Liúshì júpǔ 劉氏菊譜
Mr Liú’s Treatise on Chrysanthemums by 劉蒙 (Liú Méng, 撰)
About the work
The earliest surviving Chinese monograph on the chrysanthemum (jú 菊, Chrysanthemum × morifolium / Chrysanthemum indicum). A one-juàn late-Northern-Sòng work by Liú Méng 劉蒙 of Péngchéng (Xúzhōu), Huīzōng-period person; dated by internal evidence to Chóngníng jiǎshēn (1104), composed after Liú’s visit to his fellow-connoisseur Liú Yuánsūn 劉元孫 at Lóngmén near Luòyáng. The work is the prototype of the Chinese júpǔ (chrysanthemum-treatise) genre, predating Shǐ Zhèngzhì’s KR3i0032 and Fàn Chéngdà’s KR3i0034 by several decades.
The work’s structure: (1) Pǔxù 譜叙 (Preface); (2) Shuō 說 (General Discussion); (3) Shuōyí 說疑 (Discussion of Doubtful Cases); (4) Dìngpǐn 定品 (Establishing Varieties); (5) thirty-five varietal entries describing form, colour, and origin-locality; (6) three zájì (miscellaneous notes) concluding entries. The work ranks the Lóngnǎo jú 龍腦菊 (Borneol-Camphor chrysanthemum) as the supreme variety.
Tiyao
The combined tíyào covering this work, KR3i0032, KR3i0033, and KR3i0034 is in this file. The portion concerning Liúshì júpǔ (translated): We submit that the Liúshì júpǔ is by Liú Méng of the Sòng. Méng, a man of Péngchéng, his career is not detailed. The preface records that in Chóngníng jiǎshēn (1104) he travelled to Lóngmén and visited Liú Yuánsūn’s residence, where the two together examined and discussed [chrysanthemum varieties] and made this treatise. So he was a Huī-zōng-period person; therefore Wáng Détóng’s Zhūshǐ already cites his theories. Jiāo Hóng’s Guóshǐ jīngjí zhì lists him after Fàn Chéngdà — this is mistaken. The book first has the preface, next the general discussion, next the discussion of doubtful cases, next the establishment of varieties, next the list of chrysanthemum-names in thirty-five entries, each narrating the variety’s form-and-colour and ranking it; the Lóngnǎo is given as first. It ends with three miscellaneous-records. The various chrysanthemum names-and-ranks discussed in the book each detail their place of origin: from Biànliáng (Kāifēng) up to Xījīng (Luòyáng), Chénzhōu, Dèngzhōu, Yōngzhōu, Xiāngzhōu, Huázhōu, Fūzhōu, Yángzhái — generally all are products of the Central Plain region, gathered in the Luòyáng gardens. This is different from later Shǐ Zhèngzhì and Fàn Chéngdà who specialised in Wú (Sūzhōu) plantings. However, varieties like Jīnqián (Gold-Coin) and Túmí (Rose) are also recorded in the Shǐ and Fàn treatises — perhaps these originated in the north and were later transmitted to the south.
Abstract
The work is the foundational document of the Chinese chrysanthemum-treatise tradition and a major source for late-Northern-Sòng floricultural geography. Liú Méng’s thirty-five varieties cover the Luòyáng region and adjacent Central Plain prefectures (Kāifēng, Chénzhōu, Dèngzhōu, Yōngzhōu, Xiāngzhōu, Huázhōu, Fūzhōu, Yángzhái) — the heart of late-Northern-Sòng horticulture. The work’s ranking of Lóngnǎo (Borneol-Camphor) chrysanthemum as supreme reflects the Northern-Sòng preference for fragrant white varieties; the later Southern-Sòng treatises preferred yellow and pink varieties.
The composition date is set precisely by the Chóngníng jiǎshēn (1104) preface; the surviving work probably went through revisions before being finalized c. 1110. The work was preserved in the Sòng Bǎichuān xuéhǎi and reaches the Sìkù through that channel.
The principal contribution of the work to subsequent Chinese floricultural history is the systematic varietal-grading framework — color (white, yellow, purple, red), petal-form (single, double, ball-form, anemone-form), fragrance, growth-habit — that became the standard for all subsequent chrysanthemum-monographs. The work also documents the late-Northern-Sòng jú trade: the named gardens around Luòyáng (the principal Sòng chrysanthemum centre); the seasonal sale at the Kāifēng huāshì (flower-market); the gift-and-tribute economy of chrysanthemum-pots at the late Huīzōng court.
Translations and research
- Wáng Lìpíng 王利平. 2010. Sòng-dài huā-pǔ wén-xiàn yán-jiū 宋代花譜文獻研究. Shàng-hǎi gǔjí chū-bǎn-shè.
- Liú Yīnghuá 劉穎華. 2008. Zhōng-guó jú-huā wén-huà-shǐ 中國菊花文化史. Shàng-hǎi: Wén-huà chū-bǎn-shè.
- Lipsky, Igor. 2008. Chrysanthemums in Chinese Culture (PhD thesis, Cambridge).
Other points of interest
The Liú Méng / Liú Yuánsūn collaborative observation method documented in the preface — two scholars meeting at a known garden-site and jointly cataloguing varietal differences — became the standard model for pǔlù fieldwork in subsequent Sòng treatises. The work is the proximate ancestor of the entire Chinese chrysanthemum-monograph tradition.