Xīhú zhìzuǎn 西湖志纂
Compendious Gazetteer of West Lake by 梁詩正 (Liáng Shīzhèng, 1697–1763), 沈德潛 (Shěn Déqián, 1673–1769), 傅王露 (Fù Wánglù, b. 1678) — zhuàn 撰
About the work
A 12-juan mid-Qiánlóng-era imperial-redacted monograph on the West Lake of Hángzhōu, occasioned by the Qiánlóng emperor’s first Southern Tour of 1751. The work has a complex compilation history: the Yōngzhèng-era Zhèjiāng Governor-General Lǐ Wèi 李衛 had earlier directed Fù Wánglù 傅王露 (former Hànlín Compiler) to compile a 48-juan Xīhú zhì; on the Qiánlóng Southern Tour, Shěn Déqián drew on the older work and re-compiled it with Fù Wánglù into a 10-juan condensation. Liáng Shīzhèng concurrently received an imperial commission to redact the Xīhú zhì. Shěn Déqián’s manuscript came in first; the emperor approved it with imperial verses prefacing it and ordered Liáng Shīzhèng to combine it with his own work; Liáng Shīzhèng (working again with Fù Wánglù) consolidated into the present 12-juan Xīhú zhìzuǎn, submitted in Qiánlóng 18/12 (1753).
Tiyao
We respectfully note: jointly composed by Grand Secretary Liáng Shīzhèng 梁詩正, Lǐbù shàngshū with rank Shěn Déqián 沈德潛, and others. Initially in the Yōngzhèng era, the Zhèjiāng Governor-General Lǐ Wèi 李衛 redacted the Xīhú zhì; he engaged the former Hànlín Compiler Fù Wánglù 傅王露 to direct the affair, with Déqián as a shēngyuán serving as a sub-redactor. The book was complete in 48 juan: although its arrangement was clear and detailed, the citations were vast and full, with much over-extension.
By Qiánlóng 16 (1751), reverently meeting the imperial Southern Tour, where the imperial pavilion arrived, the lake-mountains gained color. Déqián therefore took the older gazetteer and again with Wánglù re-compiled and recorded, pruning the abundance and going to the simple, separately producing 10 juan. Liáng Shīzhèng also memorialized for re-edition of the Xīhú zhì. Déqián’s manuscript came in first; he wrote out a fair copy and presented it. The August Sovereign favorably bestowed lavish gifts and specially composed shīpiān 詩篇 (verses) to crown the head; further imperially commanded Liáng Shīzhèng to take Déqián’s draft and combine it together. Liáng Shīzhèng then with Wánglù further consulted and redacted into 12 juan. In Qiánlóng 18 (1753), twelfth month, presented in memorial.
The opening: maps of famous scenic spots; next Xīhú shuǐlì (West Lake Hydraulic Works); next Gūshān, Nánshān, Běishān, Wúshān, Xīxī — the various scenic-traces; ending with Yìwén (Literary Works). Although the categories and headings are reduced from the older gazetteer, the major rubrics already encompass without remainder. Further, reverently bearing the imperial brush’s personal title, glory shines downward — uniquely unprecedented in yújì (topographical-record) literature; assuredly not what Tián Rǔchéng’s KR2k0086 simple records can be set alongside.
Abstract
The Xīhú zhìzuǎn is the canonical mid-Qiánlóng-era imperial monograph on the West Lake of Hángzhōu, replacing Tián Rǔchéng’s late-Míng Xīhú yóulǎn zhì (KR2k0086) as the standard reference. Its compilation history reflects the high-Qiánlóng-era pattern of imperial-redacted topographical works: a Yōngzhèng-era 48-juan compilation under Lǐ Wèi (the famously upright provincial Governor) was condensed, on the occasion of the Qiánlóng emperor’s first Southern Tour of 1751, by Shěn Déqián (1673–1769; CBDB record by alternate id; the principal mid-Qiánlóng-era prose-and-verse anthologist) into a 10-juan version, then expanded by Liáng Shīzhèng (1697–1763, jìnshì 1721, Grand Secretary; CBDB id) and Fù Wánglù (b. 1678; CBDB id 90098) into the present 12-juan version of 1753.
The 12-juan structure (maps; Xīhú shuǐlì hydraulic works; the four scenic clusters of Gūshān, Nánshān, Běishān, Wúshān, plus the Xīxī sub-region; ending with Yìwén) is more compact than the Míng monograph and includes a dedicated hydraulic-works section reflecting the institutional concern with the West Lake’s role as the Hángzhōu municipal water supply and irrigation reservoir. The text is preserved in the Wényuāngé Sìkù quánshū (vol. 586.2). The work was substantially superseded by the Qiánlóng 49 (1784) Xīhú jìshèng zhì of Yú Yuè 兪樾 et al.
Translations and research
No English translation. Cited in: Stephen H. West, “Tian Rucheng and the Construction of West Lake,” in The Empire’s Old Clothes (Brill, 2018); Michael G. Chang, A Court on Horseback: Imperial Touring and the Construction of Qing Rule, 1680–1785 (Harvard, 2007), §3 on the Qiánlóng Southern Tours; James Cahill, The Compelling Image: Nature and Style in Seventeenth-Century Chinese Painting (Harvard, 1982), §3 on Dǒng Bāng-dá and the Qiánlóng landscape-painting program. Standard Chinese reference: Cháo Tāo, Xī-hú lì-shǐ wén-xiàn cóng-shū 西湖歷史文獻叢書 (Hángzhōu, 2002).
Other points of interest
The complex layered authorship of the work — Lǐ Wèi’s Yōngzhèng-era 48-juan baseline, Shěn Déqián’s 1751 condensation, Liáng Shīzhèng’s 1753 expansion — exemplifies the high-Qiánlóng pattern of imperial-redacted topographical compilation, in which provincial-bureau drafts pass through court-bureau redaction and finally receive imperial-verse prefaces.