Xiāngzhōng jì 湘中記
Records of the Xiang Region by 庾仲雍 (Yú Zhōngyōng, fl. Southern Qi–Liang, late 5th–early 6th century CE) — zhuàn 撰
About the work
A fragmentary geographic record of the Xiāng 湘 River region, by the Southern Qi–Liang period author Yú Zhōngyōng 庾仲雍. The KRP text is distinguished from the earlier Xiāngzhōng jì by Luó Hán 羅含 (KR2k0177) by its title header “《庾仲雍湘中記》“. Yú Zhōngyōng also compiled a Xiāngzhōu jì 湘州記 (KR2k0180). The two works share overlapping material and are cited together in medieval encyclopedias.
Abstract
The single surviving passage, preserved in Yìwén lèijù 藝文類聚 (juàn 7) and in quotation within the Shuǐjīng zhù 水經注 (Lěi shui commentary), records the legend of Sū Dān 蘇躭 and Mǎ Lǐng Mountain 馬嶺山 in Guìyáng’s Chēn county 郴縣:
“Five lǐ northeast of Chēn county in Guìyáng is Mǎ Lǐng Mountain, height over 600 zhàng, the place where Sū Dān 蘇躭 (Su Geng) sojourned and achieved immortality. Afterward, people saw Dān riding a white horse back to this mountain, and the world named it Mǎ Lǐng (Horse Ridge) on this account.”
The Shuǐjīng zhù embeds a longer account from the Guìyáng liè xiān zhuàn 桂陽列仙傳 (Biographies of Immortals from Guiyang): Sū Dān (personal name also given as Sū Gēng 蘇耽) was an orphan from Chēn county who, though regarded as simple-minded, had an otherworldly nature. He predicted a great plague, instructed his mother to dig a well and give water to the sick, then ascended into immortality. Villagers built a shrine to him, and prosperity followed. The mountain’s name commemorates his return on a white horse.
This is a key early source for the Sū Gēng 蘇耽 / Sū Dān immortality legend, one of the canonical Hunan immortal traditions, preserved in later shenxian zhuan 神仙傳 literature.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located.
Links
- ctext.org search: https://ctext.org/search.pl?if=en&search=庾仲雍