Record of Mount Lu

AnonymousJinzhang Book Company (Jinzhang Shuju) · ChinaJul 2024

3.2

Word count: 43K words
Chapters: 7

Summary

Lushan Ji (A Record of Mount Lu) is an ancient Chinese religious and human-geographical monograph on the Han Chinese. It comprises three juan, with an appended one-juan “Brief Account of Mount Lu.” The cover and title page bear the inscription: “A composite edition of the incomplete Shoushan Ge Congshu edition collected in the Siku Quanshu, the Otani University manuscript collected in the Japanese Taishō edition of the Buddhist canon, and the Genroku 10 (1697) printed edition,” with the title reading: “Song Chen Shunyu’s Lushan Ji, Composite Edition” and “Revised Lushan Gazetteer Supplementary Publication Series.” The work is divided into five juan: 1. General Account of Mountains and Waters; 2. Account of the Southern Side of the Mountain; 3. Easy Guide for Mountain Travel; 4. Inscriptions Left by Ancients; 5. Catalogue of Ancient Steles. It records Mount Lu’s geographical setting, famous sites and historic relics, as well as poems and inscriptions left by earlier writers.

Editor's review

Lushan Ji is an ancient human-geographical monograph organized around a mountain, combining the framework of a geographical gazetteer with the substance of a literary anthology. It first gives a general account of the landscape, then describes the scenic sites on the southern side, adds an “Easy Guide for Mountain Travel” for following the route stage by stage, and concludes with inscriptions left by ancients and a catalogue of ancient steles, weaving natural scenery, religious relics, and poetic inscriptions from successive eras into one fabric. Its value lies not in serving as a tourist guide in the modern sense, but in showing how earlier people managed a famous mountain through writing: which peaks and ravines were repeatedly described, which temples and steles were solemnly recorded, and which inscribed poems were regarded as part of the mountain itself. This facsimile edition combines the incomplete Shoushan Ge Congshu edition collected in the Siku Quanshu, the Otani University manuscript collected in the Japanese Taishō canon, and the Genroku 10 printed edition, and is thus also of reference value for textual criticism and edition studies. It is best read as a “documentary archive of a mountain,” moving back and forth between landscape accounts and stele catalogues and inscriptions; readers can sense the rhythm of ancient travel and also gain primary materials for local-document, religious-geographical, and rare-book edition research.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Scholars working on ancient geographical treatises, local gazetteers, and local documents
Readers interested in the history, culture, and religious relics of Mount Lu
Graduate students who need to consult original sources such as ancient inscriptions and stele catalogues
Collectors interested in facsimile editions of ancient books and composite edition collation

Not a good fit for

Ordinary tourists seeking modern travel routes and information on food and lodging
Readers who prefer vernacular stories and light reading
Beginners without basic Classical Chinese reading ability who are unwilling to consult annotations

Reading tips

Read the General Account of Mountains and Waters first to establish the overall layout of the mountain, then use the Southern Side account and Easy Guide for Mountain Travel alongside modern maps to locate sites.
Treat the Inscriptions Left by Ancients and the Catalogue of Ancient Steles as independent documentary indexes; when encountering a familiar poem title, return to the original text to check it.
While reading, note variant names of temples, peaks, and steles for cross-verification with later Lushan gazetteers.
For edition research, first examine the composite-edition information on the cover and title page, then compare the division and merging of juan.

About the publisher

Jinzhang Book Company (Jinzhang Shuju) China · Founded in 1901

Jinzhang Book Company (Jinzhang Shuju) was a private publishing and distribution house in Shanghai during the late Qing and early Republican periods, issuing traditional works by lithographic printing. Judging from the 1,194 titles in the collection, its publishing focused on classical poetry, Eastern philosophy, historical reading, traditional Chinese medical texts, and canonical works, along with books on literary appreciation. Representative titles include the poetry and prose collections of Du Fu and Ouyang Xiu; historical works such as the Book of Han and Zizhi Tongjian; classical texts such as the Book of Documents and Mencius; and specialized and literary classics such as Treatise on Cold Damage and Li Sao. Its author resources cover major figures across the ages, including Du Fu, Ban Gu, Sima Guang, Zhang Zhongjing, Qu Yuan, Ouyang Xiu, and Tang Shenwei, reflecting the house's characteristic reliance on traditional scholarship and medical literature while serving general readers. Public information on its early history and operational details is limited, so no conjecture is offered here.

版权信息
序
庐山记卷第一
庐山记卷第二
庐山记卷第三
庐山记卷第四
庐山记卷第五

FAQ

Is this book suitable as a travel guide to Mount Lu?

Not really. It records Mount Lu’s geographical setting, famous sites and historic relics, and poems and inscriptions by earlier writers in ancient times; it contains no information on modern transportation, food and lodging, or opening hours. If you wish to follow the book on a visit, you can use the “Easy Guide for Mountain Travel” as a historical route reference together with modern maps and on-site signs.

What does “composite edition” in the book title mean?

According to the inscription on the cover and title page, this edition combines the incomplete Shoushan Ge Congshu edition collected in the Siku Quanshu, the Otani University manuscript collected in the Japanese Taishō edition of the Buddhist canon, and the Genroku 10 printed edition, and the title is given as “Song Chen Shunyu’s Lushan Ji, Composite Edition.” It reflects a method of organizing multiple editions rather than a simple reprint from a single base text.

What does each of the five juan record?

According to the source, the work is divided into five juan: 1. General Account of Mountains and Waters; 2. Account of the Southern Side of the Mountain; 3. Easy Guide for Mountain Travel; 4. Inscriptions Left by Ancients; 5. Catalogue of Ancient Steles, with an appended one-juan “Brief Account of Mount Lu.” Overall it moves from the general to the specific, from landscape setting to concrete travel, inscriptions, and stele records.

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About the author

Anonymous Author

Anonymous is not a real personal name but a general Chinese designation for authors whose names are unknown, lost, or unsigned. Neither nationality nor dates of birth and death can be verified, and available public information is limited, so the works attributed to this name are the only basis for description. The collection holds 2,078 works under Anonymous, spanning medicine, classics, historical readings, ancient poetry, classical literature, and philosophy. Representative works include The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon: Lingshu, Mencius, The Book of Documents, Nineteen Old Poems, Complete Song Ci, and The Peacock Flies Southeast. Most of these works took shape through long transmission and editing, emerging either from collective folk creation or from authors whose names were lost over time. In ancient China, the Book of Songs, the Great Learning, and many popular storybooks and plays were signed Anonymous because their authors could not be traced. Anonymous works cross the classics, histories, philosophical writings, medical texts, and poetry; their subjects are broad, and their styles vary from archaic simplicity to clear naturalness, making them important and influential sources for understanding ancient Chinese thought, medicine, and literature.