Sòng Liú Chéngzhī Yǒngchū shānchuān jì 宋劉澂之永初山川記
Liu Chengzhi’s Yongchu Mountains-and-Rivers Record of the (Liu) Song by 劉澂之 (Liú Chéngzhī, dates unknown) — zhuàn 撰
About the work
A fragmentary geographic text composed during the Yǒngchū 永初 reign era (420–422 CE) of the Liu Song 劉宋 dynasty, attributed to Liú Chéngzhī 劉澂之. The surviving fragments, which run to roughly twenty passages covering a wide geographic range, record brief notes on mountains, rivers, historical sites, and administrative geography across northern and central China. The text is reconstructed from citations in encyclopedias and commentaries, including Lì Dàoyuán’s 酈道元 Shuǐjīng zhù 水經注.
Abstract
The Yǒngchū shānchuān jì is named for the Yongchu era (420–422), the first reign period of Emperor Wu of the Liu Song dynasty following the overthrow of the Eastern Jin, placing its composition at the very beginning of the Southern Qi–Song transition. The work’s range is broad: surviving fragments record geographic notes on locations from the north China plain (Lìyáng 黎陽 with its White Horse Fortress [白馬塞], Qiāo Commandery with Cuò county’s 棘津 ford) to the southwest (Yǒng’ān Commandery and its 伏流陂 earthwork), as well as rivers (the Jiàn 孝水, the Luò 洛 system, and a subterranean channel at Zǐtóng 梓潼), and literary-geographic commentary drawing on the Shūjīng and Shuǐjīng. The text notes that the Yáng Canal (陽渠) at Luoyang’s west face was constructed by the Duke of Zhou.
Author Liú Chéngzhī 劉澂之 is otherwise unknown; the name does not appear in standard Southern dynasty biographical sources. The title’s placement “Song” (Sòng 宋) in the title is unusual and serves to distinguish the work from similarly named geographic records of the Jin dynasty. The composition date of 420–422 is furnished by the Yongchu reign title in the text’s own name.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located.
Links
- ctext.org search: https://ctext.org/search.pl?if=en&search=永初山川記