Julu 橘錄

Julu 橘錄, also called Yongjia julu 永嘉桔錄 "Tangerines of Yongjia", is a book on citriculture written during the Southern Song period 南宋 (1127-1279) by Han Yanzhi 韓彥直 (jinshi degree 1148), courtesy name Ziwen 子溫, from Fushi 肤施 in the prefecture of Yan'an 延安. Han Yanzhi climbed up the ladder of official career up to the post of Minister of Works (gongbu shangshu 工部尚書) and Grand Master of Splendid Happiness (guanglu dafu 光祿大夫). He died in high honours as Commandery Duke of Qichun 蘄春郡公. Han Yanzhi also wrote the book Xinshuijing 水心鏡.

The 3-juan-long Julu was written when Han was prefect of Wenzhou 溫州, Zhejiang. Yongjia, as it appears in the long title, is another name for the city of Wenzhou. In his preface, dated 1178, Han explained the reason why he wrote a book on tangerines.

The first chapter includes a detailed description of appearance, colours and taste of eight kinds of mandarin oranges (gan 柑) and one kind of orange (cheng 橙), of which the type nishanru 泥山乳 is rated the best. The middle fascicle describes 18 kinds of yellow tangerines (huangju 黃橘), while the last chapter is dedicated to the cultivation and use of these kinds of citrus fruits, like hybridization, planting, raising, protecting from diseases, watering, plucking, storing and treatment of the fruits, and how to use them as food or medicine.

The Julu is included in the series Baichuan xuehai 百川學海, Shuofu 說郛, Han-Wei congshu 漢魏叢書, Shanju zazhi 山居雜志, Siku quanshu 四庫全書 and Congshu jicheng chubian 叢書集成初編.

Zhu Kuangding 諸匡鼎 (fl. 1660) wrote a book on citriculture called Jupu 橘譜. It is part of the series Xuxiu siku quanshu 續修四庫全書。