Shiben
Shiben title page inSmall Seal Script
Chinese name
Chinese	世本
Literal meaning	Generation Origins
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Shìběn Wade–Giles Shih-pen Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Sai3bun5 Southern Min HokkienPOJ Sìpún Middle Chinese Middle Chinese Syejpwon Old Chinese Baxter–Sagart (2014) Ḷap-spˤə[n]ʔ
Korean name
Hangul	세본
Hanja	世本
Transcriptions Revised Romanization Sebon McCune–Reischauer Sebon
Japanese name
Kanji	世本
Hiragana	せほん
Transcriptions Revised Hepburn Sehon

TheShiben orBook of Origins (Chinese: 世本;pinyin:shìběn;lit. 'Generation Origins') was an earlyChinese encyclopedia which recorded imperialgenealogies from the mythicalThree Sovereigns and Five Emperors down to the lateSpring and Autumn period (771–476 BCE), explanations of theorigin of clan names, and records of legendary and historical Chinese inventors. It was written during the 2nd century BC at the time of the Han dynasty.^[1][2]The work was lost in the 10th century, but partially reconstructed from quotations during theQing dynasty.

The title combines the common Chinese wordsshì世 "generation; epoch; hereditary; world" andběn本 "root; stem; origin; fundament; wooden tablet".

The personal name ofEmperor Taizong of Tang (r. 627–650) wasShimin 世民, and owing to the strictnaming taboo against writing an emperor's name, theShiben 世本 title was changed toXiben 系本 orDaiben 代本 (with theshi near-synonyms ofxi 系 "system; series; family" anddai 代 "substitute; generation; dynasty").

Although this Chinese title is usuallytransliteratedShiben,Shih-pen, etc., English translations includeBook of Origins^[3][4] andGenerational Records.^[5]

The origins of theShiben text are obscure. The earliest references to it date from theHan dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE). The (111 CE)Book of Han bibliography section (Yiwenzhi ) has a list ofWarring States period (475–221 BCE) texts including theShiben in 15 volumes (pian). The (5th century)Book of the Later Han saysSima Qian used the text as a source for his (109 BCE)Records of the Grand Historian.^[6] Several Han scholars wrote commentaries to theShiben, namelyLiu Xiang (77–6 BCE), Song Jun 宋均 (d. 76 CE),Ying Shao (140–206), and Song Zhong 宋衷 (fl. 192–210), which was the most widely copied in later editions.

The bibliography sections of the standardTwenty-Four Histories list variousShiben versions from the Han up through theTang dynasty (618–907), but it was lost at the beginning of theSong dynasty (960–1279). During theQing dynasty (1644–1911), scholars collectedShiben fragments and compiled eight different versions, which were published together.^[7] The eight compilers wereWang Mo, Sun Fengyi 孫馮翼, Chen Qirong 陳其榮, Qin Jiamo 秦嘉謨, Zhang Peng 張澎, Lei Xueqi 雷學淇. Mao Panlin 茆泮林, and Wang Zicai 王梓材. With the exception of Wang Zicai's version that rearranged the text in chronological order, the others all have three similar chapters (pian) onShixing 氏姓 "Clan names",Ju 居 "Residences [of Rulers]", andZuo 作 "Inventors"; but different arrangements of noble genealogies.

TheShiben was the oldest book in theChinese literary genre of books that record inventions and discoveries, called "technological dictionaries",^[3] "dictionaries of origins" or "encyclopedias of origins".^[8] These Chinesereference works were important to the study ofnatural history.

This was the genre of lexical works devoted entirely to explaining the origins of things, inventions, customs and affairs—very characteristic of Chinese literature but liable to be puzzling to any Westerners who still cherish the illusion that that civilisation was 'timeless' and 'static'. In fact, it was historical to the core, conscious also of a kind of social evolution from primitive existence, and therefore very much concerned with origins.^[9]

TheSui dynasty mathematician Liu Xiaosun 劉孝孫 (fl. 605–616) wrote theShishi 事始 "Beginning of all Affairs", which contains some 335 entries with names of various material things and devices. It was followed by the (c. 960)Xushishi 續事始 "Continued Beginning of all Affairs" by theFormer Shu dynasty scholar Ma Jian 馬鑑, with 358 entries. Both of these books refer to Chinese legendary inventors.^[6] Later encyclopedias of origins in this genre were much larger. Two from the Song dynasty were the (1085)Shiwu jiyuan 事物紀原 "Records of the Origins of Affairs and Things" compiled by Gao Cheng 高承, and the (1237)Gujin yuanliu zhilun 古今源流至論 "Essays on the Course of Things from Antiquity to the Present Time", which was started by Lin Dong 林駧 and completed by Huang Lüweng 黃履翁. The Qing dynasty scholar Chen Yuanlong 陳元龍 produced the largest encyclopedia of origins, the (1717)Gezhi jingyuan 格致鏡元 "Mirror of Scientific and Technological Origins".^[10][11]

Modern researchers continue to use information from the ancientShiben. For instance, Chinesezupu "genealogy books" cite information from its elaborate genealogies of the ruling houses and the origins of clan names.

The earlyhistory of science and technology in China regularly citesShiben records about names of the legendary, semi-legendary, and historical inventors of all kinds of devices, instruments, and machines. The textual entries for naming inventors are mostlygnomic 4-character lines, for instance,^[3]Bo Yi zuojing 伯益作井 "Bo Yi invented well(-digging)" [to help control theGreat Flood];Hu Cao zuoyi 胡曹作衣 "Hu Cao invented clothing"; andLi Shou zuoshu 隸首作數 "Li Shou invented computations". Since many of these inventors were allegedly ministers of the legendaryYellow Emperor, the value of theShiben is not for the actualhistory of science, but for the systematization that it brings to the body of legendary technological lore.^[3]

The Zhou dynasty Chinese inventorLu Ban or Gongshu Pan (507–440 BCE) and therotary hand quern provides a good example. It stated thatGongshu zuo shiwei 公輸作石磑 "Gongshu invented the stone (rotary) mill" and theGujin Tushu Jicheng written in 1725 glosses this with a commentary from theShihwu zhiyuan encyclopedia.

He made a plaiting of bamboo which he filled with clay (ni 泥), to decorticate grain and produce hulled rice; this was calledwei 磑 (actuallylong 礱). He also chiseled out stones which he placed one on top of the other, to grind hulled rice and wheat to produce flour; this was calledmo(磨).^[12][2]

• Needham, Joseph; Wang, Ling (1954).Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 1 Introductory Orientations.Cambridge University Press.ISBN 9780521057998.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
• Needham, Joseph; et al. (1986).Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 6 Biology and Biological Technology, Part 1: Botany.Cambridge University Press.ISBN 9780521087315.

Footnotes

ChineseWikisource has original text related to this article:

世本

• Digital and printed versions of theShiben,Chinese Text Project
• Shiben with Song Zhong commentary,Internet Archive

• 2nd-century BC books
• Chinese dictionaries
• Encyclopedias in Chinese
• Chinese history texts
• Han dynasty texts

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