| Yiwu Zhi | |||||||
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 A page from theRecord of Foreign Matters | |||||||
| Chinese | 异物志 | ||||||
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TheYiwu Zhi orRecord of Foreign Matters, also known as theJiaozhou Yiwu Zhi (交州异物志),Nanyi Yiwu Zhi (南裔异物志),Jiaozhi Yiwu Zhi (交趾异物志) andYangyilang Zhushu (杨议郎著书) amongst others, is a treatise written byEastern Hancourt advisor Yáng Fú (杨孚)[a] covering the people, geography, fauna, rice cultivation, fruit, trees, grass, bamboo, insects and fish of theSouth China Sea region. It is the first written Chinese account of theLingnan 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 theNanfang Caomu Zhuang,Linhai Shuishang Yiwu Zhi (临海水上异物志),Nanzhou Yiwu Zhi (南州异物志),Hainan Yiwu Zhi (凉州异物志),Bashu Yiwu Zhi (巴蜀异物志),Funan Yiwu Zhi (扶南异物志),Lingnan Yiwu Zhi (岭南异物志),Nanzhong Bajun Yiwu Zhi (南中八郡异物志),Guangzhou Yiwu Zhi (广州异物志), andLingbiao Luyi (岭表录异).[1]
TheBook of Sui and theNew Book of Tang both cite from theYiwu Zhi but from the time of theSong dynasty (960–1279) the book became lost, although scattered references to it remain in works such asBeitang Shuchao (北堂书抄),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 (海录碎事),Compendium of Materia Medica,GuangQunfang Pu (广群芳谱),Guangdong Xinyu (广东新语), andGuangzhong Tongzhi (广东通志) amongst others.
In the first year of theQingDaoguang Emperor (1821),Zeng Zhao (曾钊) produced a version ofYangyilang Zhushu (杨议郎著书) from ancient textual sources then in 1849 theYiwu Zhi.
In March 1947, TheCommercial Press inShanghai published a compendium of works based on theYiwu Zhi followed in 1991 by the Guangdong Publishing Group (广东省出版集团) issuing theLingnan Cultural Archive (岭南文库), which included Wu Yongzhang's (吴永章) workYiwu Zhi Jiyi Jiaozhu (异物志辑佚校注).