Haitanglu 海塘錄

Haitanglu 海塘錄 "On Dykes" is a treatise on dyke construction in the region of Hangzhou 杭州, Haining 海寧 and Haiyan 海鹽, Zhejiang, written by the Qing-period 清 (1644-1911) scholar Zhai Junlian 翟均廉 xxx.

The 26-juan long book is divided into nine parts with many illustrations, geographic descriptions and explanations on the method of constructing dams and dykes at the sea shore. Following the paradigm of local gazetteers (difangzhi 地方志), it also includes descriptions of the landscape in the three regions, ruins of ancient sites, shrines and temples, and includes a large amount of official documents about the topic of dyke construction.

It is headed by a collection of edicts (zhaoyu shengzhi 詔諭聖旨) issued from the Kangxi reign-period 康熙 (1662-1722) on. The text is based on a lot of older sources like the encyclopaedia Yuhai 玉海, the local gazetteers (Qiandao) Lin'an zhi 乾道臨安志 and (Xianchun) Lin'an zhi 咸淳臨安志 or the "veritable records" Mingshilu 明實錄.

The Haitanglu was presented to the throne in 1764 and is included in the imperial series Siku quanshu 四庫全書, in a slightly enlarged version. This edition was reproduced in 1934. The text is based on some older books on that topic, like Chou Junqing's 仇俊卿 Haitanglu 海塘錄 from 1587 or Fang Guancheng's 方觀承 (1698-1768) Liang-Zhe haitang tongzhi 兩浙海塘通志 from 1751. It also inspired later compilations like Lang Yu's 瑯玗 Haitang xinlu 海塘新志 from 1791, Yang Rong's 楊鑅 Haitang lanyao 海塘攬要 from 1808 and Urgungge's 烏爾恭額 (d. 1842) Xu haitang tongzhi 續海塘通志 from 1839. In 1890 Li Qingyun 李慶雲 compiled the Jiangsu haitang xinzhi 江蘇海塘新志 that treats the problem of dykes in the province of Jiangsu.