Mingyikao 名義考

Mingyikao 名義考 "Examination of designations" is a "brush-notes"-style book (biji 筆記) written during the late Ming period by Zhou Qi 周祈 (fl. 1584) from Qizhou 蘄州 (today's Qichun 蘄春, Hubei). Liu Ruchong's 劉如寵 preface from 1584 says, Zhou was a grand master (dafu 大夫), and the preface of Yuan Changzuo's 袁昌祚 reprint hold that Zhou was vice minister (?) of revenue (minbu lang 民部郎). As these two offices did not exist during the Ming period, details of Zhou Qi's life cannot be known.

The book of 12 juan is organised according to topics, ranging from Heaven (Tianbu 天部) and the earth (Dibu 地部), to mankind (Renbu 人部), and objects (Wubu 物部). The sub-chapters of these themes analyse and rectify statements in various books, also in a critical way by comparing sources with each other. However, due to the vast scope of topics covered, occasional contradictions and errors are inevitable. For example, in discussing the moon and stars, the work does not account for the methods of astronomical calculation; in examining the source of the Yellow River, it relies entirely on common sayings; in addressing the "broad wheel" (guang lun 廣輪), it fails to recognise that this term already appeared in the Zhouli 周禮; in discussing the "transformation of the sun" (hua ri 化日), it erroneously attributes a phrase to the Qianfulun 潛夫論 that is not actually found in the text. The main drawback is that it often cites older texts without specifying sources — a common shortcoming of Ming-era scholarship.

The text is found in the series Hubei xianzheng yishu 湖北先正遺書 and Siku quanshu 四庫全書.