Commentary on the Water Classic

Shui Jing Zhu (Chinese: 水經注; pinyin: Shuǐ jīng zhù, literally "Commentary on the Waterways Classic") is a work on the ancient geography of China. It is an annotated and much expanded version of an older text, the Shui Jing ("Waterways Classic"), which has been lost.

The Wei River, the largest tributary of the Yellow River, shown as it flows eastward through Guanzhong (modern Shaanxi province) towards the confluence.

The annotated version was compiled by Li Daoyuan (酈道元; d. 527) during the Northern Wei Dynasty, hugely expanding on the original.

The original version of the Waterways Classic, describing 137 different rivers in China, was traditionally believed to have been compiled by Sang Qin (桑欽) in the Han dynasty. Qing dynasty scholars gave it a later date, the Three Kingdoms period, because of the names of the counties and commanderies. Its authorship is attributed to Jin Dynasty scholar Guo Pu (郭璞), with later commentary by Li Daoyuan; only Li's commentary is known to survive. Li Daoyuan's 40-volume, 300,000-word version includes 1252 rivers.

The work describes and maps the waterways of ancient China. The book is divided into sections by river, each described with its source, course, and major tributaries, with not just geographical but also cultural and historical information.

References

• Needham, Joseph (1986). Science and Civilization in China: Volume 3. Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd.

Bibliography

• Strassberg, Richard E.: Inscribed Landscapes: Travel Writing from Imperial China. University of California Press, Berkeley, Calif. 1994
• Cihai ("Sea of Words" or encyclopedic dictionary), Shanghai cishu chubanshe, Shanghai 2002, ISBN 7-5326-0839-5

External links

• [1] Shuijingzhu 水經注 Commentary on the Waterways Classic
• Commentary on the Waterways Classic "Unter dem Himmel", German text
• 水經注 - Wikisource