Nongqipu 農器譜

Nongqipu 農器譜 was a book on agricultural implements written during the Southern Song period 南宋 (1127-1279) by Zeng Zhijin 曾之謹 (fl. 1203) from Taihe 泰和, today in Jiangxi. Zeng was a grandson of Zeng Anzhi 曾安止 (1047-1098), who wrote a book on staple grain, Hepu 禾譜. The Nongqipu was the result of Su Dongpo's 蘇東坡 (Su Shi 蘇軾, 1037-1101) critique of the Hepu. He had argued that Zeng Anzhi had not included information on tools and implements.

The Nongqipu was thus actually a supplement to the Hepu. It was finished before 1203 and is introduced by a poem by Lu You 陸游 (1125-1210). The text had a total length of 3 juan, and there seems to have been a supplement of 2 fascicles, as the bibliographical chapter in the encyclopaedia Wenxian tongkao 文獻通考 says.

Zeng discerned between ten types of implements, and described ploughs and plough shares (Leisi 耒耜), rakes and hoes (Noubo 耨鎛), scoop wheels (Chehu 車戽), rain cloth (Shuaili 蓑笠), sickles and scythes (Zhiyi 銍刈), bamboo containers (Xiaokui 篠簣), mortars (Chujiu 杵臼), measuring volumes (Douhu 斗斛), pots and kettles (Fuzeng 釜甑), and barns and granaries (Cangyu 倉庾). The text is often quoted in Wang Zhen's 王禎 (1271-1333) Nongshu 農書 (ch. Nongqi tupu 農器圖譜) as Zengshi nongshu 曾氏農書. The Ming-period 明 (1368-1644) series Shuofu 說郛 only mentions the name of the book, which shows that it must have been lost at the time.