Tiānzhōng jì 天中記
Records of Tiān-zhōng
by 陳耀文 (Chén Yàowén, Míng, 撰); with appendix 張衡 (Zhāng Héng, Hàn) Zhōutiān dàxiàng fù 週天大象賦.
About the work
A 60-juan Míng-period encyclopedic lèishū by Chén Yàowén 陳耀文 (JiājìngLóngqìng period), titled after the Tiānzhōng shān 天中山 near the compiler’s hometown. Chén was a leading mid-Míng kǎojù scholar — author of the Xuépǔ xuānsū 學圃萱蘇 (KR4d series), the Zhèng Yángjí 正楊集 (a polemical correction of Yáng Shèn’s 楊慎 errors), and other major mid-Míng evidential works.
The Tiānzhōng jì’s distinctive contribution to the lèishū tradition — emphasized in the Sìkù tíyào — is the systematic source-citation of every entry. Where typical Míng commercial lèishū omit citations or fabricate them by guess, the Tiānzhōng jì gives each entry’s source-work. The work also includes Chén’s own ànyǔ (editor’s notes) at many entries — correcting errors in older lèishū. The Sìkù editors note Chén’s identification of specific errors in Hébì shìlèi, Jǐnxiù wànhuā gǔ, Shìwén lèijù, Wànjuàn jīnghuá, and the Kǒngshì liùtiē — making the Tiānzhōng jì a pioneering Míng-period kǎojù-style correction of the late-Sòng / Yuán / early-Míng lèishū tradition. As an appendix, the Hàn-period Zhāng Héng’s Zhōutiān dàxiàng fù is included.
Tiyao (abridged)
The Tiānzhōng jì in 60 juan by Chén Yàowén of the Míng. Yàowén’s learning was broad; he has the Xuépǔ xuānsū, Zhèng Yángjí and other works separately catalogued. This work as recorded in the Míng shǐ · Yìwén zhì is in 60 juan; today’s commercial reprints have only 50 juan, without category headers — clearly the early-printing unfinished version. The present recension is the 60-juan complete book.
Míng-period lèishū mostly omit the source of the old citations and freely augment by guess — nothing can be confirmed. This book draws richly but each entry has its source — better arranged than other lèishū. Only the source-book is sometimes given at the entry’s head and sometimes at its tail — not consistent in practice. As: the term qiānyáng fúyīn (failed yáng and hidden yīn) comes from the Chūnqiū Zuǒshì zhuàn, but cited under the Hàn shū · Wǔxíng zhì, so the shìshǐ (first attestation) is misplaced. Juan 1 has all its piānmù already finished but is then appended with Zhāng Héng’s Dàxiàng fù — disordered arrangement. Such defects are often careless. But the gathering from jiǔliú bìwěi (nine schools and esoteric chènwěi) down to obscure precedents and lost lore — broadly assembled — is truly an aid to bówén duōshí (broad hearing and many knowing).
Below each entry are sometimes Chén’s ànyǔ — like: the Yùpiān and Guǎngyùn gloss of dàn 誕 as shēng (birth); the Shuǐjīng zhù’s reading of Miáocí táng as Máocí táng; Shìshuō commentary giving Qiántáng as Qiántāng; Táng Yìshǐ’s mis-dating of Sūn Sīmiǎo; the Xīn Táng shū’s contradictory record of Ān Lùshān’s death-day — Chén exposes them all. Cases of recurring traditional lèishū errors he also corrects: Hébì shìlèi’s Dí Jiānmó as Wèi Mó; Jǐnxiù wànhuā gǔ’s Fútú Hóng as Yīxíng; Shìwén lèijù’s Liú Gài as Dào Gài; Wànjuàn jīnghuá’s Jìn Jiànyuán 1 as Hàn Wǔdì; Kǒng’s Liùtiē’s Sānyáng gōng as Huànshǔ gōng. Such cases combine evidential utility with lìshì (allusion-marshalling) function — particularly thorough; not equaled by other compendia.
Fàn Shǒuyǐ’s Qūwěi xīnwén criticizes the work for omitting Fúqiūwēng, Wáng Zǐjìn, Dīng Lìngwēi, Xú Yàqīng from the hèmén (cranes) entry, and Qīngpǔ, Huángpǔ etc. from the pǔmén (banks) entry — but the juan-mass is large, occasional omissions cannot be guarded against; among the multitude of river-names and water-names — none can ever be exhaustive — so failing to list one or two minor waters is no basis for criticizing the work’s gathering.
The book is called Tiānzhōng jì because Yàowén lived near Tiānzhōng shān.
Respectfully revised and submitted, tenth month of the forty-second year of Qiánlóng [1777].
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 Tiānzhōng jì is one of the most methodologically rigorous Míng-period lèishū, and the principal mid-Míng work to import kǎojù (evidential) discipline into the genre. Chén Yàowén (1524?–1605, zì Huìpǔ 晦伯, of Suízhōu 隋州 in Hénán) was a Jiājìng 29 (1550) jìnshì and senior provincial official; he is also the author of the well-known Zhèng Yángjí 正楊集 (KR3k0050 series; a kǎojù correction of Yáng Shèn’s many errors). The Tiānzhōng jì’s title refers to the Tiānzhōng shān near Chén’s home in Suízhōu — Hénán’s Rǔnán prefecture, traditionally identified as the geographical center of the Tiānxià. Composition is bracketed from his jìnshì (1550) to the early Wànlì period.
The work’s structural plan covers all the standard lèishū categories (Heaven, Earth, Time, Sovereigns, Officials, Rites, Music, Garments, Implements, Plants, Animals, etc.) with rich citations from canonical and historical sources. Its distinctive contribution is the systematic ànyǔ (editorial notes) correcting errors in the lèishū tradition — a small kǎojù monograph embedded in the encyclopaedic compilation. The standard modern edition is the Shànghǎi gǔjí 1991 reprint of the Sìkù recension.
Translations and research
- Hú Dào-jìng 胡道靜, Zhōngguó gǔdài de lèishū (Zhōng-huá, 1982), §Míng.
- Yú Yīng-shí 余英時, Zhū Xī de lì-shǐ shì-jiè (Yǔn-chén, 2003), §X references mid-Míng kǎo-jù.
No European-language complete translation.
Other points of interest
The Hàn-period Zhāng Héng Zhōutiān dàxiàng fù appended to the work is preserved here in a relatively complete form — QuánHànwén drew on it for the modern critical edition. The work is one of the better Míng-period preservations of this otherwise fragmentary Hàn astronomical fù.
Links
- Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào, Zǐbù · Lèishū lèi, Tiānzhōng jì entry.
- Wikidata: Q11074751.