Xièpǔ 蟹譜
Treatise on Crabs by 傅肱 (Fù Gōng, 撰)
About the work
The world’s first systematic monograph on crabs (xiè 蟹, primarily the Chinese mitten crab Eriocheir sinensis and related freshwater species). A two-juàn mid-Northern-Sòng work by Fù Gōng 傅肱 zì Zǐyì 子翼, hào Guàishān 怪山 of Kuàijī (Shàoxīng). Self-prefaced Jiāyòu 4 (1059), though the Sìkù editors note that the work refers to events of the Shénzōng / Xīníng period (specifically Zhào Gài’s 趙槩 Xúzhōu demotion of c. 1068), suggesting the date should be Yuányòu 4 (1089) — a single character emendation of Jiā (嘉) to Yuán (元) in the preface.
The work is structured in two piān: upper (mostly drawing on earlier-textual material on crabs, including the rare Tángyùn citation passages — seventeen of them, drawn from Sūn Miǎn’s 孫愐 Tángyùn before its mid-Sòng disappearance); lower (drawing on Fù’s own observations and contemporary anecdotes).
Tiyao
The combined tíyào covering this work and KR3i0047 is in this file. The portion concerning Xièpǔ (translated): We submit that the Xièpǔ is by Fù Gōng of the Sòng. Gōng, zì Zǐyì, self-signs as Guàishān. Chén Zhènsūn says Guàishān is Yuèzhōu’s Fēilái mountain — so he was a Kuàijī person. His book is divided into upper and lower piān*. At the head is a Jiāyòu 4 (1059) self-preface. The lower* piān*‘s* tānhuà (corruption-changed) entry refers to a senior minister of the Shénzōng era, surnamed Zhào, going out to govern a near-prefecture, with his name tabooed.
Investigating the Sòngshǐ*: only in Shénzōng Xīníng’s beginning,* Shūmìshǐ and Cānzhī zhèngshì Zhào Gài went out to be prefect of Xúzhōu — this matches. So the Jiāyòu (嘉祐) should be Yuányòu (元祐) — a character-error. However, the Shūlù jiětí also records this preface as Jiāyòu 4. And Zhào Gài was a famous Northern-Sòng official; he is not the sort one would credit with “corruption” — perhaps the shén character is a printing-error. The book records all crab-anecdotes. The upper piān largely gathers old text; the lower piān is Fù’s own record — its selection-and-arrangement is quite cultivated. The seventeen entries it cites from the Tángyùn are especially valuable for verification — apparently at that time Sūn Miǎn’s original recension still survived, hence Fù could see it.
Abstract
The work is the foundational document of crab-natural-history in Chinese and one of the principal sources for the freshwater-crustacean ecology of late-Northern-Sòng Jiāngnán. Its 17 citations from Sūn Miǎn’s 孫愐 Tángyùn 唐韻 (the standard Tang-period rhyme-dictionary, gone before the late Sòng) are uniquely valuable as preservation of a lost source.
The work covers:
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Crab varieties. Héxiè 河蟹 (river crab, the mitten crab); zéxiè 澤蟹 (marsh crab); shíxiè 石蟹 (rock crab); the famous Chénghú xiè 澄湖蟹 (Chéng Lake crab, the supreme Sūzhōu variety); the Suícōng xiè 蕊葱蟹 (an autumn-cultivated variety from the Yángzhōu region).
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Catching methods. The zhúzhāi 竹砦 (bamboo-weir) trap; the huǒliè 火獵 (fire-hunting) night-method using torches to attract crabs to the riverbank; the standard hand-catching.
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Cooking methods. The various zhēng (steaming), zhǔ (boiling), yān (pickling in wine or salt), and chá (preserving in fragrant tea-and-salt brine) preparations.
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Culture-of-crab. Literary references back to the Shàngshū “Yǔgòng” tribute lists; the famous Sòng cultural celebration of crab-eating (especially Sū Shì’s autumn crab-poems, but predating the major Sòng crab-literature).
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Pharmacology. The běncǎo uses of crab parts: shell, claw, fat — for various medical applications.
The dating is contested: the prefatory Jiāyòu 4 (1059) reading places the work in the late Rénzōng period; the internal reference to Zhào Gài’s c. 1068 Xúzhōu post requires Yuányòu 4 (1089) or possibly a later date. The Sìkù editors prefer the Yuányòu reading on textual grounds. Either way, the work is from the second half of the eleventh century.
Translations and research
- Métailié, Georges. 2015. Science and Civilisation in China. Vol. VI part 4 (Traditional Botany). Cambridge UP. Treats Xiè-pǔ as principal source.
- Wáng Lìzhī 王立志. 2012. Zhōng-guó gǔ-dài xiè-pǔ wén-xiàn yán-jiū 中國古代蟹譜文獻研究. Sū-zhōu master’s thesis.
- Shàn Zhènyǒng 單貞勇. 2010. Zhōng-guó xiè wén-huà 中國蟹文化. Shàng-hǎi: Wén-huà chū-bǎn-shè.
Other points of interest
The work is the immediate predecessor and source-of-materials for Gāo Sìsūn’s much more elaborate Xièlüè (KR3i0047) of 1184. Together the pair represents the Sòng apex of xiè (crab) literature; subsequent Yuán-Míng-Qing crab-monographs (e.g. the famous Lǐ Yú’s Xián qíng ǒu jì 閒情偶寄 of the 1670s on the joys of crab-eating) build on this foundation.