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THE RECORD of the LANDS of YUE Introduction Is Chapter Describes Key Sites in the Kingdom of Yue, Including King Goujian's

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THE RECORD of the LANDS of YUE Introduction Is Chapter Describes Key Sites in the Kingdom of Yue, Including King Goujian's 'A6G*+B *+) THE RECORD OF THE LANDS OF YUE Introduction !is chapter describes key sites in the kingdom of Yue, including King Goujian’s capital, which was one of China’s oldest recorded planned cities.1 !is chapter emphasises the impact King Goujian had on the land- scape of this region: virtually every building mentioned is said to have been erected either for his personal use or as part of the war e"ort he ini- tiated to defeat the kingdom of Wu. In this text the authors repeatedly link landscape features of northern Zhejiang province to events from the life of the greatest king of Yue. However these attributions (in the absence of further evidence) must remain largely speculative. Numerous geograph- ical features and ancient buildings south of the Yangtze river have been linked to famous ?gures from the con#ict between Wu, Yue and Chu, and sometimes these attributions have been conclusively disproved.2 It is important to stress that unlike King Helü’s capital (modern Suzhou), 1 !e site of King Goujian’s capital is now the city of Shaoxing in Zhejiang province. !e name Shaoxing commemorates a turn in the fortunes of the Southern Song dynasty. In 0015, the capital of the Northern Song dynasty Bianliang ϰΔ (now known as Kaifeng –ݶǭ) fell to the Jurchen Jin dynasty. !e new emperor, Song Gaozong LJࠆlj (r. 0012 0051), moved south to evade capture, and established his capital at a series of southern dž (now known as Hangzhou ʹș), Pingjiang ȳϭ (modernט cities, including Lin’an ș) and Yuezhou ۚș (Shaoxing). At this last city, he declared the beginningذ Suzhou of a new reign era, Shaoxing (00=0–0051), to symbolize a new start for the Southern Song regime. !is was successful, and the city authorities petitioned the emperor that in future the city might be known as Shaoxing, the designation that has been used to in ”,֬ޑYueguo Yinshan wangling kao ۚŌòȈҤ“ ,ޱthe present day. Peng Yun ɬ Zhongguo chuantong wenhua yu Yue wenhua yanjiu, ed., Fei Junqing (Beijing: Renmin chubanshe, 1//4), =35. 2 For example there is a waterway known as the Wu canal which runs from the Yangtze in Anhui province into Lake Tai in Jiangsu province, which was traditionally said to have been dug by order of the Wu minister Wu Zixu to facilitate his attack on the capital of Chu in ./5>'+. However modern scholars have demonstrated that this is in fact not a canal at all but a natural river. See Wei Songshan ࠏȕȈ, “Wuxi yunhe xingcheng de lishi guocheng EзܗϺɧ˅ӞϓčܙԨ,” in Wu wenhua ziliao xuanji, ed., Wu wenhua yanjiuhui choubeizu (Vol. =; Suzhou: Jiangsu guoying xinmin chubanshe, 03@1), .5. 111 'A6G*+B *+) King Goujian’s capital no longer exists in any recognisable form follow- ing a complete remodelling of the city in the Song dynasty.3 Although references were frequently made a-er this recon?guration to landscape features that had survived the work, the old city was gone. !e “Record of the Lands of Yue” is therefore of enormous importance, as it is the earliest surviving account of the original appearance of this ancient city. Much of the information contained within the “Record of the Lands of Yue” is unique. !e paucity of sources about the history of the kingdom of Yue is notorious, and even less is known about the architectural and design history of King Goujian’s capital. !is however merely enhances the importance of the Yuejue shu as a source for understanding the cul- ture of this major kingdom in the late Spring and Autumn and early War- ring States eras, and of the “Record of the Lands of Yue” as a description of its capital. From the Sui dynasty onwards, there are numerous refer- ences to the “Record of the Lands of Yue” under the title of Yuedi zhuan Ŕw (Traditions of the Lands of Yue).4 !is suggests that, as with theۚ “Book of the Young Master of Accountancy,” the “Record of the Lands of Yue” was transmitted independently. !e “Record of the Lands of Yue” appears to have been composed from at least two di"erent ancient source texts. !ese texts can be distinguished in both content and grammar. !e ?rst and most important text describes the geography and landscape of the late Spring and Autumn era and early Warring States period kingdom of Yue. !e focus is overwhelmingly on the history and culture of Yue during the reign of its greatest monarch, King Goujian. From internal evidence, this ?rst text must have been written or at least updated during the Eastern Han dynasty, as there is a reference to the destruction of a city wall built by Fan Li during the reign of Wang Mang. !ere is also a terminus ante quem, for this chapter in particular must have been compiled in its present form before 103'+, for the Shaoxing area is consistently referred to as Shanyin Ȉ ޏ, an appellation changed at the very end of the Han dynasty.5 !e 3 In 011=, during the Southern Song dynasty, the whole city was demolished and completely recon?gured under the direction of the Prefect Wang Gang. !e original city with its two connected walled enclosures was razed to the ground and a new city built on almost the same site (expanding both to north and south), in an irregular rectangle, divided into ?ve wards for ease of administration. !e Song dynasty walls de?ned the shape of the city centre until they were pulled down during the Republican era. See Zhang Yu’an, Shaoxing wenhua zashi, @–3. 4 See Li Bujia, Yuejue shu yanjiu, =2–=@. 5 !e most recent comprehensive study of the dating of various sections of the Yuejue shu argues that the “Record of the Lands of Yue” was mainly composed in the late Qin.
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