Yu Gong
{{Short description|Chapter of the Book of Documents}}
{{for|the ancient Chinese fable|The Foolish Old Man Removes the Mountains}}
{{italic title}}
{{chinese
|pic=File:Yugong Nine Provinces Map 禹贡九州图.svg
|picsize=300px
|piccap=Conjectural map of the Nine Provinces
|t={{linktext|禹貢}}
|s={{linktext|禹贡}}
|p=Yǔ Gòng
Yǔgòng
|w=Yü Kung
Yü-kung
}}
The Yu Gong or Tribute of Yu is a chapter of the Book of Xia (Chinese: {{nowrap|t {{lang|zh|{{linktext|夏書}}}},}} {{nowrap|s {{lang|zh|{{linktext|夏书}}}},}} Xià Shū) section of the Book of Documents, one of the Five Classics of ancient Chinese literature. The chapter describes the legendary Yu the Great and the provinces of his time. Most modern scholars believe it was written in the fifth century BCE or later.
Contents and significance
The chapter can be divided into two parts. The first describes the nine provinces of Ji ({{lang|zh|冀}}), Yan ({{lang|zh|兗}}), Qing ({{lang|zh|青}}), Xu ({{lang|zh|徐}}), Yang ({{lang|zh|揚}}), Jing ({{lang|zh|荊}}), Yu ({{lang|zh|豫}}), Liang ({{lang|zh|梁}}), and Yong ({{lang|zh|雍}}), with the improvement works conducted by Yu in each province. The second enumerates Yu's surveys of the rivers of the empire, followed by an idealized description of five concentric domains of five hundred li each, from the royal domain ({{lang|zh|甸服}} Diānfú) around the capital to the remote wild domain ({{lang|zh|荒服}} Huāngfú).{{cite book
| contribution = Shang shu |script-contribution=zh:尚書 |trans-contribution=Hallowed writings of antiquity
| last = Shih | first = Hsiang-lin
| pages = 814–830
| title = Ancient and Early Medieval Chinese Literature (vol. 2): A Reference Guide, Part Two Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 4 China
| editor1-first = David R. | editor1-last = Knechtges
| editor2-first = Taiping | editor2-last = Chang
| publisher = BRILL | year = 2013 | isbn = 978-90-04-20164-4
| url = {{google books|ZfN0AQAAQBAJ||page=817|plainurl=yes}}
}}
Later, this would become important in the justification for the concept of Tianxia or "All Under Heaven" as a means to back up the territorial and other claims of successive Chinese dynasties.{{citation needed|date=January 2014}}
Origin and versions
Although the Yu Gong is traditionally dated to the Xia dynasty ({{Circa|2070|1600 BCE}}), most modern scholars agree that the work is considerably more recent.{{cite book |editor=Hou Renzhi (侯仁之) |trans-title=Selected Masterpieces of Ancient Chinese Geography: Yu Gong |script-title=zh:中国古代地理名著选读•禹贡 |location=Beijing |publisher=Scientific Publishing (科学出版社) |year=1959 |language=Chinese |ISBN= 9787507725797}} Tradition dictates that Confucius (551–479 BCE) compiled the Book of Documents and included the Yu Gong, although it is more likely that this was done later. Wang Guowei suggested in his {{zhi|tr=New Confirmation of Ancient History|c=古史新证|out=tr}} that the Yu Gong was written at the start of the Zhou dynasty, but most scholars now agree with the view of Gu Jiegang that it is a product of the Warring States, Qin or Early Han periods.{{Cite book|first1=Naitō|last=Torajirō|title=Study of Works of the Yu Gong Era (禹贡制作年代考)|translator=Jiang Xia'an (江侠庵)|trans-title=Study of pre-Qin Classics (先秦经籍考)|language=Chinese|publisher=Shanghai: Commercial Press (上海: 商务印书馆)|year=1931}}{{cite book
| chapter = Shang shu
| first = Edward L. | last = Shaughnessy | authorlink = Edward L. Shaughnessy
| title = Early Chinese texts: a bibliographical guide
| editor-first = Michael | editor-last = Loewe
| publisher = Society for the Study of Early China | year = 1993 | isbn = 978-1-55729-043-4
| pages = 376–389
| title = The five "Confucian" classics
| url = https://archive.org/details/fiveconfuciancla00nyla
| url-access = limited
| first = Michael | last = Nylan
| publisher = Yale University Press | year = 2001 | isbn = 978-0-300-08185-5
| pages = [https://archive.org/details/fiveconfuciancla00nyla/page/n148 134], 158
}}
References to maritime history in the Analects of Confucius and the Yu Gong suggest their origin in a single culture while the appearance of the West River ({{lang|zh|西河}}) and South River ({{lang|zh|南河}}) in the latter indicate that the author came from the State of Wei.{{Cite book|title=Compendium of Rivers & Mountains Vol. 2 |script-title=zh:河山集•二集|publisher=Sanlian Bookstore (三联书店)|language=Chinese|year=1981}} In the preface to his Commentary on the Yu Gong Map ({{lang|zh|禹贡图注}}), Ming dynasty Scholar {{zhi|p=Ài Nányīng|c=艾南英|out=p}} (1583–1646) considered the {{transl|zh|pinyin|Yu Gong}} the "progenitor of all geographic texts both ancient and modern."{{lang|zh|《禹贡》一书，古今地理志之祖者。}}
References
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
{{wikisourcelang|zh|尚書/禹貢|Book of Documents - Yu Gong|{{in lang|zh}}}}
- [http://ctext.org/shang-shu/tribute-of-yu 禹貢 - Tribute of Yu] at the Chinese Text Project: Chinese text with James Legge's English translation (amended to employ pinyin)
{{Authority control}}
Category:Chinese history texts
Category:Chinese classic texts