Ancient my country has always attached great importance to the tradition of recording rivers and lakes. From the "Shan Hai Jing" and "Shang Shu" written in the pre-Qin period to the "Historical Records" and "Han Shu" in the Han Dynasty, a large amount of relevant information has been preserved.
After the Eastern Han Dynasty, a number of works under the name of "The Classic of Water" were published, among which was a book "The Classic of Water" written during the Three Kingdoms period, which described the situation of 137 major rivers in the country.
During the Northern Wei Dynasty, Li Daoyuan thought it was abbreviated, so he used it as a key link to expand the river system to 2596, and wrote the forty volumes of "Shui Jing Zhu". The number of words exceeded the original text by more than 20 times. Outstanding geographer.
How to Annotate the Water Classic?
According to Li's self-order, the water system "pulses the flow of its branches and flows, diagnoses the places along the road, visits the ditch to search for the canals, and embellishes them. If there are errors in the "Sutra", the test is attached. It is true. What is not contained in the text, if it is not the source of water in the Classics, is not limited to annotations.” By scavenging and combing through a large number of predecessors’ documents, inscriptions on inscriptions, official letters, and even myths, legends, customs and other materials, “Because of water To prove the land, that is, to preserve the ancients” (Wang Xianqian of the Qing Dynasty).
Many of the materials cited in the annotations have been lost in later generations, but the "Shui Jing Zhu" has been partially preserved.
Shen Deqian of the Qing Dynasty said: "Yu Shaoshi read the "Shui Jing Zhu", convinced that he could read ten thousand volumes of books and travel the world's mountains and rivers." All of them have not been seen before. .
Mr. Tan Qixiang said: "Many scholars in ancient and modern times believe that all "Shui Jing Zhu" were written by Li Daoyuan based on his own investigation, investigation and research, except for some words and phrases quoted from the works of predecessors. This is a great misunderstanding." Because Li Daoyuan traveled all his life, he could not touch the territory of the Southern Dynasty, even the territory of the Northern Wei Dynasty, which was also very limited.
Li Daoyuan said in his own words that "there is little interest in seeking mountains, and long violation of the nature of inquiring about the world". Workers who conduct large-scale field inspections." An important reason for the disagreement is that Li Daoyuan mentioned "visiting and searching channels".
It is easy to understand only in the literal meaning that the Li family attaches great importance to field investigation. Mr. Tan reminded that it can be understood from the context, "It turns out that he is based on the 'previous text', that is, the origin of the waterway and the experiences on both sides of the strait contained in the works of the predecessors. Instead of the small part written down according to his own personal experience and personal experience." Whether the field investigation played a key role in the compilation of "Shui Jing Zhu" has become a conclusion.
Nonetheless, if Li Daoyuan's "seeing and hearing", that is, the results of his travels and investigations, and "Shui Jing Zhu" are discussed separately, it seems that there are still new harvests.
According to Li Daoyuan's life, he traveled many times for private and business purposes, and his whereabouts involved many places in the Northern Wei Dynasty.
Li's ancestral home is in present-day Zhuozhou City, Baoding, Hebei Province. The description of this area in "Shui Jing Zhu" is extremely detailed, which may be related to his childhood memories.
When Daoyuan was young, he moved to Qingzhou (now Qingzhou, Shandong) with his father Li Fan for a long time, and he was familiar with the features in Qingzhou. ", "Yu Zongjiao's year, serving the festivals in Dongzhou, until the hot summer, living idle and tired of thinking, violin makes friends, playful and entertaining forever. Guisun finds waves, Qinglin Weilang, the piano and songs are both harmonious and joyful. Chang, it is Yan Qiji, which can really be depended on." There is also "(Shijing) Shuibeiliu injection well, on the east side of Guangcheng, there are three areas of stone, more than one high and deep. Changjin surging waves, waterfalls down, surging The sound of the scorpion, shocked the river and the valley, and the turbulent trend, like a flood well, which flows into the Yangshui in the north. The rest grows in the eastern Qi, swims below it, and ends up in the middle, which is a pile of cotton." Daoyuan grew up with his father. He went to the central government of Pingcheng, the capital of the Northern Wei Dynasty (now Datong City, Shanxi), and moved the capital to Luoyang a few years later with Tuoba Hong, Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty.
As an official of the capital, he had many opportunities to accompany the emperor on tour, such as "Yu Taihe went on a tour from the north of Gaozu in the eighteenth year (494), and met at the Lecture of Wutai in Yinshan. To the east of the platform is the "Gaozu Lectures on Wu Stele". The inscription on the inscription is also the words of the Zhongshu Lang Gao Cong. From the west of Tai, go up the mountain in the south. There are no trees in the mountain, but Tong Fu'er...", not only detailed records of Emperor Xiaowen's visit to Yinshan to teach Wutai, but also the geographical features around Wutai Save it together.
After Li Daoyuan, he also served as the chief secretary of Jizhou Zhendong Prefecture, the governor of Luyang County, and the governor of Dongjing Prefecture. He was able to travel to many places in the Northern Wei Dynasty on business.
"Shui Jing Zhu" volume twenty-five: "Yu Xi was due to official business, along the calendar Xu, Yu, Lu Zhu, Si, because of orders to find its origin." Volume thirty-two also said: "Yu went to Huaijin because of official business. , the boat and the chariots, next to the Jue Shui, and the interviews of the people's slaughter, which is completely contrary to the ancient name. The pulse water seeks the scriptures, and the breach is known." Through field inspections, the discrepancies between the records and the classics were found, and then a reasonable analysis was made.
When citing other people's writings, also pay attention to whether the author saw the water firsthand.
On the way to officialdom, he even had the opportunity to return to his hometown of Qingzhou and revisit Shijingshui. "Later, because of the king's affairs, he returned to Haidai. Guo Jinzihui wrote poetry with Shijing. There are always plugs in the water.”
Ma Qian, a Taishi company who had been around 600 years before Li Daoyuan, had similarities and similarities with Li Daoyuan in his travels and investigations and his writing of "Records of the Grand Historian".
Whether it is Taishigong's self-report or the evaluation of "Historical Records" by later generations, almost all of them pay full attention to his travels.
"Self-preface of Taishigong": "Twenty and south traveled Jianghuai, went to Kuaiji, explored Yu's point, peeked into nine doubts, floated in Yuanxiang; north of Wensi, the capital of Qi and Lu, watched the legacy of Confucius, and shot Zou Yi in the countryside. ; the distressed Po, Xue, Pengcheng, Liangliang, Chu Yigui." On the way, often with a clear inspection mission, "Fan Li Tengguan Biography": "I am rich, ask the old man, look at the old Xiao, Cao The family of Fan Kuai and Duke Teng, and their elements, are very different from what I have heard!" "Wei Shijia": "I am in the ruins of Daliang, and the people in the ruins said: 'The Qin Dynasty broke the beam, led the river ditch to fill the beam, and in March When the city was destroyed, the king invited him to surrender, and then Wei was destroyed.' All the people who said that Wei did not use the Lord of Xinling, and the country was weakened to the point of collapse, I thought otherwise."
Sima Qianli and Daoyuan all had very similar inspection experiences in his early years of travel, his trips to the government during his official career, his tours with emperors, and his field visits for "The Word of a Family".
For the foreign feudal states that are difficult to visit in person, the two of them have to find a good opportunity to interview the envoys, trying to obtain more direct information.
For the same travel activity, why would there be such a big difference in evaluations in later generations?
The problem should lie in the nature of the writings, that is, the Records of the Grand Historian is a seminal history book, while the Commentary on the Shui Jing is a generally recognized book of geography (but not necessarily recognized by the Li family).
Since it is a book of geography, it is bound to consider whether it is sufficient to carry out fieldwork.
However, according to the scientific and technological conditions at that time and the progress of academic development, these are not easy to achieve. The completion of the "Shui Jing Zhu" can only be completed through a large number of literature collection, inspection and comparison.
In the absence of modern transportation conditions, the ancients had to rely on manpower and limited auxiliary power to complete their travels and investigations. Daily living and logistical support were also major problems, and the scope of inspections was bound to be greatly limited.
Even with the support of modern science and technology today, to conduct field investigations in a huge geographical space as large as half of China, the scope and content of the field survey will still not be too high.
From the perspective of academic history development, under the influence of the ideological trend of opposing empty talk in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties and advocating "practice in the world", a group of scholars such as Xu Xiake, Wang Shixing and Liang Fen have just emerged out of the study and turned to Focusing on field surveys, he completed a book of geography with the prototype of modern geography with first-hand materials obtained from field investigations.
To sum up, it is a relatively safe and reasonable approach to discuss Li Daoyuan's travel investigation and the writing method of "Shui Jing Zhu" separately, and can draw conclusions that are in line with objective reality.
Qing Dynasty scholar Wang Xianqian studied "Shui Jing Zhu" for 30 years. He must carry this book with him wherever he goes in his life. He constantly conducts field visits to verify the records in the book. He plans to draw maps and refer to other historical records and Qing Dynasty political districts. To make a sparse note.
In the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, Yang Shoujing and Xiong Huizhen master and apprentice completed the "Shui Jing Commentary" and "Shui Jing Commentary" for decades, continuing the academic career initiated by Li Daoyuan.
When people study the "Shui Jing Zhu" today, the textual research and field investigation must be equally important, but Li Daoyuan has already done what he should have done in his time. Note" is also an affirmation of Li Daoyuan's academic career.
(Author: Liu Xinguang, Lecturer, School of Chinese Studies, Renmin University of China)