Yiwu Zhi
The Yiwu Zhi or Record of Foreign Matters, also known as the Jiaozhou Yiwu Zhi, Nanyi Yiwu Zhi, Jiaozhi Yiwu Zhi and Yangyilang Zhushu amongst others, is a treatise written by Eastern Han court advisor Yáng Fú 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, Nanzhou Yiwu Zhi, Hainan Yiwu Zhi, Bashu Yiwu Zhi, Funan Yiwu Zhi, Lingnan Yiwu Zhi, Nanzhong Bajun Yiwu Zhi, Guangzhou Yiwu Zhi, and Lingbiao Luyi.
Contents
- Human geography: Land of the Tattooed Forehead People, Territory of the Wolf, Xitu Guo, Rau peoples Wuhu, Yellow Haired People, Kingdom of Funan, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Province Jinlin ''Sidiao Guo''.
- 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 the book became lost, although scattered references to it remain in works such as Beitang Shuchao, Imperial Reader of the Taiping Era, Extensive Records of the Taiping Era, Yiwen Julei, Commentary on the Water Classic, Qi Min Yao Shu, Guangyun, Taiping Huanyu Ji, Hailu Suishi, Compendium of Materia Medica, Guang Qunfang Pu , Guangdong Xinyu, and Guangzhong Tongzhi amongst others.In the first year of the Qing Daoguang Emperor, Zeng Zhao produced a version of Yangyilang Zhushu 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 issuing the Lingnan Cultural Archive, which included Wu Yongzhang's work Yiwu Zhi Jiyi Jiaozhu.