Bào Zhì Nán Yōngzhōu jì 鮑至南雍州記
Bao Zhi’s Records of South Yongzhou by 鮑至 (Bào Zhì, fl. Southern Qí–Liáng, dates unknown) — zhuàn 撰
About the work
A substantial geographic record of the Nán Yōngzhōu 南雍州 region (the area along the upper Hàn River and Fán River 樊水 valleys in modern northwestern Hubei and southwestern Henan), by Bào Zhì 鮑至, an official of the Southern Qí 南齊 to Liáng 梁 dynasty (479–557 CE). The reconstructed text (c. 700 lines in the KRP digital version) is among the larger of the fragmentary geographic texts in this section of the Kanripo corpus.
Abstract
The Nán Yōngzhōu jì opens with a historical account of the region: the Yōngzhōu 雍州 circuit was established as a “refugee zone” (qiáo zhōu 僑州) following the Yǒngjiā Disorder (永嘉之亂, 311 CE), when powerful families of the Sān Fǔ 三輔 region (the Wei River valley) fled south to Fán River valley territories (樊); the name “Yong-zhou” was retained to give the refugees a sense of home. Under Song Emperor Wen (r. 424–453), the circuit was formally redesignated as Nán Yōngzhōu 南雍州 to distinguish it from the northern Yōngzhōu.
The text then proceeds through systematic topographic, historical, and anecdotal material on the region’s geography:
- County and city identifications: Dèng County (鄧縣) = ancient Fán Chéng 樊城 (modern Xiangfan); Gǔchéng 穀城 as the ancient domain of the Gǔbó 穀伯 polity, formerly bearing a stone figure with a mysterious inscription.
- Historical associations: Routes of Bái Qǐ’s 白起 Qin campaigns; the Mán River and the “White Duke’s Shoals” (白公湍).
- Religious and anomalous anecdotes: Stories of Daoist exorcisms, a turtle that died at a ritual altar to cure illnesses, a witty remark by the aide Wéi Yán 韋言 about the ghost’s stupidity — citing 《太平廣記》 in the final passage (this citation indicates post-978 CE assembly of the specific anthology, but the underlying geographic material may be older).
Citations span a wide range of sources including 《太平御覽》, 《太平寰宇記》, 《史記正義》, 《通鑑》 annotations, and 《太平廣記》, suggesting this KRP text is itself a compilation anthology drawn from multiple encyclopedic sources rather than a directly transmitted text.
The Suí shū · Jīngjí zhì does not clearly list a work by this exact title; however, works on Nán Yōngzhōu are attested from the Southern Qi-Liang period. Bào Zhì 鮑至’s biographical details are not preserved in standard histories. The composition date window of 479–557 reflects the probable active period of a Southern Qi/Liang official.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located.
Links
- ctext.org search: https://ctext.org/search.pl?if=en&search=南雍州記