Yifu 義府

Yifu 義府 "Storehouse of meanings" is a "brush-notes"-style book (biji 筆記) written during the early Qing period 清 (1644-1911) by Huang Sheng 黃生 (born 1622), courtesy name Fumeng 扶孟, style Baishan 白山, from Shexian 歙縣, Anhui. He never had an office, but studied the meaning and correct use of Chinese characters, and was thus known as an expert in comments on classic texts (xungu 訓詁). Most of his book were prohibited and destroyed during the Qianlong reign-period 乾隆 (1736-1796). Only two texts survived, namely Zigu 字詁, and the 2-juan-long Yifu.

The first fascicle of the Yifu is dedicated to the Classics, and the second part to "masters" and historiography. The appendix lists some ancient stone inscriptions quoted in Zhao Mingcheng's 趙明誠 Jinshilu 金石錄 (1081-1129), Hong Shi's 洪適 (1117-1184) Lishi 隸釋, Li Daoyuan's 酈道元 (466 or 472-527) Shuijing zhu 水經注 and Tao Hongjing's 陶宏景 (456-536) Zou Ziliang mingtong ji 周子良冥通記. Huang's comments are reliable and constitute an important tool for the correction of older texts. For instance, Huang refers to the dictionary Shuowen jiezi 說文解字 to rectify Jia Gongyan's 賈公彥 mistake in interpreting the character xian 毨 in the Zhouli 周禮. He quotes from Jia Yi's 賈誼 (200-168 BCE) Lun Chen Lin xi 論陳琳檄 to demonstrate that the expression piaochu 漂杵 means the same as piaolu 漂樐.

The compilers of the descriptive bibliography Siku quanshu zongmu tiyao 四庫全書總目提要 value Huang Sheng's book as a supplement to Fang Yizhi's 方以智 (1579-1671) Tongya 通雅.

The Yifu is included in the series Zhihai 指海, Siku quanshu 四庫全書 and Congshu jicheng chubian 叢書集成初編. In 1842, Huang Chengji 黃承吉 published the Yifu together with the Zigu. This edition is reproduced in the series Anhui congshu 安徽叢書.