Jìzuǎn yuānhǎi 記纂淵海
Deep Sea of Recorded Compilation
by 潘自牧 (Pān Zìmù, Southern Sòng, 撰); Míng bǔyí by 王嘉賓 (Wáng Jiābīn) and others.
About the work
A 100-juan Southern-Sòng lèishū by Pān Zìmù 潘自牧 (jìnshì of Qìngyuán 1 = 1195, native of Jīnhuá 金華, who served as jiàoshòu of Lóngyóu 龍游), unusual in the genre for the disproportionate weight given to rénshì 人事 (human affairs / personnel matters): of the 100 juan, 5 are devoted to Tiāndào (Heaven), 20 to Dìlǐ (Earth and geography), 64 to Rénshì, and only 11 to Wùlèi (animals, plants, things). The Sìkù editors note this as a “detailed-on-the-large, abridged-on-the-small” tendency that distinguishes it from other lèishū. The Jùnxiàn 郡縣 (Prefectures and Districts) section opens with Línān 臨安 — i.e. the Southern-Sòng capital — and after the southern prefectures gives Kāifēng and the other northern fǔ as “Dōngjīng quánshèng zhī jiù” (the former glories of the Eastern Capital), a Southern-Sòng nostalgic-irredentist gesture that contrasts with works like Fāngyú shènglǎn which silently dropped the lost north.
The transmitted text is the Míng Wànlì jǐmǎo (1579) edition prepared by Wáng Jiābīn 王嘉賓 (Zhī Dàmíngfǔ), with his bǔyí 補遺 (supplementary) annotations after Pān’s name. The Sìkù editors note this is similar to Chén Yǔmó’s bǔzhù on the Běitáng shūchāo (KR3k0004) — i.e. an editorial overlay that obscures the original. The actual editorial work was done by Chén Wénsuì 陳文燧 (Hénán ànchá sī fùshǐ), Cài Zhīqí 蔡之奇 (Dàmíngfǔ tōngpàn), Gù Ěrháng 顧爾行 (Dàmíngfǔ tuīguān) and others, with Wáng Jiābīn merely funding the printing — what the Sìkù editors dismiss as a “shūpà” (book-as-gift) print where attributions are filled in casually.
Tiyao (abridged)
The Jìzuǎn yuānhǎi in 100 juan by Pān Zìmù of the Sòng. According to the Zhèjiāng tōngzhì, Zìmù was a native of Jīnhuá, jìnshì of Qìngyuán 1 (1195), and served as Magistrate of Lóngyóu. This text titles him “jiàoshòu” (Education Officer), presumably the post he held when he wrote.
The book divides by mén, with content drawn from many sources — similar to other lèishū. But in 100 juan, Tiāndào gets 5, Dìlǐ gets 20, Rénshì gets 64, and Wùlèi only 11 — detailed on the large, abridged on the small — a small departure from other lèishū. The Jùnxiàn bù leads with Línān, on the basis of the post-southern-crossing reduced realm; after the Five Ridges and the Two Sichuans it lists Kāifēng and other fǔ “preserving the former glories of the Eastern Capital” — different from Fāngyú shènglǎn and similar works which dropped material north of the Huái River and recorded none.
The various Xìngxíng yìlùn (Character and Discussion) sub-sections are minutely fragmented, but the work is still comprehensive. This recension was cut in Wànlì jǐmǎo [1579]. The original head, after Zìmù’s name, has the title “Zhōngxiàn dàfū Dàmíngfǔ zhīfǔ qián jiānchá yùshǐ DōngLǔ Wáng Jiābīn bǔyí” — like Chén Yǔmó altering the Běitáng shūchāo, no longer Pān’s original. Chén Wénsuì’s preface says his ancestor “sought it in Mǐn and Shǔ, getting the front-part; travelled Wú and Yuè and finally obtained the rear-part”; this recension does not divide front and rear — combined again, again losing its true shape. The preface continues: “in middle-age the book had degraded, with worm-eating and gaps; in the winter of wùyín [1578] I took charge of the Jīnán and in my idle hours mistakenly made it the project of supplementing the commentary; the most badly damaged sections I assigned to Biéjià Cài, Sīlǐ Gù, and Xuébó Wú to gather from various works and supply the missing; one day I showed them to the Tàishǒu Yuèfēng Wánggōng and the County Magistrate Wú; the latter offered to donate his salary toward printing the work”; etc.
By the míngshī (list of names) at the head: Biéjià Cài was Tōngpàn Cài Zhīqí, Sīlǐ Gù was Tuīguān Gù Ěrháng, Xuébó Wú is one of Fǔxué xùndǎo Wú Ténglóng or Wèixiàn jiàoyú Wú Lín — not certain which; the Yìlìng Wú was Nánlèxiàn zhīxiàn Wú Dìng; the Tàishǒu Wánggōng is Jiābīn. So the actual supplementers were Chén Wénsuì, Cài Zhīqí and two others (three in all); Jiābīn merely funded the printing without putting brush to paper, contradicting the cover. Míng shūpà (book-as-gift) editions: jiào and bǔ alike are casually filled in, no surprise; pointless to investigate. Its gēndǐ (foundation) is the Sòng original.
Respectfully revised and submitted, third month of the forty-sixth year of Qiánlóng [1781].
General Compilers: Jǐ Yún 紀昀, Lù Xīxióng 陸錫熊, Sūn Shìyì 孫士毅. General Reviser: Lù Fèichí 陸費墀.
Abstract
The Jìzuǎn yuānhǎi is the principal Southern-Sòng lèishū with a strongly anthropocentric architecture — 64 of its 100 juan devoted to human-affairs categories (institutions, personnel, character, conduct, judgement, statecraft, etiquette) and only 11 to the natural-world categories that dominate other lèishū. Pān Zìmù 潘自牧 of Jīnhuá was a jìnshì of Qìngyuán 1 (1195); his career was modest (Magistrate of Lóngyóu, then jiàoshòu) and the work belongs to his teaching-period. Composition is bracketed here from his jìnshì (1195) to ca. 1210; Chén Zhènsūn already records the work in the 1230s. The text now survives only as the heavily-overwritten Míng Wànlì (1579) edition restored from a manuscript split between Mǐn (Fújiàn) and Shǔ (Sìchuān) family copies, with extensive bǔyí supplements by Chén Wénsuì and his colleagues at Dàmíngfǔ.
The work’s distinctive feature — the strong emphasis on rénshì and the inclusion of the Kāifēng and northern-prefecture material as “Dōngjīng quánshèng zhī jiù” — makes it a useful source for both Southern-Sòng administrative thought and the political-cultural memory of the lost northern territories. The standard modern edition is the Zhōnghuá shūjú 1981 reprint of the Sìkù recension.
Translations and research
- Hú Dào-jìng 胡道靜, Zhōngguó gǔdài de lèishū (Zhōng-huá, 1982), §Sòng.
- Hervouet, A Sung Bibliography (HKCUP, 1978), entry on the Jì-zuǎn yuān-hǎi.
No European-language translation.
Other points of interest
The Sìkù tíyào’s detailed prosopographical exposure of the actual editorial chain (the four-stage shūpà attribution: Wáng Jiābīn funded; Chén Wénsuì, Cài Zhīqí, Gù Ěrháng and Wú edited; the local educator Wú actually wrote the bǔyí; Wáng’s name was placed on the cover) is one of the more pointed Qīng critiques of Míng shūpà editorial practice. It is methodologically a small classic of the jiàokānxué tradition.
Links
- Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào, Zǐbù · Lèishū lèi, Jìzuǎn yuānhǎi entry.
- Wikidata: Q11074293.