Yangzhou Map--A Series of Jiangsu Local Literature

Author: (Qing) Jiao Xun, Jiang Fan compiled, Xue Fei edited
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 1998-12-01
Features: "The Illustrated Records of Yangzhou" is a local document of Yangzhou compiled by Jiao Xun and Jiang Fan during the Jiaqing era of the Qing Dynasty. It gathers various records about Yangzhou from numerous sources. The purpose is to outline everything that has happened in Yangzhou over the millennia, using the region as the latitude and time as the longitude. The original manuscript was titled "The Illustrated Records of Yangzhou Prefecture" and was stored in the Beijing Library. Yangzhou Guangling Ancient Books Publishing House printed it and changed the name to the current one. Jiao Xun, styled Litang, also known as Lichang, was from Jiangsu Ganquan (now Yangzhou). The Jiao family had been passing down the study of the "I Ching" since ancient times, and he was renowned for his talent in the "I Ching" from a young age. In the sixth year of the Jiaqing era, he passed the provincial examination and was as famous as Ruan Yuan. When Ruan served as the provincial inspector of Shandong and Zhejiang, he invited Jiao to travel with him. Later, Jiao failed the imperial examination and withdrew from society for many years due to a supposed foot ailment, building a tower named "Diao Gu Lou" by the lake to study and write. He was knowledgeable and had studied in various fields such as classics, history, astronomy, phonology, and etymology. He opposed common misconceptions and valued local documents, authoring works such as "The Verified Records of Yangzhou" and "The Minor Records of Beihu." He died in the twenty-fifth year of the Jiaqing era at the age of fifty-eight. Jiang Fan, styled Zisheng, styled Zhengtang, was also from Jiangsu Ganquan (now Yangzhou) and was a Qing Dynasty Confucian scholar. He studied under Hui Dong and Jiang Sheng and was knowledgeable in various classics and history. He was very prolific in writing. When his hometown Ruan Yuan served as the provincial inspector of Guangdong, he was invited to compile "The General Records of Guangdong." He died in the eleventh year of the Daoguang era at the age of seventy-one. Ancient Yangzhou was a major city in the Huainan region and was known as the "Southeastern Remote Region." The preface to the "Records of Yangzhou Prefecture" in the fifteenth year of the Jiaqing era stated, "Speaking of geographical advantages, it embraces the Huai and Si rivers, controls Wu and Yue, and stands as a great town eastward from Jingxiang. The tribute boats sent to the capital each year must pass through here, bringing both profit and reliance on state revenue. As for its cultural prosperity, history is full of records." Since the Han and Tang dynasties, Yangzhou has gradually become the political, economic, and cultural center of the Jianghuai region. Local documents about Yangzhou's customs and culture have also been renowned over the centuries. Excluding the records in the "Yu Gong," in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Wang Yi wrote "The Records of Guangling Prefecture Park," in the Sui Dynasty, there was "The Illustrated Records of Jiangdu," in the Tang Dynasty, there was "The Records of Yangzhou" by Cao Xian, a master of the "Wen Xuan Studies," and in the Southern Song Dynasty, there was "The Records of Guangling" compiled by Zheng Xingyi, edited by Zheng Shaowei and Yao Yiqian. Although these books are now lost, their contents have been scattered in later works and have had a significant impact on later generations. Since the Ming and Qing dynasties, it has been a period of great flourishing in the compilation of local documents in Yangzhou. In addition to the revision and continuation of official records, the number of private compilations is also considerable. Despite the destruction by war, some of the most notable surviving works include: Yao Wendi's "The Minor Records of Guangling," Cui Yan's "The Records of Yangzhou Military Operations," Wang Zhong's "The General Records of Guangling," Li Dou's "The Illustrated Records of Yangzhou Boats," Jiao Xun's "The Verified Records of Yangzhou," and others such as "The Minor Records of Xishan in Yangzhou," "The Antiquities of Guangling," and "The Minor Records of Beihu." "The Illustrated Records of Yangzhou" is one of the earlier private works to be compiled. The materials it collects, in addition to official histories, include unofficial histories, notes, novels, annotations, and inscriptions on stone tablets. In terms of data, it can be said to be relatively rich and accurate. The content covers politics, military, economy, culture, natural disasters, geographical changes, and almost everything else. Although the books it cites are mostly well-known, it gathers all the materials together as research material for the ancient city of Yangzhou, saving researchers the effort of searching. This has certain value. The collation of "The Illustrated Records of Yangzhou" used the woodblock printing edition of Yangzhou Guangling Ancient Books Publishing House as the working manuscript and the Jiaqing printing edition as the reference. It was annotated and edited. Due to the original manuscript being handwritten and the printers not carefully reviewing, errors and discrepancies were occasionally found. During this collation, any cited text that could be cross-checked with the original book was verified and corrected. For example, in the first volume, the entry "Jiaoxi King Seal" was checked against the "Records of the Han Dynasty," the "Jing and Yan, Wu," and the "Table of the Princes of the Han Dynasty," all of which were recorded as "Jiaoxi King Seal," so the character "seal" was corrected to "seal." Similarly, in the volume, the entry "Jin Left Vice Marshal Zong Wei"