Qīndìng Pánshān zhì 欽定盤山志
Imperially Endorsed Gazetteer of Mt. Pán by 蔣溥 (Jiǎng Pǔ, 1708–1761), 汪由敦 (Wāng Yóudūn, 1692–1758), 董邦達 (Dǒng Bāngdá, 1699–1769), et al. — fèngchì zhuàn 奉敕撰
About the work
A 16-juan (with 5-juan opening section of imperial-tour materials, totalling 21 juan) imperially-commissioned monograph on Mt. Pán 盤山 in Jìzhōu — 25 lǐ north of the Jìzhōu prefectural city, the seat of the Imperial Country Estate (Jìngjì shānzhuāng 靜寄山莊) constructed by the Qiánlóng emperor in 1744. Mt. Pán was the place of Hàn-末-period reclusion of Tián Chóu 田疇; the Wǔfēng sānpán (Five Peaks, Three Slopes) was famed for its scenery. The Qiánlóng emperor stayed at the country estate annually on his way to and from the imperial mausoleums (Zǔlíng 祖陵). The earlier mountain-monograph by the Qīnggōu (Pure-Ditch) Buddhist monk Zhì Pǔ 釋智樸 — the only previous work — was judged unsystematic. Categories: imperial decrees and verse 5 juan (head); maps, examinations, scenic-spots, temples, sojourners, off-path hermits, literary works, products, miscellaneous = 8 categories in 16 juan.
Tiyao
We respectfully note: composed by imperial command by Grand Secretary Jiǎng Pǔ 蔣溥 and others. Mt. Pán is at twenty-five lǐ north of the Jìzhōu city, the place where Tián Chóu 田疇 of late-Hàn lived in reclusion. The Five Peaks and Three Slopes — forest and ravine still and recondite, single peak elegantly wet — heroic-first east of the imperial precincts. From the Sage-Ancestor Humane Sovereign’s four arrivals, the imperial verses and inscribed poems shine on rocks and slopes.
Yet there had previously been no mountain-gazetteer. Only the Qīnggōu monk Shì Zhìpǔ 釋智樸 had begun to draft one — but the wording and intent were over-extended and the editorial form still much incomplete. Our August Sovereign on his royal sojourn arrived; the numinous realm was opened day by day. In Qiánlóng 9 (1744), He commanded the funds of the Inner Treasury be released and the Jìngjì shānzhuāng (Quietude-Lodging Country Estate) be constructed on the south of the mountain. Heaven opening the famous district, fully grasping the choice scenes — every spring and autumn, on affairs at the imperial mausoleums, every halt-of-staff at the temporary palace, with leisure-and-rest cultivating the Wisdom-Humane (Zhìrén lèqù) — flourishing in the Sage’s bosom. Mountain-water effecting the numinous, increasing the brilliant-elegance.
In Qiánlóng 19 (1754), the second month, due to royal sojourn at the Country Estate, the imperial command was issued to Jiǎng Pǔ, Wāng Yóudūn 汪由敦, and Dǒng Bāngdá 董邦達 to redact a new gazetteer. Pǔ et al. received the imperial decree to compose the manuscript, gathering and editing in detail. Divided into eight categories: Túkǎo (Maps), Míngshèng (Famous Sites), Sìyǔ (Temples), Liúyù (Sojourners), Fāngwài (Off-Path Hermits), Yìwén (Literary Works), Wùchǎn (Products), Zázhuì (Miscellaneous) — set into 16 juan. Crowned at the head with imperial decrees and Heavenly Composition in 5 juan. By the twelfth month the book was completed and presented in memorial.
We who hold the pen — reverently penetrating the Sage Composition, broadly examining the older lore — only this mountain’s purity-and-richness, depth-and-recondite, sufficient to compete in elegance with the Marchmounts. Yet its name is not greatly displayed in earlier ages — by which we know that the cosmos’s pure-clear qì, support-carriage and emanation, must wait for its time to emerge, in order to receive the Great Sage’s bathing-in-pleasure (pànhuàn zhī yú). And the imperial brush shines back, engraving rocks and brightening valleys; categorical-grading first and second, with glory and good-fortune without bound — even more, what was unprecedented in antiquity. We reverently record this compilation, also to celebrate this mountain’s good encounter.
Abstract
The Qīndìng Pánshān zhì is the canonical Qiánlóng-era imperial monograph on Mt. Pán in Jìzhōu — the imperial summer-and-mausoleum-passage retreat of the high Qiánlóng era. Its three principal compilers were the leading Han-Chinese officials of the high Qiánlóng court: Grand Secretary Jiǎng Pǔ (1708–1761; CBDB id) and the BǎHé of mid-Qiánlóng letters Wāng Yóudūn (1692–1758) and Dǒng Bāngdá (1699–1769; CBDB id 57670, also a major painter). The work was commissioned during the imperial sojourn at the Jìngjì shānzhuāng in Qiánlóng 19/2 (1754) and completed and submitted in 19/12 (1755 / first month).
The 21-juan structure (5-juan imperial-tour section + 16-juan main text + 8 categories) reflects the standard imperial-mountain-gazetteer template established by the Kāngxī Yùshān zhì tradition. The earlier work of the Qīnggōu monk Zhì Pǔ — likely the late-Kāng-xī / Yōngzhèng Pánshān shī jí and Pánshān jìshèng — is implicitly displaced by the imperial commission. The text is preserved in the Wényuāngé Sìkù quánshū (vol. 586.1).
The Jìngjì shānzhuāng — the imperial country estate that occasioned the work — was largely destroyed in the late nineteenth century but is partially preserved in archaeological remains; the gazetteer is the principal documentary record of its mid-Qiánlóng configuration.
Translations and research
No English translation. Cited in: Mark C. Elliott, The Manchu Way: The Eight Banners and Ethnic Identity in Late Imperial China (Stanford, 2001); Patricia Berger, Empire of Emptiness: Buddhist Art and Political Authority in Qing China (Hawaii, 2003); Susan Naquin, Peking: Temples and City Life, 1400–1900 (UC Press, 2000), comparative on imperial Buddhist landscape. For the imperial-sponsored gazetteer genre see R. Kent Guy, The Emperor’s Four Treasuries (Harvard, 1987). Standard Chinese reference: Wú Xiào-zhōu 吳曉舟, Qīng-dài huáng-jiā shān-zhuāng yán-jiū 清代皇家山莊研究 (Wǔ-zhōu chuán-bō, 2010).
Other points of interest
The Qīndìng Pánshān zhì is one of the few Qiánlóng-era imperial-mountain-gazetteers to combine the standard míngshèng / jìshèng genre with extensive imperial-tour and country-estate documentation. The 5-juan opening section preserves the most concentrated body of Qiánlóng-emperor verse on a single landscape outside the Bìshǔ shānzhuāng zhì (Chéngdé) corpus.