Xīmán cóngxiào 溪蠻叢笑
Collected Anecdotes of the XīMán (the Mán of the Five Streams) by 朱輔 (Zhū Fǔ, fl. late Southern Sòng) — zhuàn 撰
About the work
A 1-juan late-Southern-Sòng ethnographic monograph on the Wǔxī mán 五溪蠻 — the indigenous peoples of the five streams (Xióngxī, Mánxī, Xīxī, Wǔxī, Chénxī) of Wǔlíng commandery (modern western Húnán, the Yuán River basin), the area corresponding broadly to modern Xiāngxī TǔjiāMiáo Autonomous Prefecture. Composed by Zhū Fǔ 朱輔 (zì Jìgōng 季公, native of Tóngxiāng 桐鄉; otherwise undocumented; appears in the Hǔqiū zhì through a poem on Hǔqiū) — a late-Southern-Sòng minor official who served in the Wǔxī / Chénzhōu region. The work treats the customs, products, languages, dress, weapons, and inter-tribal distinctions of the Wǔxī mán with an unusual level of ethnographic detail — naming distinct types and customs that had not been distinguished in earlier monographs. The Sìkù tíyào commends the work’s ability to combine ethnographic precision (qǔzhé xiānxī, “twists-and-turns minutely-detailed”) with literary elegance (shì suī bǐ ér cí pō yǎ, “the matter is humble but the words are quite refined”). Notable for: (i) the historical-philological connection of lángān bù (a kind of patterned cloth) to Hàn-period tribute records; (ii) the connection of sānjǐ máo (the three-spined reed) to Bāomáo shān.
Tiyao
We respectfully note: the Xīmán cóngxiào in one juan is by Zhū Fǔ of Sòng. Fǔ, zì Jìgōng, native of Tóngxiāng. His career-history is not detailed; only the Hǔqiū zhì records a poem of his on Hǔqiū — we know him to be a man of late Southern Sòng. Xīmán, that is, what the HòuHàn shū poems call Wǔxī mán; Crown-Prince Huái’s note: “Wǔlíng has Xióngxī, Mánxī, Xīxī, Wǔxī, Chénxī — all are dwelt by Mányí; hence called Wǔxī mán”; in the present Chénzhōu border area.
Fǔ presumably once served officially in that area; therefore on the basis of what he heard and saw he composed this work. What it records of the various Mán’s customs and natural products is rather complete — for example, the transmission of lángān bù in the Hàn period, the origin of sānjǐ máo at Bāomáo shān — these traditional examples are also rather thoroughly given. As to the variety of customs, the differences of types — twists-and-turns minutely detailed, listed plainly. The matter is humble but the words quite elegant — may be called skilled in narration. Useful for kǎozhèng, profitably increasing seeing-and-hearing — surely not to be discarded for triviality. Respectfully proof-read in the tenth month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781).
Abstract
The Xīmán cóngxiào is the principal Southern-Sòng ethnographic monograph on the indigenous peoples of western Húnán. It was composed by Zhū Fǔ 朱輔 (zì Jìgōng 季公, native of Tóngxiāng 桐鄉; fl. late Southern Sòng, ca. 1240–1270, on the basis of the Hǔqiū zhì poem) on the basis of his personal observation during service in the Chénzhōu region.
The work describes the Wǔxī mán — the indigenous peoples of the Wǔxī (Five Streams: Xióngxī, Mánxī, Xīxī, Wǔxī, Chénxī) of Wǔlíng commandery, the historical region of modern western Húnán, including the ancestors of the modern Tǔjiā 土家, Miáo 苗, and Yáo 瑤 peoples. It is one of the principal pre-Yuán Chinese sources for the historical anthropology of these peoples, with detailed treatment of: (i) inter-tribal distinctions; (ii) customs of dress, marriage, and burial; (iii) natural products (the famous Wǔxī inkstone-stones, cǎoyào, Jiǎoshé / Chuānshānjiǎ / pangolin, distinctive musical instruments); (iv) languages and dialect-words. It is the principal post-Hàn pre-Yuán supplement to the inherited Wǔxī materials in the HòuHàn shū Mányí zhuàn and the Tàipíng huányǔ jì.
The work is preserved in Wényuāngé Sìkù quánshū (vol. 594.2). CBDB has multiple persons named 朱輔 — none with confident date-match for the late Southern-Sòng author here; followed CBDB 10553 tentatively.
Translations and research
No comprehensive English translation. See Magnus Fiskesjö, “On the ‘Raw’ and the ‘Cooked’ Barbarians of Imperial China,” Inner Asia 1.2 (1999): 139–168. For modern Tǔ-jiā / Miáo / Yáo ethnology see Norma Diamond, “The Miao and Poison: Interactions on China’s Southwest Frontier,” Ethnology 27 (1988): 1–25; Hu Hsing 胡興, Wǔ-xī mán yánjiū 五溪蠻研究. Wilkinson §74.6.
Other points of interest
Together with the Lǐngwài dàidá KR2k0116 of Zhōu Qùfēi (treating Guǎngxī indigenous peoples) and the Zhūfān zhì KR2k0139 of Zhào Rǔshì (treating maritime foreign peoples), the Xīmán cóngxiào represents the third great strand of Southern-Sòng ethnographic writing — covering the nèifān (interior frontier) indigenous peoples — and the three works together constitute a foundational corpus for Southern-Sòng documentary ethnography.
Links
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- Fiskesjö, Inner Asia 1.2 (1999): 139–168