Tiān xià míng shān jì 天下名山記
Records of the Famous Mountains under Heaven
selected by 吳秋士 (Wú Qiūshì, zì Xīcūn 西邨) of Xīnān 新安; collated by 汪立名 (Wāng Lìmíng, zì Xītíng 西亭)
A two-juàn anthology of records (jì 記) on famous Chinese mountains — i.e., a literary-tour anthology in the yóu jì (travel-record) genre, gathered around the principal sacred and scenic mountains. The opening Cì yóu Xī yuàn jì 賜遊西苑記 is by the early-Míng official Lǐ Xián 李賢 (1408–1466), narrating the imperial-bestowed tour of the Xīyuàn (Western Garden, Beijing imperial-park) on the Tiānshùn jǐmǎo day = first day of the 4th lunar month, 1459 (Tiānshùn 3); the entries proceed to cover the named imperial-tour sites, the sacred mountains (Wǔyuè), and other famous scenic locales. The classification is by zhí lì (Direct-Subordinacy Province / Beijing capital region), suggesting a more comprehensive structure across the work as a whole. The text is incorporated into DZJY as part of the míng shān (famous mountain) anthology programme of the Three-Teachings synthesis.
Prefaces
The text opens directly with the Cì yóu Xī yuàn jì by Lǐ Xián, narrating the 1459 imperial tour: “On the auspicious day of the first month of summer of Tiānshùn jǐmǎo, the emperor commanded the inner-palace eunuch to lead Xián and Minister of Personnel Wáng Áo and a few others to wander in the Western Garden. The next year also; and the next year again. — On entering the garden-gate, one immediately faces the Tàiyè pool; reeds and rushes fill the water-edge like upright spears, water-chestnut and lotus jade-pure-clear, eye-pleasing — full of love. Following the pool’s east-bank northward, willows and elms, peach-and-apricot, the grass-color spreading along the shore as a carpet; flower-fragrance assails man. Going about a hundred paces, reaching the Pepper-Garden — pines and cypresses verdant, fruit-trees in abundance; in the centre is a circular hall, golden-light reflecting; on all sides spacious, called Chóng zhì…”
Abstract
A late-Míng / early-Qīng anthology of mountain-and-garden travel-records, edited by Wú Qiūshì and collated by Wāng Lìmíng. The opening Lǐ Xián piece dates the work’s earliest layer to 1459 (the Tiānshùn 3 imperial tour); the terminus ad quem of the editorial work is c. 1700 (Wāng Lìmíng’s Kāngxī floruit). The work is part of the broader Daoist míng shān (famous mountain) literature, included in DZJY as part of the cosmological-geographical apparatus of the Three Teachings.
Translations and research
- No comprehensive critical edition or translation located. For travel-writing see Strassberg, Inscribed Landscapes: Travel Writing from Imperial China (UC Press 1994).
Links
- Kanseki Repository KR5i0105
- Selector: 吳秋士; collator: 汪立名.