Guānzhōng shèngjì túzhì 關中勝蹟圖志
Illustrated Gazetteer of the Famous Sites of Guānzhōng by 畢沅 (Bì Yuán, 1730–1797) — zhuàn 撰
About the work
A 32-juan illustrated topographical and antiquarian gazetteer of Shǎnxī, the heartland of the ancient Yōngzhōu 雍州 of the Yǔgòng — “Guānzhōng” 關中 — submitted to the throne in Qiánlóng 41 (1776) by Bì Yuán while he was Governor of Shǎnxī (xúnfǔ Shǎnxī) and concurrently Vice-Minister of War (bīngbù shìláng) and Right Vice-Censor-in-Chief of the Court of Censors. The work covers the eight prefectures and subordinate sub-prefectures of Shǎnxī — Xī’ān 西安, Tóngzhōu 同州, Fèngxiáng 鳳翔, Hànzhōng 漢中, Yán’ān 延安, Yúlín 榆林, Shāngzhōu 商州, Qiánzhōu 乾州, Bīnzhōu 邠州, Xīng’ān 興安州, Suīdé 綏德州, Fūzhōu 鄜州 — under four standard categories per administrative unit: dìlǐ 地理 (geography), míngshān 名山 (famous mountains), dàchuān 大川 (great rivers), gǔjì 古蹟 (ancient sites). The closing two juan are devoted to maps (圖), of the provincial-and-prefectural domains, the principal mountains (Huàyuè, Zhōngnán, Tàibái, Wúyuè), the principal rivers (Yellow River, Wèi, Hàn, Lóngshǒu and the Yǒngjì and Lóngdòng canals), and the famous palaces (Hàn Wèiyāng / Chánglè / Jiànzhāng; Táng Western, Eastern, and Southern inner palaces; Huáqīng).
Tiyao
We respectfully note: the Guānzhōng shèngjì túzhì in thirty-two juan is what was composed and presented in Qiánlóng 41 (1776) by Bì Yuán, then Governor of Shǎnxī, Vice-Minister of War, and Concurrent Right Vice-Censor-in-Chief.
Guānzhōng is the old soil of Yǒngzhōu of the Yǔgòng. Between Black-water 黑水 and the Western River 西河, antiquity called it the divine altar (shén gāo) and inland sea (lù hǎi); the Hàn and the Táng both established their capitals there. Of all things — the magnificence of city-walls and palaces, the abundance and prosperity of markets and customs, the wonderful beauty and majestic grandeur of high mountains and great rivers — the bequeathed reports and ancient sites that have been transmitted are most numerous. Hence the literati and gentry have repeatedly engaged in compilation: from the Guānzhōng jì, Sānfǔ jiùshì, and Sānfǔ huángtú downwards — such as Sòng Mǐnqiú’s Cháng’ān zhì, Lǚ Dàfáng’s Cháng’ān tújì, Chéng Dàchāng’s Yōng lù, the anonymous Huáshān jì, Lǐ Hàowén’s Cháng’ān zhìtú, Wǔ Fú and Mǎ Lǐ’s Shǎnxī tōngzhì, Hé Jǐngmíng’s Yōng dàjì, Lǐ Yìngxiáng’s Yōng lüè, Nánxuān’s Guānzhōng wénxiàn zhì, and the like — the works are nearly several dozen, their formats not uniform, and pure and impure naturally show up alongside one another.
Our state’s flourishing transformations have spread bountifully and gradually reached the western lands; the rains and skies have come at their proper times, and felicitous reports of repeated abundance — at the shrine of the Huàyuè and the spring-pool of Tàibái they all looked up and bore the august brushstrokes of chénhàn bāotí (imperial inscriptions of praise), with light reaching the heavenly vaults; the old courses of the QínHàn Jīng-canals also were one by one revived and repaired; the fine traces left and bequeathed have been doubled in colour. This compilation takes in turn each prefecture-county under Shǎnxī’s governorship, and divides them under the four headings of geography, famous mountains, great rivers, and ancient sites; verifies the beginnings and ends of each, gathering the various works together and binding them with maps. Respectfully presented for Yǐlǎn (imperial perusal). (Chén /) and the others have respectfully made a copy for storage in the secret archives, also to be useful for selection by the Yītǒng zhì. Respectfully proof-read in the fifth month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781).
Director-General compilers (chén /) Jǐ Yún, (chén /) Lù Xīxióng, (chén /) Sūn Shìyì; Director-General proof-reader (chén /) Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
The Guānzhōng shèngjì túzhì is one of the major late-eighteenth-century imperially-sponsored regional gazetteers, distinguished by its exclusive concentration on Shǎnxī as the historical heartland of the Yōngzhōu of the Yǔgòng and the imperial capital region under the Hàn and Táng. It was composed by the great late-Qīng official-philologist Bì Yuán 畢沅 (1730–1797, zì Xiānghéng 纕蘀, hào Qiūfān 秋帆; CBDB 34013) during his term as Governor of Shǎnxī (1773–1785, with interruptions); the work was presented in Qiánlóng 41 (1776) and admitted to the Sìkù quánshū in 1781. Bì organised the material under four categories — dìlǐ, míngshān, dàchuān, gǔjì — and devoted the final two juan to maps and palace-plans (the Hàn Wèiyāng, Chánglè, and Jiànzhāng; the Táng xīnèi, dōngnèi, nánnèi; and the Huáqīng).
The work belongs to a body of major Bì-Yuán-era Shǎnxī antiquarian projects — including the Sānfǔ huángtú jiàoshì 三輔黃圖校釋, the Cháng’ān zhì jiào jì 長安志校記, and the recompilation of the Shǎnxī tōngzhì — and is the philological successor to Sòng Mǐnqiú’s 宋敏求 (1019–1079) Cháng’ān zhì 長安志, Lǚ Dàfáng’s 呂大防 (1027–1097) Cháng’ān tújì, and Chéng Dàchāng’s 程大昌 (1123–1195) Yōng lù 雍錄. Its principal scholarly contributions are (i) the rigorous use of literary and stele-inscription evidence to identify ancient sites, (ii) the generous use of imperial-tour-related material from the contemporary court (the chénhàn inscriptions of the Qiánlóng emperor at Huàyuè and Tàibái), and (iii) the imperial-capital topography of the closing maps. The work is preserved in the Wényuāngé Sìkù quánshū (vol. 588.6).
Translations and research
No comprehensive English translation. Bì Yuán’s career as governor and patron of Shǎn-xī antiquarianism is treated in W. F. Mayers, The Chinese Government (Shanghai, 1878) s.v.; ECCP s.v. Pi Yüan; Hummel, Eminent Chinese of the Ch’ing Period (Washington, 1943) i.622–625. Standard Chinese reference: Liú Wéiyī 劉緯毅, Hànyǔ wénxiàn xué 漢語文獻學. The Guānzhōng shèngjì túzhì itself is the principal source for late-eighteenth-century Shǎn-xī topographical antiquarianism and is regularly cited in studies of Cháng’ān archaeology and historical geography (e.g. Gěng Liù-shān 耿六珊, Cháng’ān shǐ yánjiū).
Other points of interest
The work issued from a distinct social configuration — a senior Qīng provincial governor with personal scholarly distinction, surrounded by a private brain-trust of leading kǎojù scholars (notably Zhāng Xuéchéng 章學誠, Hóng Lìjí 洪亮吉, Wāng Zhōng 汪中, Sūn Xīngyǎn 孫星衍, who at various points worked on Bì’s projects). The presentation of chénhàn inscriptions by the reigning emperor — incorporated as evidence in a regional gazetteer — illustrates the intermingling of imperial-tour culture and scholarly antiquarian editing in the Qiánlóng era.
Links
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q713032 (Bì Yuán)
- ECCP s.v. Pi Yüan