Dānyáng jì 丹陽記
Records of Danyang by 山謙之 (Shān Qiānzhī, fl. Yuánjia 元嘉 era, 424–453 CE, d. *c.*479) — zhuàn 撰
About the work
A local geographic record of the Dānyáng 丹陽 region (the area of the Liu Song capital Jiànkāng 建康, modern Nanjing), attributed to Shān Qiānzhī 山謙之. A historian and geographer active in the Liu Song court, Shān Qiānzhī was commissioned during the Yuánjia era (424–453 CE) to assist in compiling the Sòngshū 宋書 under Hé Chéngtian 何承天, and wrote several regional geographic records including 《南徐州記》 and 《吳興記》.
Abstract
The surviving fragment of the Dānyáng jì describes Címǔ Shān 慈姥山 (also written 慈母山), located thirty lǐ south of Jiāngnìng County 江寧縣. The mountain’s fame rested on its distinctive bamboo, praised as the finest xiāogǔ 簫管竹 (bamboo for making musical flutes and pipes) since the legendary music-master Líng Lún 伶倫 gathered bamboo from the Jiè valley (嶰谷) in antiquity. Shān Qiānzhī notes that this Dānyáng bamboo had come to be regarded as the premier source: “thereafter only this type of gǎn 簳 [slender bamboo] was prized.” As a consequence, the site regularly supplied the imperial Music Bureau (樂府), and the mountain colloquially became known as “Gǔchuī Shān” 鼓吹山 (Drum-and-Wind-Instrument Mountain). Bamboo from the Cí Hú Garrison (慈湖戍) on the lakeside below was regularly harvested for this purpose. Shān Qiānzhī further notes that Wáng Bāo’s 王褒 celebrated rhapsody Dòng xiāo fù 洞簫賦 (Han dynasty) referred to bamboo from this precise location.
This fragment is the sole surviving passage from the Dānyáng jì in the Kanripo text. Additional fragments are preserved in Tàipíng yùlǎn 太平御覽, Jiànkāng shílù 建康實錄, and the Yìwén lèijù 藝文類聚. The work is listed in the Suí shū · Jīngjí zhì under Geography.
Translations and research
- Theobald, Ulrich. chinaknowledge.de, “Geographies 地理類” (lists Shān Qiānzhī and his works).
Links
- ctext.org: https://ctext.org/search.pl?if=en&search=丹陽記