Xúnyáng jì 潯陽記
Records of Xunyang
Anonymous (attributed to Shān Qiānzhī 山謙之 in some sources)
About the work
A fragmentary geographic record of the Xúnyáng 潯陽 region (modern Jiujiang 九江, Jiangxi), covering the Lushan area and the Xunyang city. Xunyang (潯陽) was a significant city at the confluence of the Gan River with the Yangzi, and is famous in literary history as the setting of Bái Jūyì’s 白居易 Pípá xíng 琵琶行 (816 CE) and for being the home of the recluse Táo Yuānmíng 陶淵明 (365–427 CE). The Xúnyáng jì may be the same as the work attributed to Shān Qiānzhī 山謙之 (山謙之) noted in bibliographic lists of his geographical writings.
Abstract
Two passages survive:
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The Water Dragon of the East Gate: At the eastern gate of Xunyang city, there was habitually a jiāo 蛟 (water dragon) that harmed the local people. The physician and Daoist practitioner Dǒng Fèng 董奉 (a historical figure associated with Lushan, fl. 3rd century CE) wrote out a talisman (fú 符) and threw it into the water. Within a few days, a dead water dragon floated up. This passage records the tradition linking Dong Feng with Xunyang.
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Lushan Geography: The southwest of Lushan has Kāngwáng Gǔ 康王谷 (King Kang’s Valley) and a Northern Ridge (北嶺) — a brief topographic note.
Dǒng Fèng 董奉 (fl. 3rd century CE, supposedly of Hóuguān 侯官, Fujian) is a significant Daoist figure: his legend of the “Apricot Grove” (杏林) — where he treated patients in exchange for planting apricot trees — became the standard Chinese metaphor for the medical profession. His association with Lushan (where he is said to have lived in retirement) is consistent with the Xunyang locale.
The Xúnyáng jì is probably a Liu Song or earlier work, given that Shān Qiānzhī wrote regional geographic records of this area, and the reference to Dǒng Fèng is consistent with an Eastern Jin or Liu Song perspective.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located.
Links
- ctext.org search: https://ctext.org/search.pl?if=en&search=潯陽記