The ''Yiwu Zhi'' or ''Record of Foreign Matters'', also known as the ''Jiaozhou Yiwu Zhi'' (交州异物志), ''Nanyi Yiwu Zhi'' (南裔异物志), ''Jiaozhi Yiwu Zhi'' (交趾异物志) and ''Yangyilang Zhushu'' (杨议郎著书) amongst others, is a treatise written by

Eastern Han The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...

court advisor Yáng Fú (杨孚) covering the people, geography, fauna, rice cultivation, fruit, trees, grass, bamboo, insects and fish of the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by South China, in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan island, Taiwan and northwestern Philippines (mainly Luz ...

region. It is the first written Chinese account of the

Lingnan Lingnan (; ) is a geographic area referring to the lands in the south of the Nanling Mountains. The region covers the modern China, Chinese subdivisions of Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hong Kong & Macau and Northern Vietnam. Background The ar ...

area's produce, production methods and aboriginal customs and uses a detailed methodology that would be adopted as standard by later works of this genre including the ''

Nanfang Caomu Zhuang The (c. 304 CE) ''Nanfang caomu zhuang'' (南方草木狀 ''Plants of the Southern Regions''), attributed to the Jin dynasty (265-420), Western Jin dynasty scholar and botanist Ji Han (嵇含, 263-307), is a Flora (publication), Flora describi ...

'', ''Linhai Shuishang Yiwu Zhi'' (临海水上异物志), ''Nanzhou Yiwu Zhi'' (南州异物志), ''

Hainan Hainan is an island provinces of China, province and the southernmost province of China. It consists of the eponymous Hainan Island and various smaller islands in the South China Sea under the province's administration. The name literally mean ...

Yiwu Zhi'' (凉州异物志), ''Bashu Yiwu Zhi'' (巴蜀异物志), ''Funan Yiwu Zhi'' (扶南异物志), ''Lingnan Yiwu Zhi'' (岭南异物志), ''Nanzhong Bajun Yiwu Zhi'' (南中八郡异物志), ''Guangzhou Yiwu Zhi'' (广州异物志), and ''Lingbiao Luyi'' (岭表录异).

* Human geography: Land of the Tattooed Forehead People (''Diaoti Guo'' 雕题国), Territory of the Wolf (''Lang Guo'' 狼国), ''Xitu Guo'' (西屠国),

Rau peoples The Rau people ( Zhuang: ), also known as Lao ( zh, c=僚人, p=Lǎorén; ), were an ethnic group of ancient China. Their descendants are the Zhuang, Buyei, Tày– Nùng and other Kra–Dai-speaking peoples. Names The ethnonym and autonym of t ...

''Wuhu'' (乌浒), Yellow Haired People (''Huang tou Ren'' 黄头人),

Kingdom of Funan Funan (; , ; , Chữ Hán: ; ) was the name given by Chinese cartography, Chinese cartographers, geographers and writers to an ancient Khmer-Mon Greater India#Indianized kingdoms of South East Asia, Indianized state—or, rather a loose netwo ...

Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Province Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya, or locally and simply Ayutthaya (historically Juthia or Judia), is one of the central provinces (''changwat'') of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are (from north clockwise) Ang Thong, Lopburi, Saraburi, Pathum Than ...

''Jinlin'' (金邻) ''Sidiao Guo'' (斯调国). * Animals and birds: Hepu cattle, gorilla, elephant, rhinoceros,

macaque The macaques () constitute a genus (''Macaca'') of gregarious Old World monkeys of the subfamily Cercopithecinae. The 23 species of macaques inhabit ranges throughout Asia, North Africa, and Europe (in Gibraltar). Macaques are principally f ...

, peacock. * Fish and insects: mussel, cowrie, water snake, hawksbill turtle, whale, jellyfish. * Fruit: Japanese banana,

betel Betel (''Piper betle'') is a species of flowering plant in the pepper family Piperaceae, native to Southeast Asia. It is an evergreen, dioecious vine, with glossy heart-shaped leaves and white catkins. Betel plants are cultivated for their lea ...

, coconut, olive, bayberry, sugar cane, sweet potato. * Plants:

banyan A banyan, also spelled banian ( ), is a fig that develops accessory trunks from adjacent prop roots, allowing the tree to spread outwards indefinitely. This distinguishes banyans from other trees with a strangler habit that begin life as ...

, cotton, laurel, cardamom, giant hyssop, ginger-lily *Precious stones: Kunlun jade,

mica Micas ( ) are a group of silicate minerals whose outstanding physical characteristic is that individual mica crystals can easily be split into fragile elastic plates. This characteristic is described as ''perfect basal cleavage''. Mica is co ...

Versions

The ''

Book of Sui The ''Book of Sui'' () is the official history of the Sui dynasty, which ruled China in the years AD 581–618. It ranks among the official Twenty-Four Histories of imperial China. It was written by Yan Shigu, Kong Yingda, and Zhangsun Wuji, ...

'' and the ''

New Book of Tang The ''New Book of Tang'', generally translated as the "New History of the Tang" or "New Tang History", is a work of official history covering the Tang dynasty in ten volumes and 225 chapters. The work was compiled by a team of scholars of the So ...

'' both cite from the ''Yiwu Zhi'' but from the time of the

Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...

(960–1279) the book became lost, although scattered references to it remain in works such as '' Beitang Shuchao'' (北堂书抄), '' Imperial Reader of the Taiping Era'', '' Extensive Records of the Taiping Era'', ''Yiwen Julei'' (艺文聚类), '' Commentary on the Water Classic'', '' Qi Min Yao Shu'', ''

Guangyun The ''Guangyun'' (''Kuang-yun''; ) is a Chinese rhyme dictionary that was compiled from 1007 to 1008 under the patronage of Emperor Zhenzong of Song. Its full name was ''Dà Sòng chóngxiū guǎngyùn'' (, literally "Great Song revised and ...

'', '' Taiping Huanyu Ji'', ''Hailu Suishi'' (海录碎事), ''

Compendium of Materia Medica The ''Bencao gangmu'', known in English as the ''Compendium of Materia Medica'' or ''Great Pharmacopoeia'', is an encyclopedic gathering of medicine, natural history, and Chinese herbology compiled and edited by Li Shizhen and published in th ...

'', ''Guang ''Qunfang Pu'' (广群芳谱)'', ''Guangdong Xinyu'' (广东新语), and ''Guangzhong Tongzhi'' (广东通志) amongst others. In the first year of the

Qing The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

Daoguang Emperor The Daoguang Emperor (16 September 1782 – 26 February 1850), also known by his temple name Emperor Xuanzong of Qing, personal name Mianning, was the seventh List of emperors of the Qing dynasty, emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the sixth Qing e ...

(1821), Zeng Zhao (曾钊) produced a version of ''Yangyilang Zhushu'' (杨议郎著书) from ancient textual sources then in 1849 the ''Yiwu Zhi''.
In March 1947, The

Commercial Press The Commercial Press () is the first modern publishing organization in China. The Commercial Press is known for its academic publishing and translation work in humanities and social sciences, as well as the '' Xinhua Dictionary''. History In ...

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

published a compendium of works based on the ''Yiwu Zhi'' followed in 1991 by the Guangdong Publishing Group (广东省出版集团) issuing the ''Lingnan Cultural Archive'' (岭南文库), which included Wu Yongzhang's (吴永章) work ''Yiwu Zhi Jiyi Jiaozhu'' (异物志辑佚校注).

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References

{{Reflist Han dynasty texts Han dynasty literature

Contents

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See also

Notes

References