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(Yanyou) Siming zhi (延祐)四明志

Sep 16, 2019 © Ulrich Theobald

(Yanyou) Siming zhi (延祐)四明志 is a local gazetteer on Ningbo 寧波, Zhejiang, written by Ma Ze 馬澤, courtesy name Runzhi 潤之, and Yuan Jue 袁桷, courtesy name Bozhang 伯長, style Qingrong Jushi 清容居士, during the Yanyou reign-period 延祐 (1314-1320) of the Yuan dynasty 元 (1279-1368). The book had originally a length of 20 juan, of which only 17 survive (fascicles 9-11 are missing). It was compiled parallel to the imperial geography Da-Yuan yitong zhi 大元一統志, and was finished in 1320.

The text presents the history, geography and administration of the region, as well as more than hundred eminent persons of Ningbo through history, canal projects, the situation of the tax system, schools, shrines, Buddhist and Daoist monasteries, and writings. Each chapter has a short preface explaining how critical the compilers used their sources.

Of great interest is the information on the office of the Maritime Trade Superintendency (shibosi 市舶司) which regulated naval trade, particularly that with foreign countries.

The book is included in the imperial series Siku quanshu 四庫全書 and was reprinted in 1854 by Master Xu 徐氏 of the Yanyu Studio 煙嶼樓. The Beijing and Nanjing Libraries own manuscript versions of the text, as does the Seikadō Library 靜嘉堂 in Japan. The most important version available is in the collection Song-Yuan Siming liu zhi 宋元四明六志, together with (Qiandao) Siming tujing (乾道)四明圖經, (Baoqing) Siming zhi (寶慶)四明志, (Kaiqing) Siming xuzhi (開慶)四明續志, (Dade) Changguo zhou tuzhi (大德)昌國州圖志, and (Zhizheng) Siming xuzhi (至正)四明續志. It is also included in the series Zhongguo fangzhi congshu 中國方志叢書 (1966).

The mountain Siming is dealt with a separate gazetteer, namely Huang Zongxi's 黃宗羲 (1610—1695) (Kangxi) Simingshan zhi (康熙)四明山志.

Sources:
Ji Ning 紀寧 (2008). "Yuan Jue Yanyou Siming zhi renwu lizhuan wenti qianyi 袁桷《延佑四明志》人物立傳問題淺議", Qinghai Shifan Daxue xuebao (Zhexue shehui kexue ban) 青海師範大學學報(哲學社會科學版) 2008 (3).
Li Xueqin 李學勤, Lü Wenyu 呂文郁, ed. (1996). Siku da cidian 四庫大辭典 (Changchun: Jilin daxue chubanshe), Vol. 1, 1252.
Niu Runzhen 牛潤珍, Song Yu 宋羽 (2018). "Song-Yuan zhi ji Siming diqu fojiao de fazhan: Yi Yanyou Siming zhi wei zhongxin de kaocha 宋元之際四明地區佛教的發展——以延祐《四明志》為中心的考察", Zhongguo difangzhi 中國地方志, 2018 (2).
Song Yu 宋羽 (2018). "Yanyou Siming zhi de bianzuan, banben yu xueshu jiazhi chuyi 《延祐四明志》的編纂、版本與學術價值芻議", Tushuguan gongguo yu yanjiu 圖書館工作與研究, 2018 (6).
Wang Zhaoming 王兆明, Fu Langyun 傅朗云, ed. (1991). Zhonghua gu wenxian da cidian 中華古文獻大辭典, Vol. Dili 地理卷 (Changchun: Jilin wenshi chubanshe), 90.
Wu Feng 吳楓, ed. (1987). 簡明中國古籍辭典 (Changchun: Jilin wenshi chubanshe), 340.
Xu Qishan 許起山 (2017). "Yuelun Yuan Jue Yanyou Siming zhi 略論袁桷《延祐四明志》", Qinghai Shifan Daxue xuebao (Zhexue shehui kexue ban) 青海師範大學學報(哲學社會科學版), 2017 (3).
Zhang Jialiang 張嘉梁,Wang Jingwei 王經緯, ed. (1992). Ningbo cidian 寧波詞典 (Shanghai: Fudan daxue chubanshe), 303.