Mǐnzhōng hǎicuò shū 閩中海錯疏
Treatise on the Diverse Marine Creatures of Fú-jiàn by 屠本畯 (Tú Běnjùn, fl. 1596) — zhuàn 撰
About the work
A 3-juan late-Míng ichthyological-and-malacological monograph on the marine fauna of coastal Fújiàn, with: juan 1–2 Línbù (scaled creatures), 167 species; juan 3 Jièbù (shelled creatures), 90 species; plus an appendix of 2 non-Mǐn but locally found items (hǎifěn and yànwō / edible bird’s-nest). Composed in Wànlì 24 (1596) by Tú Běnjùn 屠本畯 (zì Tiánshū 田叔, native of Yínxiàn 鄞縣 in Sìmíng / modern Níngbō; entered office through paternal yīn privilege; rose to Fújiàn yányùn tóngzhī) at the request of his father’s old friend Yú Yín 余寅 (zì Jūnfáng 君房), then Tàicháng shàoqīng. With supplementary annotation by Xú Bó 徐𤊹 (Bó 渤 / Bó 𤊹, the late-Míng SūMǐn local-historical compiler). The earliest systematic Chinese-language ichthyological treatise on a single regional marine fauna; closely related in genre to Huáng Zhōng’s Hǎi yǔ KR2k0144 but more thorough on Fújiàn marine biology.
Tiyao
We respectfully note: the Mǐnzhōng hǎicuò shū in three juan was composed by Tú Běnjùn of Míng. Běnjùn, zì Tiánshū, native of Yínxiàn; entered office by his father’s yīn; rose to Fújiàn yányùn tóngzhī. This work records in detail the water-creatures of the Mǐn sea: Línbù in two juan, 167 species in all; Jièbù in one juan, 90 species in all; further appended are hǎifěn and yànwō, two non-Mǐn-products which are commonly found in Mǐn.
The book has the autograph colophon: when [Běnjùn] was about to enter Mǐn, the Tàicháng shàoqīng Mr. Yú Jūnfáng said: “describe the marine cuò — I would summon MǐnYuè and connect them through it.” [Běnjùn] therefore composed the shū in reply. Jūnfáng is the zì of Yú Yín, of the same hometown as Běnjùn, his father’s friend. Within the work the ànyǔ (case-discussion notes) added by Běnjùn often cite Sìmíng (Níngbō) local products as evidence — that is the spirit of “summoning MǐnYuè and connecting them through it.” Among them, items marked “zhùbǔ shū” are the supplements of Xú Bó.
This work is rather close to Huáng Zhōng’s Hǎi yǔ KR2k0144, but the description is more complete; the prose is also concise and may be selected. Only its diction is too brief, hence the citations are not abundantly broad, and errors-and-omissions are also unavoidable. For example: in shāyú (sharks), the Hǎi yǔ says shark has two types; this work lists up to twelve types, and may indeed be called comprehensive. Yet the Hǎi yǔ’s “hǎishā hǔtóu shā — its body always at the spring’s last day climbs the sea-mountain, after ten days transforms into a tiger” — this work omits it. Also in hǎiqiū (sea-whale), the Hǎi yǔ says: “its length spans 100 lǐ, oysters in colonies on its back, accumulated over abandoned years to a height of some ten zhàng; the qiū bears them and swims, towering on the water surface like a mountain”; its description is most exhaustive — but this work uses only the phrase “moves like a mountain peak,” not so clear-cut. But its distinction of names and categories — at one glance it is fully clear — has rather much benefit for duōshí (broad knowledge); it is not to be discarded by those examining local products. Respectfully proof-read in the tenth 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 Mǐnzhōng hǎicuò shū is the principal late-Míng ichthyological monograph on the marine fauna of Fújiàn and one of the foundational documents of Chinese pre-modern marine biology. It was composed by Tú Běnjùn 屠本畯 (CBDB 565521; zì Tiánshū 田叔, native of Yínxiàn 鄞縣 in Níngbō; fl. 1596) — son of the prominent literatus Tú Lóng 屠隆’s relation Tú Yīngjùn 屠應峻 — during his service as Fújiàn yányùn tóngzhī (Salt-Transport Sub-Prefect for Fújiàn), at the urging of Tàicháng shàoqīng Yú Yín 余寅 (zì Jūnfáng), the author’s father’s old friend. The principal extant text incorporates supplementary annotation by Xú Bó 徐𤊹.
The work treats 257 marine species in all (167 scaled + 90 shelled, plus the two appended non-Mǐn items), identifying each by Mǐn local name and giving a brief diagnostic description. The Sìkù tíyào notes its complementary relation to Huáng Zhōng’s Hǎi yǔ KR2k0144 — the latter being broader and more colourfully descriptive on the major marine creatures (sharks, whales), while the former is more systematic and species-rich. Together the two works are the principal Míng-period documentary witnesses to the pre-modern Chinese knowledge of South-China Sea marine biology.
The work is preserved in Wényuāngé Sìkù quánshū (vol. 590.9). Modern critical editions: Wáng Hé 王河 ed., Mǐnzhōng hǎicuò shū in Sìkù quánshū bǔzhèng (Beijing, 1980s).
Translations and research
No comprehensive English translation. See Joseph Needham, Science and Civilisation in China, vol. 6, pt. 1 (Cambridge: Botany), pt. 2 (Agriculture), pt. 5 (Fermentations and Food Science) — for context. The principal scholarly study of the work is Bernard E. Read, “Chinese Ichthyology with Special Reference to Marine Animals,” in his Chinese Materia Medica series (Beijing: Peking Natural History Bulletin, 1932–1939, repr. Taipei: SMC, 1981).
Other points of interest
The work is one of the earliest detailed pre-Linnaean documentation of South-China-Sea marine biota with regional-specific Chinese vernacular names; it has been used by modern marine biologists to identify species otherwise lost to taxonomy.
Links
- Wikidata: not yet linked
- Read, Chinese Materia Medica (1932–1939, repr. SMC 1981)