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同度記

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Text ID
KR3fc040
Date
1770–1783
Dynasty
清

Tóngdù jì 同度記

Record of Uniform Measure by 孔繼涵 (撰)

About the work

孔繼涵 Kǒng Jìhán’s (1739–1783) evidential-philological study of the ancient Chinese measurement system, in 4 juàn. Composed in the mature Qiánlóng decades, in the circle of 戴震 Dài Zhèn (Kǒng Jìhán’s father-in-law) and the Huī-school kǎozhèng movement. The title Tóngdù 同度 (“uniform measure”) refers to the classical-canonical project, formulated in the Lǐ jì 禮記 and the Hàn shū Lǜlì zhì 律曆志, of establishing a uniform standard of weights, measures, and pitches for the empire.

Abstract

Kǒng Jìhán’s work belongs to the broad kǎozhèng project of philologically recovering the dimensional specifications of the ancient dùliànghéng 度量衡 (weights, measures, and volumes) system from the surviving classical and historical sources. The project shares its intellectual program with 朱載堉 Zhū Zàiyù’s late-Míng KR3fc028 Jiāliàng suànjīng and with Dài Zhèn’s contemporaneous Kǎogōng jì túzhù (Annotated Diagrammatic Record of Examination of Works), but Kǒng Jìhán’s specific contribution is the comprehensive philological synthesis of the metrological evidence from across the jīng and shǐ corpora.

The four juàn cover:

(1) The classical-canonical specifications of the dù (length-measure) system: the cùn 寸, chǐ 尺, zhàng 丈 unit-hierarchy; the huángzhōng 黃鐘 pitch-pipe basis; the Zhōulǐ and Lǐjì references; the Hàn shū Lǜlì zhì canonical exposition.

(2) The liàng (volumetric) system: the yuè 龠, gě 合, shēng 升, dǒu 斗, hú 斛 hierarchy; the jiāliàng 嘉量 imperial measuring-vessel specifications; the relation to the acoustic huángzhōng basis.

(3) The héng (weight) system: the zhū 銖, liǎng 兩, jīn 斤, jūn 鈞, dàn 石 hierarchy.

(4) The historical reconstruction: tabulation of the documented changes in the standard units from the Hàn through the Qīng, with assessment of which received measurements (in surviving bronze and pottery artifacts) can be matched to specific historical specifications.

The work’s principal substantive contribution is the systematic tabulation in juàn 4, which provides a comprehensive cross-reference between the textual specifications and the surviving physical artifacts. The methodology is characteristic of high kǎozhèng practice: the philological-textual evidence and the archaeological-artifactual evidence are treated as mutually-confirming rather than as alternative authorities, and the historian’s task is to find the reconstruction that fits both bodies of evidence.

The work was widely cited in the late-Qián-lóng / Jiāqìng metrological literature and remained the standard kǎozhèng reference on the ancient measurement system through the late Qīng. Its conclusions on specific dimensional specifications were incorporated into subsequent imperial metrological compilations and were the foundation for the modern Republican-era metrological reform.

Dating: NotBefore set at 1770 (allowing for the work’s preparation in Kǒng Jìhán’s mature productive period after his 1771 jìnshì); notAfter at his death year 1783.

For Kǒng Jìhán’s broader intellectual context see the Person note at 孔繼涵.

Translations and research

  • Elman, Benjamin A. 1984. From Philosophy to Philology. Cambridge, Mass.: Council on East Asian Studies, Harvard University. — Provides the kǎo-zhèng context.
  • Yü Ying-shih 余英時. 1976. Lùn Dài Zhèn yǔ Zhāng Xuéchéng. Hong Kong: Lóngmén shū-diàn. — Treats the Dài Zhèn / Kǒng Jìhán circle.
  • Wú Wénjùn 吳文俊, ed. 1985. Zhōng-guó shù-xué shǐ dà-xì 中國數學史大系, vol. 7.

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