竹嶼山房雜部

Zhú yǔ shān fáng zá bù 竹嶼山房雜部

Miscellaneous Sections from the Bamboo Island Mountain Lodge

by 宋詡 (Sòng Xǔ, zì Jiǔfū 久夫), 宋公望 (Sòng Gōngwàng, zì Tiānmín 天民) — Sòng Xǔ’s son — and edited by 宋懋澄 (Sòng Màochéng), Sòng Gōngwàng’s son. (Note: the Sìkù records the work as 32 juàn; the actual extant content runs to 22 juàn.)

About the work

A multi-section gentleman-farmer’s manual by three generations of the Sòng family of Huátíng (Sōngjiāng), recording matters of country life, agriculture, materia medica, household administration, and connoisseurship. The work is composed of five sections, recorded together but with distinct authorship: Yǎngshēng bù 養生部 (Nurturing Life, 6 juàn), Yànxián bù 燕閑部 (Leisured Quiet, 2 juàn), and Shùxù bù 樹畜部 (Trees and Livestock, 4 juàn) — all by Sòng Xǔ; Zhòngzhí bù 種植部 (Planting, 10 juàn) and Zūnshēng bù 尊生部 (Reverencing Life, 10 juàn) — by Sòng Gōngwàng. The whole was compiled into a single corpus by Sòng Gōngwàng’s son Sòng Màochéng. Sòng Xǔ’s zì is Jiǔfū; Sòng Gōngwàng’s zì is Tiānmín — both seen within the book. The Sìkù editors discuss the bibliographic problem of the work: Huáng Yújì’s Qiānqǐngtáng shūmù records the work as 27 juàn in a different arrangement (separating off Jiāyào 家要, Zōngyí 宗儀, and Jiāguī 家規) — this WYG copy is therefore not the complete original work but the five “miscellaneous” sections together. The work treats matters of country dwelling in great detail, with occasional kǎozhèng. The Yǎngshēng section’s shíyú (shad) entry is exemplary: citing the Ěryǎ, Zhèng Qiáo, Guō Pú, and Zhāng Xuán’s Huìyǎ to demonstrate that shí fish and shà-fish are distinct — substantive philological work, not just shānrén mòkè (mountain-recluse literary chatter).

Tiyao

We respectfully submit that Zhú yǔ shān fáng zá bù in 32 juàn: Yǎngshēng bù in 6 juàn, Yànxián bù in 2 juàn, Shùxù bù in 4 juàn — all by Míng Huátíng Sòng Xǔ. Zhòngzhí bù in 10 juàn and Zūnshēng bù in 10 juàn — by Sòng Xǔ’s son Gōngwàng. Gōngwàng’s son Màochéng combined them into a compilation. Sòng Xǔ’s zì was Jiǔfū; Gōngwàng’s zì was Tiānmín — both seen in the book; the rest is not detailed.

Examining: the Qiānqǐngtáng shūmù records this book in 27 juàn: Front collection — Shùxù bù 4 juàn, Yǎngshēng bù 6 juàn, Jiāyào 2 juàn, Zōngyí 2 juàn, Jiāguī 4 juàn; Back collection — Zhòngzhí 1 juàn, Zūnshēng 1 juàn. This copy is therefore an incomplete book. Yet this book uses agricultural-and-garden words mixed with playthings — and to be in one volume with Jiāyào, Jiāguī, Zōngyí is incoherent. So we suspect [the original] was later separated and circulated, and these five sections were gathered by category into a single volume — so this cannot be called less than a complete book either.

As to Zhòngzhí and Yǎngshēng each being 10 juàn — different from Huáng’s [1 juàn each] — and counted by Huáng’s total, the 27-juàn count also does not add up. So Huáng’s record cannot be relied on to fix the completeness of this book.

The book is most detailed in matters of country-living, and also occasionally appends kǎozhèng. As in the Yǎngshēng bù’s shíyú entry, citing the Ěryǎ “qiú = hù” to evidence it: Zhèng Qiáo’s gloss says qiú is hù; hù is suōxiàng biān — so it is not biān (bream); Guō Pú’s gloss says qiú resembles biān but is smaller — so not biān is known; Zhèng’s gloss is suspect. This book takes Zhāng Xuán’s Huìyǎ and discards Zhèng to follow Guō — taking qiú as shí (shad). The explanation is quite firm. This is one who reads books and investigates antiquity — not merely shānrén mòkè yǔ (mountain-recluse literary chatter).

Respectfully revised and submitted, eleventh month of the forty-sixth year of Qiánlóng (1781).

Abstract

The Zhú yǔ shān fáng zá bù is a three-generation Sōngjiāng gentry-family household manual covering rural life, gardening, animal husbandry, food, medicine, and connoisseurship. The collaboration across 宋詡 (Sòng Xǔ), his son 宋公望 (Sòng Gōngwàng), and his grandson 宋懋澄 (Sòng Màochéng) gives the work an unusual three-generational depth. The studio name Zhú yǔ shān fáng (“Bamboo Island Mountain Lodge”) is the Sòng family seat at Huátíng.

The work’s principal contributions:

1. Practical agricultural manual. The Zhòngzhí, Shùxù, and Yǎngshēng sections constitute one of the more detailed Míng practical agricultural works, useful for the history of Chinese agronomy.
2. Materia medica. The Yǎngshēng bù combines food-medicine practical knowledge with classical-philological investigation — exemplified by the shí-fish entry.
3. Three-generation authorship. The work documents the transmission of household knowledge across three generations of a Sōngjiāng gentry family in the late 15th and early 16th centuries.

Dating. Sòng Xǔ was active in the late 15th century; his son Sòng Gōngwàng in the early 16th; his grandson Sòng Màochéng presumably in the mid-16th. NotBefore c. 1500 (Sòng Xǔ’s compositions), notAfter c. 1550 (Sòng Màochéng’s compilation). The work entered circulation in two recensions (the WYG five-section zá bù and the Qiānqǐngtáng shūmù seven-section arrangement).

Extent. Catalog meta records 22 juàn. The Sìkù tiyao records 32 juàn (6 + 2 + 4 + 10 + 10). The discrepancy is unresolved; the catalog meta’s 22 may reflect a shorter recension or a transcription error.

Translations and research

No substantial Western-language treatment located. For the broader Chinese agronomy tradition see Francesca Bray, Agriculture, in Joseph Needham, Science and Civilisation in China, vol. 6 pt. 2, Cambridge, 1984.

Links

• Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào, Zǐbù · Zájiā lèi 4, Zhú yǔ shān fáng zá bù entry.