ChinaKnowledge.de -
An Encyclopaedia on Chinese History and Literature

Sishi zuanyao 四時纂要

Jul 17, 2010 © Ulrich Theobald

Sishi zuanyao 四時纂要 "A compilation of important [activities] during the four seasons" is an agricultural treatise from the Tang period 唐 (618-907). It has a length of 5 juan and was written by a certain Han E 韓鄂, also written 韓諤, of which virtually nothing is known. He lived at the end of the 9th century and was distantly related to Han Xiu 韓休 (673-740), a Counsellor-in-chief of Emperor Xuanzong 唐玄宗 (r. 712-755).

The Sishi zuanyao is not included in the imperial bibliography of the official dynastic history Jiutangshu 舊唐書, but in that of the Xintangshu 新唐書, and in many Song-period 宋 (960-1279) bibliographies.

The book contains 698 paragraphs dealing with the divination of time and auspicious days, the production of agricultural goods (grain, oil, fibres, vegetables, bran, dyestuffs, mulberry and other trees, fruits, bamboo) and raising cattle and various domestic animals (including fishes and bees), the processing of agricultural goods (the retting of flax, brewing wine, the production of treacle, dairy produce, starch processing, that of animal fats, pickling, and storing), the manufacturing of agricultural tools, implements, special clothes (oilcloth, leather cloth), lacquerware, ink and colours for painting, the marketisation of agricultural goods, the production of crops and herbs that can serve as materia medica (cultivation, harvesting, processing and storing of medical drugs; ointments and cosmetics), as well as cultural aspects like education, mantic arts, or disaster relief.

The text is arranged in a chronological sequence according to the ancient text "Monthly commands" (Yueling 月令, part of the Classic Liji 禮記) that described the seasonal activities of farmers. The text quotes extensively from older books like Fan Shengzhi shu 氾勝之書, Simin yueling 四民月令, Qimin yaoshu 齊民要術, Shanju yaoshu 山居要術, Weishi yuelu 韋氏月錄, Baosheng yuelu 保生月録 or Dilijing 地利經 (the last few are lost), but also adds some information that was based on the author's personal experience.

The Sishi zuanyao is an essential and comprehensive text because it fills a chronological and technical gap between the book Qimin yaoshu from the Northern Dynasties period 北朝 (386~581) and the large agricultural encyclopaedias of the Song period like Chen Fu's 陳旉 (1075-?) Nongshu 農書 "Book on agriculture". Although a lot of information on early Chinese agriculture can also be found in older texts, there are some newly introduced crops included in the Sishi zuanyao, like cotton, certain kinds of mushrooms, tea, dates, wine, or information on how to keep bees. It is also the first Chinese book describing the process of fermenting soybeans (chi 豉) and soy sauce production. The cultivation, harvesting and marketisation of tea is described much more precise than in Lu Yu's 陸羽 (733-804) famous "Tea Classic" Chajing 茶經.

Han E explains the advantage of cultivating several crops in one field, like large gourds (da hulu 大葫蘆), lucerne (muxu 苜蓿) and wheat (mai 麥), or nettle-hemp (xima 枲麻), tea sprouts (chamiao 茶苗) and millet (shuji 黍穄). The cultivation of ginger (shengjiang 生姜), yam (shuyu 薯蕷) and various kinds of mushrooms is for the first time described in the Sishi zuanyao, as well as that of lotus (ou 藕, i.e., lotus roots, and lian 蓮, lotus seeds), Gorgon euryale (qian 芡), water chestnut (biqi 荸薺), kudzu hemp (ge 葛), lilies (baihe 百合), Poris cocos (fuling 茯苓), oriental water plantain (zexie 澤瀉) and puncture vine (jili 蒺藜). Differences between southern China and the north are explained, for instance, in the braided "cooling mats" (tanxi 覃席) and banana leaves (jiaoge 蕉葛) of the south, and the custom of the southerners to always take with them artemisia pills (yinchen wan 茵陳丸) in their "first-aid kit".

The Sishi zuanyao represents techniques of running a large-scale farm as an enterprise and gives insight into the daily business of the land-owning elite of the Tang period that does not differ much from earlier centuries. The author of the Sishi zuanyao explains that farming is the base of all livelihood. Only if the granaries and storehouses are filled, he says, can people mentally care for rites and propriety (cang lin shi, zhi li yi 倉廪實,知禮義).

The Sishi zuanyao was first printed in 996 but was lost early. In 1960 a Korean print from 1590 was discovered in Japan, which was itself a reprint from a Chinese edition printed in 996. This copy was published by the Yamamoto Shoten 山本書店 press in 1961. Miao Qiyu 繆啟愉 (1910- 2003) wrote a commentary (Sishi zuanyao jiaoshi 四時纂要校釋), published in 1981. Only a tiny part of the original text seems to be lost, while some other paragraphs appear to have been inserted later.

Sources:
Deng Wenkuan 鄧文寬. 2004. "Dunhuang juzhu liri yu Sishu zuanyao de bijiao yanjiu 敦煌具注曆日與《四時纂要》的比較研究." Dunhuang yanjiu 敦煌研究 2004 (1): 62-66
Gao Liusui 高流水. 1996. "Sishi zuanyao 四時纂要." In Zhuzi baijia da cidian 諸子百家大辭典, edited by Feng Kezheng 馮克正, and Fu Qingsheng 傅慶升, 450. Shenyang: Liaoning renmin chubanshe.
Hua Zhenhong 化振紅. 2021. "Shilun Sishi zuanyao zhong de nongye suyu ci 試論《四時纂要》中的農業俗語詞." Wenzhou Daxue xuebao 溫州大學學報 2021 (11).
Li Hao 李浩. 2003. "Sishi zuanyao suo jian Tangdai nongye shengchan xisu 《四時纂要》所見唐代農業生產習俗." Minsu yanjiu 民俗研究 2003 (1): 132-139.
Lin Qitan 林其錟. 1994. "Sishi zuanyao 四時纂要." In Zhonguo xueshu mingzhu tiyao 中國學術名著提要, vol. Jingji 經濟卷, edited by Zhou Gucheng 周谷城, 134. Shanghai: Fudan daxue chubanshe.
Liu Fang 劉芳. 2015. "Sishi zuanyao de daojiao qingxiang yanjiu 《四時纂要》的道教傾向研究." Guanzi xuekan 管子學刊 2015 (1): 58-63+69.
Ni Genjin 倪根金. 2000. "Sishi zuanyao yanjiu er ti 《四時纂要》研究二題." Nandu Xueyuan xuebao 南都學院學報 2000 (4): 13-17
Nongye da cidian bianji weiyuanhui 《農業大詞典》編輯委員會, ed. 1998. Nongye da cidian 農業大詞典, 1580. Beijing: Zhongguo nongye chubanshe.
Peng Shijiang 彭世獎. 1995. "Sishi zuanyao 四時纂要." In Zhongguo nongye baike quanshu 中國農業百科全書, vol. Nongye lishi 農業歷史卷, 301. Beijing: Nongye chubanshe.
Sha Zhi 沙知. 1990. "Sishi zuanyao 四時纂要." In Zhongguo da baike quanshu 中國大百科全書, part Zhongguo lishi 中國歷史, vol. 2, 967. Beijing and Shanghai: Zhongguo da baike quanshu chubanshe.
Wang Chuanchao 王傳超. 2009. "Gudai nongshu zhong tianwen ji shushu neirong de laiyuan ji liubian: Yi Sishi zuanyao wei zhongxin de kaocha 古代農書中天文及術數內容的來源及流变——以《四時纂要》為中心的考察." Zhongguo kexue shi zazhi 中國科學史雜誌 2009 (4): 438-453.
Wang Fuchang 王福昌. 2007. "Sishi zuanyao suo jian Tangdai nongcun shehui 《四時纂要》所見唐五代農村社會." Nongye kaogu 農業考古 2007 (4): 67-76.
Wang Fuchang 王福昌. 2013. "Zhongguo gudai nongshu de xiangcun shehui shiliao jiazhi: Yi Qimin yaoshu he Sishi zuayao wei li 中國古代農書的鄉村社會史料價值——以《齊民要術》和《四時纂要》為例." Beijing Linye Daxue xuebao 北京林業大學學報 2013 (3): 7-11.
Wang Guozhong 王國忠. 1996. "Sishi zuanyao 四時纂要." In Zhongguo xueshu mingzhu tiyao 中國學術名著提要, vol. Keji 科技卷, edited by Zhou Gucheng 周谷城, 394. Shanghai: Fudan daxue chubanshe.
Wang Yuhu 王毓瑚, ed. 1964. Zhongguo nongxue shulu 中國農學書錄, 48. Beijing: Nongye chubanshe.
Wang Xingguang 王星光, and Zheng Yanwu 鄭言午. 2018. "Sishi zuanyao suo jian Tangdai xiangcun de jibing fangzhi 《四時纂要》所見唐代鄉村的疾病防治." Qinghai minzu yanjiu 青海民族研究 2018 (2): 118-122.
Wu Feng 吳楓, ed. 1987. Jianming Zhongguo guji cidian 簡明中國古籍辭典, 240. Changchun: Jilin wenshi chubanshe.
Wu Guoqiang 伍國强. 2001. "Cong woguo gu nongshu Sishi zuanyao kan Tangdai mianhua shengchan jishu 從我國古農書《四時纂要》看唐代棉花生產技術." Mianhua kexue 棉花科學 2001 (5): 28-29.
Yang Zhimin 楊直民. 1994. "Sishi zuanyao tiyao 《四時纂要》提要." In Zhongguo kexue jishu dianji tonghui 中國科學技術典籍通彙, part Nongxue 農學, edited by Ren Jiyu 任繼愈, vol. 1, 185-186. Zhengzhou: Henan jiaoyu chubanshe.
Zhu Lükuan 朱履寬. 1986. "Sishi zuanyao 四時纂要." In Zhongguo nongye baike quanshu 中國農業百科全書, vol. Nongye qixiang 農業氣象卷, 283. Beijing: Nongye chubanshe.