Guìlín fēngtǔ jì 桂林風土記
Record of the Customs and Topography of Guìlín by 莫休符 (Mò Xiūfú, fl. 899) — zhuàn 撰
About the work
A 1-juan late-Táng fēngtǔ monograph on Guìlín 桂林 (modern Guǎngxī), composed by Mò Xiūfú in Guānghuà 2 (899) at the end of his term as Jiǎnjiào sànqí chángshì and Prefect of Róngzhōu 融州. The original preface (dated the twenty-third day of the ninth month, Guānghuà 2) explains: previous regional treatises had covered the Sānguó zhì, the JīngChǔ suìshí jì, the Xiāngzhōng jì, the Fèngtiān jì — but the affairs and traces of Guìlín had remained unrecorded; in retirement Mò therefore set down his observations as the present “Fēngtǔ jì.” The work covers 44 gǔjīn shìjì topics — including the river-shrine of Shùn 舜, the Twin-Maiden Tomb, the Fúbō Temple, the Yuè Pavilion, the Lí Hill, the Yáoshān Shrine, the Língqú canal, the Eastern Pavilion, the Singularly-Beautiful Hill (Dúxiù), the tomb of Ōuyáng Dūhù, and many shorter notices on famous Táng officials and visitors (Yán Yánzhī, Lǐ Jìng, Chǔ Suíliáng, Zhāng Jiǔlíng, Yuán Shùjǐ, Zhāng Zhuó), with attached poems by various Táng poets (Zhāng Gù, Lǔ Shùnzhī, Zhāng Cóng, Yuán Huì, Lù Guàn, Wéi Guàn, Ōuyáng Bīn, Lǐ Bó, Yáng Shàngshū, Lù Hóngxiū). The Huǒshān cǎimù and Cǎimù entries are missing in the present text.
Tiyao
We respectfully note: the Guìlín fēngtǔ jì in one juan was composed by Mò Xiūfú of the Táng. Guìlín had been a commandery from Qín times, passing through Hàn down to Táng. In Guānghuà 2 (899), in the Zhāozōng’s reign, Xiūfú as Jiǎnjiào sànqí chángshì and Prefect of Róngzhōu composed this record. The Xīn Tángshū yìwénzhì makes it three juan; what is now extant is one juan; in the table of contents of the juan are 44 entries, of which the present text lacks two — the Huǒshān and Cǎimù — so it is not the complete book.
Zhū Yízūn’s Pùshū tíng jí has a colophon to this work saying: “the copy of Xiè Zàiháng of Mǐn 閩 in his Xiǎocǎo zhāi, the old collection of the Xú Wéiqǐ family — its colophon claims it was obtained from the Shěn family of Qiántáng. This is the eighth year of Hóngwǔ (1382, Hóngwǔ shíwǔnián) hand-copy. The original has Zàiháng’s hand inscription and the Hóngwǔ year and month, agreeing with what Yízūn says — it is presumably the same text he saw.”
Yízūn further notes that it records poems by Zhāng Gù, Lú Shùnzhī, Zhāng Cóng, Yuán Huì, Lù Guàn, Wéi Guàn, Ōuyáng Bīn, Lǐ Bó and others not previously recorded — they should certainly bring forth their hidden brilliance. Now we observe further the poems by Yáng Shàngshū and Lù Hóngxiū, two more — also Táng-period lost pieces not recorded by other works. The present Quán Táng shī selects the works on this basis; therefore the witness-value of the present text far exceeds that of recording local customs and natural products. Respectfully proof-read in the first month of Qiánlóng 44 (1779).
Director-General compilers (chén /) Jǐ Yún, (chén /) Lù Xīxióng, (chén /) Sūn Shìyì; Director-General proof-reader (chén /) Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
The Guìlín fēngtǔ jì is the principal late-Táng monograph on Guìlín (capital of Lǐngnán xīdào) and the earliest surviving Chinese-language treatment of the topography and antiquities of modern Guǎngxī. It was composed in Guānghuà 2 (899) by Mò Xiūfú 莫休符 (otherwise undocumented), then Jiǎnjiào sànqí chángshì and Prefect of Róngzhōu 融州, who placed his work in succession to the Sānguó zhì, JīngChǔ suìshí jì KR2k0105, Xiāngzhōng jì, and Fèngtiān jì. Originally in three juan (per Xīn Tángshū yìwénzhì), the received text is in one juan with 44 entries, two of which (Huǒshān and Cǎimù) are missing.
The work is principally important for two reasons: (i) it preserves a layer of Táng-period topographical, ritual, and biographical material on Guìlín that is otherwise unrecorded — including notices on Yán Yánzhī (384–456), Lǐ Jìng (571–649), Chǔ Suíliáng (596–659), Zhāng Jiǔlíng (678–740), Yuán Shùjǐ (?–706), and Zhāng Zhuó (660–740) in their roles as visitors or officials in Lǐngnán; (ii) it preserves twelve otherwise-lost Táng poems (by Zhāng Gù, Lú Shùnzhī, Zhāng Cóng, Yuán Huì, Lù Guàn, Wéi Guàn, Ōuyáng Bīn, Lǐ Bó, Yáng Shàngshū, Lù Hóngxiū, and others), which the Quán Táng shī compilers extracted on this textual authority.
The work is preserved in Wényuāngé Sìkù quánshū (vol. 589.4) on the basis of the early-Míng (Hóngwǔ 15, 1382) hand-copy that descended through Xiè Zhàozhì 謝肇淛 (zì Zàiháng) and Xú Wéiqǐ 徐惟起 to the Shěn family of Qiántáng, and was edited by Zhū Yízūn 朱彝尊 (1629–1709) in his Pùshū tíng jí.
Translations and research
No comprehensive English translation. The work is regularly cited in studies of Táng-period regional administration of Lǐng-nán and Quán Táng shī textual criticism. See Edward H. Schafer, The Vermilion Bird: T’ang Images of the South (UC Press, 1967), passim; Hugh Clark, “Frontier Discourse and China’s Maritime Frontier,” Journal of World History 17 (2006). For the place of Guì-lín in Táng administrative history see Charles A. Peterson’s articles in Cambridge History of China vol. 3.