Yiwu Zhi

Yiwu Zhi
A page from the Record of Foreign Matters
Chinese	异物もの志こころざし
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Yiwu Zhi

The Yiwu Zhi or Record of Foreign Matters, also known as the Jiaozhou Yiwu Zhi (交州异物志こころざし), Nanyi Yiwu Zhi (南みなみ裔异物ぶつ志こころざし), Jiaozhi Yiwu Zhi (交趾异物志こころざし) and Yangyilang Zhushu (杨议郎ろう著ちょ书) amongst others, is a treatise written by Eastern Han court advisor Yáng Fú (杨孚) covering the people, geography, fauna, rice cultivation, fruit, trees, grass, bamboo, insects and fish of the South China Sea region. It is the first written Chinese account of the Lingnan area's produce, production methods and aboriginal customs and uses a detailed methodology that would be adopted as standard by later works of this genre including the Nanfang Caomu Zhuang, Linhai Shuishang Yiwu Zhi (临海水上すいじょう异物志こころざし), Nanzhou Yiwu Zhi (南みなみ州しゅう异物志こころざし), Hainan Yiwu Zhi (凉州异物志こころざし), Bashu Yiwu Zhi (巴ともえ蜀しょく异物志こころざし), Funan Yiwu Zhi (扶南异物志こころざし), Lingnan Yiwu Zhi (岭南异物志こころざし), Nanzhong Bajun Yiwu Zhi (南中なんちゅう八はち郡ぐん异物志こころざし), Guangzhou Yiwu Zhi (广州异物志こころざし), and Lingbiao Luyi (岭表录异).

Contents

• Human geography: Land of the Tattooed Forehead People (Diaoti Guo 雕题国こく), Territory of the Wolf (Lang Guo 狼おおかみ国こく), Xitu Guo (西にし屠ほふ国くに), Rau peoples Wuhu (乌浒), Yellow Haired People (Huang tou Ren 黄き头人), Kingdom of Funan, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Province Jinlin (金きむ邻) Sidiao Guo (斯调国こく).
• Animals and birds: Hepu cattle, gorilla, elephant, rhinoceros, macaque, peacock.
• Fish and insects: mussel, cowrie, water snake, hawksbill turtle, whale, jellyfish.
• Fruit: Japanese banana, betel, coconut, olive, bayberry, sugar cane, sweet potato.
• Plants: banyan, cotton, laurel, cardamom, giant hyssop, ginger-lily
• Precious stones: Kunlun jade, mica

Versions

The Book of Sui and the New Book of Tang both cite from the Yiwu Zhi but from the time of the Song dynasty (960–1279) the book became lost, although scattered references to it remain in works such as Beitang Shuchao (北きた堂どう书抄), Imperial Reader of the Taiping Era, Extensive Records of the Taiping Era, Yiwen Julei (艺文聚类), Commentary on the Water Classic, Qi Min Yao Shu, Guangyun, Taiping Huanyu Ji, Hailu Suishi (海うみ录碎事ごと), Compendium of Materia Medica, Guang Qunfang Pu (广群芳よし谱), Guangdong Xinyu (广东新しん语), and Guangzhong Tongzhi (广东通どおり志こころざし) amongst others.

In the first year of the Qing Daoguang Emperor (1821), Zeng Zhao (曾钊) produced a version of Yangyilang Zhushu (杨议郎ろう著ちょ书) from ancient textual sources then in 1849 the Yiwu Zhi.
In March 1947, The Commercial Press in Shanghai published a compendium of works based on the Yiwu Zhi followed in 1991 by the Guangdong Publishing Group (广东省しょう出版しゅっぱん集しゅう团) issuing the Lingnan Cultural Archive (岭南文ぶん库), which included Wu Yongzhang's (吴永章あきら) work Yiwu Zhi Jiyi Jiaozhu (异物志こころざし辑佚校こう注ちゅう).

See also

• Chinese encyclopedias