張’s Wúxìng bèizhì 吳興備志 (Húzhōu) and Zhū Yízūn 朱彝尊’s Rìxià jiùwén 日下舊聞 (Beijing). The Sìkù tíyào sets the work in tripod-balance (dǐnglì ér sān) with Kāng Hǎi 康海’s Wǔgōng xiànzhì 武功縣志 and Hán Bāngjìng 韓邦靖’s Cháoyì xiànzhì 朝邑縣志 as the three canonical Míng-era prefectural-and-county monographs.
A note on the Sìkù tíyào’s own typographic-error: at KR2k0054 the Sìkù tíyào misspells the name as 張鳳鳴 (Zhāng Fèngmíng) — the inverted form of the correct 張鳴鳳 (Zhāng Míngfèng). The typographical inversion is preserved in the Wényuāngé Sìkù quánshū tíyào but the present entry is correctly attributed throughout. The text is preserved in the Wényuāngé Sìkù quánshū (vol. 585.5).
Translations and research
No comprehensive English translation. Cited in: Mark Lewis, China Between Empires: The Northern and Southern Dynasties (Harvard, 2009), comparative; Leo K. Shin, The Making of the Chinese State (Cambridge, 2006); David Holm, Mapping the Old Zhuang Character Script (Brill, 2013). Standard Chinese reference: Pán Bǎolái 潘寶來 et al., Guǎngxī fāng-zhì zhǐ-yàn 廣西方志指要 (Guǎngxī rénmín, 2002).
Other points of interest
The work’s Guìgù preserves substantial documentary materials from the Sòng-era jīmízhōu (loose-rein prefectures) of the Guì region — the principal pre-modern indigenous administrative materials before the gǎitǔ guīliú reforms documented in the Yōngzhèng Guǎngxī tōngzhì (KR2k0054).