Yánshān zájì 顏山雜記
Miscellaneous Notes on Mount Yán by 孫廷銓 (Sūn Tíngquán, 1613–1674) — zhuàn 撰
About the work
A 4-juan early-Qīng kǎozhèng-and-natural-history monograph on Yánshénzhèn 顏神鎮 (modern Bóshān 博山 in Zībó 淄博, Shāndōng), the Yánshān “Yán Mountain” region of Yìdū 益都, the author’s home district. Composed in Kāngxī bǐngwǔ (1666) by Sūn Tíngquán 孫廷銓 (zì Bódù 伯度, also Méixiān 枚先, hào Zhǐtíng 沚亭; native of Yìdū; Chóngzhēn gēngchén / 1640 jìnshì; under the Qīng, Hénánfǔ tuīguān, Lìbù zhǔshì, eventually Nèi mìshūyuàn dàxuéshì, posthumous title Wéndìng) during his retirement at Yánshénzhèn after stepping down from the Grand Secretariat. Divided into entries on: shāngǔ (mountains and valleys), shuǐquán (waters and springs), chéngshì (city and markets), guānshǔ (offices), xiāngxiào (local academies), yìmín (loyalists), xiàoyì (filial piety), fēngtǔ, suìshí, Chángchéng kǎo (study of the Great Wall — i.e. the Qí Long Wall passing through), língquán, miào (shrines), zāixiáng (calamities and omens), wùbiàn, wùchǎn, wùyì, yíwén. Prized by Wáng Shìzhēn 王士禎 in his Jūyì lù and Xiāngzǔ bǐjì for the elegant variety of its prose register — Wáng compares it to Tián Wén’s Qián shū in evoking varying ancient classical voices (Ěryǎ, Kǎogōng jì, GōngGǔ Tángōng, Yuèjué shū). Particularly important for the entries on the liúlí (glass) and yáoqì (kiln-ware) industries of Yánshénzhèn / Bóshān, the méijǐng (coal-pits), and the tiěyě (iron-smelting) — Yánshénzhèn / Bóshān being the principal Qīng-era industrial centre for these.
Tiyao
We respectfully note: the Yánshān zájì in four juan is by Sūn Tíngquán of our state. Tíngquán, zì Bódù, also zì Méixiān, hào Zhǐtíng, native of Yìdū. Pre-Míng Chóngzhēn gēngchén jìnshì (1640); entered our state by recommendation given Hénánfǔ tuīguān; promoted Lìbù zhǔshì; rose through office to Nèi mìshūyuàn dàxuéshì, posthumous title Wéndìng.
Yìdū has Yánshénzhèn — situated formidably in narrow defensiveness; in the Míng period a city was built and officials posted to govern it. Tíngquán’s family lived there. In Kāngxī bǐngwǔ (1666), Tíngquán, having retired as Grand Secretary, while at his home base, gathered old reports and made this book. Divided into the categories shāngǔ, shuǐquán, chéngshì, guānshǔ, xiāngxiào, yìmín, xiàoyì, fēngtǔ, suìshí, Chángchéng kǎo, língquán, miào, zāixiáng, wùbiàn, wùchǎn, wùyì, yíwén. The narration is concise and substantive; the formulation strives for distinctive elegance.
Wáng Shìzhēn’s Jūyì lù says: Tián Wén’s Qián shū in 76 chapters has things resembling Ěryǎ, things resembling Kǎogōng jì, things resembling GōngGǔ Tángōng, things resembling Yuèjué shū; the late Grand Secretary Sūn Wéndìng gōng Tíngquán wrote the Yánshān zájì on shāncán (mountain silkworm), liúlí, yáoqì, méijǐng, tiěyě etc. — its writing is also similarly distinctively unusual. Now examining: liúlí, yáoqì, méijǐng, tiěyě are all recorded in this work; the shāncán item is in Tíngquán’s Nánzhēng jìlüè — Wáng Shìzhēn evidently misremembered.
Further, Wáng Shìzhēn’s Xiāngzǔ bǐjì cites this work’s record of the Fènghuánglǐng Yùhuánggōng stone inscription bearing the imperial signatures of Sòng Tàizǔ, Tàizōng, and Zhēnzōng, which differs from what is recorded in Zhōu Mì’s Guǐxīn záshí — and says he records both for cross-reference. Examining: the Guǐxīn záshí is a Míng-period reprint, while this stone is a Sòng-period original carving; wood-blocks are easy to corrupt — one should take the stele as evidence; Shìzhēn’s preserving both is not correct. Only — the Xiāngzǔ bǐjì, on the basis of Huáng Zàn’s Xuězhōu jí’s Yìkuàng dào yīshū (memorial on mining-bandits), holds that the proposal to set up officials at Yánshén originated with Huáng Zàn, and refutes this work’s saying “in Zhèngdé 12 (1517) the xúnàn Mr. Huáng petitioned to request” as untrue — that is indeed Tíngquán’s failure of kǎohé. Respectfully proof-read in the third 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 Yánshān zájì is one of the most highly regarded early-Qīng bǐjì on a single locality, by the Grand Secretary Sūn Tíngquán 孫廷銓 (1613–1674; CBDB 57021; zì Bódù 伯度, also Méixiān 枚先, hào Zhǐtíng 沚亭; native of Yìdū 益都 in Shāndōng) — Chóngzhēn 13 (1640) jìnshì under the Míng, who served the Qīng under Shùnzhì and early Kāngxī, rising to Grand Secretary of the Nèi mìshūyuàn and being posthumously titled Wéndìng. The work was composed in Kāngxī 5 (1666) at Yánshénzhèn (modern Bóshān 博山) during Sūn’s retirement at his home base.
The work is principally important in two distinct registers. (i) Literarily: the work was prized by Wáng Shìzhēn for the elegant variety of its prose register — different sections written in different ancient classical voices (Ěryǎ-mode philological, Kǎogōng jì-mode technical, GōngGǔ Tángōng-mode Confucian-historical, Yuèjué shū-mode regional-mythological). It is one of the finest pieces of early-Qīng prose-stylistic experimentation. (ii) Technologically: the entries on liúlí (glass) and yáoqì (kiln-ware), méijǐng (coal-mines), and tiěyě (iron-smelting) are the principal pre-modern Chinese-language documentary sources for the industrial history of Bóshān 博山 — the major Qīng-era industrial centre for these materials. The liúlí section in particular is the foundational source for the historical study of Chinese glass-making.
The work is preserved in Wényuāngé Sìkù quánshū (vol. 592.3).
Translations and research
- Joseph Needham et al., Science and Civilisation in China, vol. 4, pt. 3 (Civil Engineering and Nautics), and the supplementary volumes on glass and ceramics — uses Yán-shān zájì as the principal source for Chinese pre-modern glass technology.
- Tsien Tsuen-Hsuin in Cambridge History of China, vol. 9.
- Bó-shān shì wén-shǐ-zǔ ed., Yán-shān zájì jiào-zhù 顏山雜記校注 (Bó-shān, 1980s).
- For Sūn Tíng-quán’s career see ECCP s.v. Sun T’ing-ch’üan; Hummel, Eminent Chinese of the Ch’ing Period (Washington, 1943).
Other points of interest
The liúlí (glass) section of the Yánshān zájì has been the subject of substantial research as the principal documentary source for the late-imperial Bóshān glass industry; the méijǐng (coal) section is one of the most detailed early-Qīng descriptions of Chinese coal-mining technology; the tiěyě (iron) section is similarly foundational for the historical metallurgy of north-eastern Shāndōng.
Links
- Wikidata: not yet linked
- ECCP s.v. Sun T’ing-ch’üan
- Needham, Science and Civilisation in China, vol. 4/3