The first botanical monograph in ancient Chinese books is "______"

Quan Fang Bei Zu

It is a comprehensive work on flower genealogy in the Song Dynasty. The famous scholar Mr. Wu Deduo first praised it as "the world's earliest botanical dictionary".

Chen Yong (1035-1112), whose courtesy name was Jingyi, also known as Fei Dun and Yu Yizi. His surname was Wu, and he was a native of Sanzhai, Tiantai Ping Town (now Tiantai County, Zhejiang Province). He has been intelligent and well-read since childhood. At the age of 20, he went on a study tour, first teaching in western Zhejiang, and then in Kaifeng, Suzhou, Nanjing and other places. In addition to teaching, he developed a deep interest in botany. He tirelessly read classics and miscellaneous works. Collected the origins and planting stories of more than 400 kinds of plants, as well as related poems and poems, and compiled them into one volume, striving to be complete, so it was called "Quanfang Beizu" and compiled into the first draft. (According to the "Genealogy of the Wu Family in Tiantai", Wu Yong died of illness on September 20th during the garrison of Zhenghe Renchen (1112), and was buried with his wife Li in the South Park of Wuyan Mountain. Jingyi himself has this resume: "Yu With his hair tied up, he traveled abroad. He first studied in Western Zhejiang Province, and then lived in various schools in Jingxiang, Gusu, Jinling, and Lianghuai. He read by the light in the morning window and at night, took notes and mentioned the essentials, and compiled speeches. It is unique in that it is complete and well-prepared for flowers, fruits, and trees, and has more than 400 gates." Wu Yong's son Wu Duozhu (also known as Tianyou) inherited his father's unfinished business and built a building in the north of the main house of Sanzhai. In the flower garden, there is a plaque inscribed "Guyuan", and the garden is irrigated and planted with vegetables. He combines the collection of documentary materials and practical verification to write the "New Manuscript of the Ancient Garden", which is a compilation of his father's manuscripts. Some of his descendants moved to Huangyan to avoid disaster. Bu, then transferred to Jing'ao (today's Jin'ao, Wenling) and changed his surname to Chen. He further enriched and organized the manuscript of "Quanfang Beizu" he brought with him, and published it between Baoyou Guichou and Bingchen in the Southern Song Dynasty (1253-1256). ), edited by Zhu Mu, and prefaced by Han Jing, so this book is actually written by Wu Mai and continued by his descendants)

According to Han Jing's preface and the editor's preface. Chen Jingyi even started compiling Quanfang Beizu in his early years. After several efforts, it is estimated that the manuscript was completed around the time Lizong ascended the throne (1225). At that time, the author was about 30 years old, so he called himself a "young man's book". The engraving period was approximately between Baoyou Guichou and Bingchen (1253-1256).

This book contains information on plants (especially cultivated plants), so it is called "Fang". According to the preface: "It is unique in flowers, fruits, grass, and trees, and is especially complete and well-prepared." "There are more than 400 categories in the collection," so it is called "Quanfang"; it involves "facts, poems, and music about each plant." Fu must be traced back to its beginning", so it is called "Bei Zu". From this we can know the outline of the book’s content and the general idea of ??its naming.

The book is divided into two parts. The first volume of the 27th volume is the flower part, which records various flowers. For example, the first volume is "Plum Blossom", the second volume is "Peony", the third volume is "Peony" and so on, about 120 kinds. The later collection has 31 volumes, divided into seven parts: nine volumes are about fruits, three volumes are about flowers, one volume is about grass, six volumes are about wood, three volumes are about mulberries, five volumes are about vegetables, and four volumes are about medicines. More than 150 species of plants are recorded.

Various plants are divided into three parts. One is "Facts Ancestor", which is divided into fragments, minutes and miscellaneous books, recording various documents and materials seen in ancient and modern books; It is "Ode to Ancestors", which is divided into five character prose, seven character prose, five character prose couplets, seven character prose couplets, five character ancient poems, five character eight sentences, seven character eight sentences, five character quatrains, and seven character quatrains. Shimu collects poems, lyrics, songs and rhymes related to literati. The first is "Le Fu Zu", which collects related words and labels them with word tags.

Judging from the length, although the book focuses on rhetoric, it also has the intention of exploring the principles of growth and development. The author said in his preface: "How can we say that the creatures of heaven and earth have nothing to do with themselves? They stick to their eyes without investigating their origins. How are they different from the mushrooms of the past? How can bamboo be empty? How can wood be solid? It may grow in spring and wither in autumn, or it may grow in spring and wither in autumn. It is difficult to understand why Ke Yiye is not changed during the four seasons. Moreover, peaches and plums are produced in Yuheng, and apricots are the essence of the eastern stars. If there are flowers to enjoy and fruits to eat, they should be recorded and not left behind. . ”

The book pays great attention to the order of each plant in each part. For example, the flower radical is peony, the fruit radical is lychee, the flower part is headed by Zhizhi, and the wood part is headed by pine. Although these have no scientific basis, they are a reflection of fashion. A major feature of catalog works is that they are oriented towards appreciation. Since they serve appreciation, they must evaluate the objects they appreciate. Therefore, grading has become the main content of catalog works. "Quanfang Beizu", as a collection of genealogical works, is naturally not unconventional.

As a complete and complete botanical work, the book retains many treasures that are rare or unheralded in the world.

This is also the greatest wealth that this book leaves to future generations.

Although "Quanfang Beizu" is based on the works of predecessors, it also comes up with new ideas from time to time, using the words "Chen Fei Dunshi" or "Chen Fei Dunyun" to express his own views. . This is similar to the way Xu Guangqi used "Mr. For example, the book uses the method of "Chen Fei Dunyun" to supplement the 33 types of lychees discussed in Cai Xiang's "Lychee Spectrum". "Some of them are sometimes ignored or unprepared and some are left behind." ***24 variety. For another example, Han Yanzhi listed 27 varieties in "Ju Lu". Among these 27 varieties, milk tangerine is ranked first and is called true tangerine. This means that the others are fake and shoddy. Among the 27 varieties, milk tangerine is ranked first. Those produced in mud mountains are the first. "Quanfang Beizu", after transcribing "Ju Lu", said, "The above are all recorded by Han Yanzhi. Although Han knew that milk oranges came from mud mountains, he did not know that they came from Huangyan in Tiantai. Those who come from mud mountains are solid It is strange that it comes from Huangyan, and it is also strange in the world." It is also marked with the words "Chen Fei Dunshi".

The first edition of "Quan Fang Bei Zu" was a set of eight volumes, with a very small print run. It spread eastward to Japan and is stored in the Imperial Palace Provincial Library. After the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan, with the joint efforts of scholars from both countries, especially the vigorous mediation of Japanese scholar Amano Motonosuke and the sponsorship of the "Japan International Exchange Fund", in October 1979, "Quan Fang Bei Zu" The photocopies arrived in Beijing. The Agricultural Publishing House used this as a base, supplemented it with domestic copies, and photocopied and published the entire book for the first time, listing it as the first type of "Chinese Agricultural Rare Books Series". This masterpiece of botany, which had been hidden for more than 700 years, has been handed down to the world again.