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Shiben

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Shiben
Shibentitle page inSmall Seal Script
Chinese name
ChineseThế bổn
Literal meaningGeneration Origins
Korean name
Hangul세본
HanjaThế bổn
Japanese name
KanjiThế bổn
Hiraganaせほん

TheShibenorBook of Origins(Pinyin:shìběn;Chinese;Thế bổn;lit.'Generation Origins') was an earlyChinese encyclopediawhich recorded imperialgenealogiesfrom the mythicalThree Sovereigns and Five Emperorsdown to the lateSpring and Autumn period(771–476 BCE), explanations of theorigin of clan names,and records of legendary and historical Chinese inventors. It was written during the 2nd century BC at the time of the Han dynasty.[1][2] The work was lost in the 10th century, but partially reconstructed from quotations during theQing dynasty.

Title[edit]

The title combines the common Chinese wordsshìThế"generation; epoch; hereditary; world" andběnBổn"root; stem; origin; fundament; wooden tablet".

The personal name ofEmperor Taizong of Tang(r. 627–650) wasShiminThế dân, and owing to the strictnaming tabooagainst writing an emperor's name, theShibenThế bổn title was changed toXibenHệ bổn orDaibenĐại bổn (with theshinear-synonyms ofxiHệ "system; series; family" anddaiĐại "substitute; generation; dynasty" ).

Although this Chinese title is usuallytransliteratedShiben,Shih-pen,etc., English translations includeBook of Origins[3][4]andGenerational Records.[5]

History[edit]

The origins of theShibentext are obscure. The earliest references to it date from theHan dynasty(206 BCE – 220 CE). The (111 CE)Book of Hanbibliography section (Yiwenzhi) has a list ofWarring States period(475–221 BCE) texts including theShibenin 15 volumes (pian). The (5th century)Book of the Later HansaysSima Qianused the text as a source for his (109 BCE)Records of the Grand Historian.[6]Several Han scholars wrote commentaries to theShiben,namelyLiu Xiang(77–6 BCE), Song Jun Tống đều (d. 76 CE),Ying Shao(140–206), and Song Zhong Tống trung (fl. 192–210), which was the most widely copied in later editions.

The bibliography sections of the standardTwenty-Four Historieslist variousShibenversions from the Han up through theTang dynasty(618–907), but it was lost at the beginning of theSong dynasty(960–1279). During theQing dynasty(1644–1911), scholars collectedShibenfragments and compiled eight different versions, which were published together.[7]The eight compilers wereWang Mo,Sun Fengyi tôn phùng cánh, Chen Qirong trần này vinh, Qin Jiamo Tần gia mô, Zhang Peng trương bành, Lei Xueqi lôi học kỳ. Mao Panlin lữu phán lâm, and Wang Zicai Vương Tử tài. With the exception of Wang Zicai's version that rearranged the text in chronological order, the others all have three similar chapters (pian) onShi xingThị họ "Clan names",JuCư "Residences [of Rulers]", andZuoLàm "Inventors"; but different arrangements of noble genealogies.

TheShibenwas the oldest book in theChinese literarygenre of books that record inventions and discoveries, called "technological dictionaries",[3]"dictionaries of origins" or "encyclopedias of origins".[8]These Chinesereference workswere important to the study ofnatural history.

This was the genre of lexical works devoted entirely to explaining the origins of things, inventions, customs and affairs—very characteristic of Chinese literature but liable to be puzzling to any Westerners who still cherish the illusion that that civilisation was 'timeless' and 'static'. In fact, it was historical to the core, conscious also of a kind of social evolution from primitive existence, and therefore very much concerned with origins.[9]

TheSui dynastymathematician Liu Xiaosun Lưu hiếu tôn (fl. 605–616) wrote theShishiSự thủy "Beginning of all Affairs", which contains some 335 entries with names of various material things and devices. It was followed by the (c. 960)XushishiTục sự thủy "Continued Beginning of all Affairs" by theFormer Shudynasty scholar Ma Jian mã giam, with 358 entries. Both of these books refer to Chinese legendary inventors.[6]Later encyclopedias of origins in this genre were much larger. Two from the Song dynasty were the (1085)Shiwu jiyuanSự vật kỷ nguyên "Records of the Origins of Affairs and Things" compiled by Gao Cheng cao thừa, and the (1237)Gujin yuanliu zhilunCổ kim nguồn nước và dòng sông đến luận "Essays on the Course of Things from Antiquity to the Present Time", which was started by Lin Dong lâm 駧 and completed by Huang Lüweng hoàng lí ông. The Qing dynasty scholar Chen Yuanlong trần nguyên long produced the largest encyclopedia of origins, the (1717)Gezhi jingyuanTruy nguyên kính nguyên "Mirror of Scientific and Technological Origins".[10][11]

Content[edit]

Modern researchers continue to use information from the ancientShiben.For instance, Chinesezupu"genealogy books"cite information from its elaborate genealogies of the ruling houses and the origins of clan names.

The earlyhistory of science and technology in Chinaregularly citesShibenrecords about names of the legendary, semi-legendary, and historical inventors of all kinds of devices, instruments, and machines. The textual entries for naming inventors are mostlygnomic4-character lines, for instance,[3]Bo Yi zuojingBá ích làm giếng "Bo Yiinvented well(-digging) "[to help control theGreat Flood];Hu Cao zuoyiHồ tào làm y "Hu Cao invented clothing"; andLi Shou zuoshuLệ đầu giữ lời "Li Shou invented computations". Since many of these inventors were allegedly ministers of the legendaryYellow Emperor,the value of theShibenis not for the actualhistory of science,but for the systematization that it brings to the body of legendary technological lore.[3]

The Zhou dynasty Chinese inventorLu Banor Gongshu Pan (507–440 BCE) and therotary hand quernprovides a good example. It stated thatGongshu zuo shiweiCông Thâu làm thạch ngại "Gongshu invented the stone (rotary) mill" and theGujin Tushu Jichengwritten in 1725 glosses this with a commentary from theShihwu zhiyuanencyclopedia.

He made a plaiting of bamboo which he filled with clay (niBùn ), to decorticate grain and produce hulled rice; this was calledweiNgại (actuallylongLung ). He also chiseled out stones which he placed one on top of the other, to grind hulled rice and wheat to produce flour; this was calledmo( ma ).[12][2]

References[edit]

  • Needham, Joseph;Wang, Ling (1954).Science and Civilisation in China,Volume 1 Introductory Orientations.Cambridge University Press.ISBN9780521057998.
  • Needham, Joseph;et al. (1986).Science and Civilisation in China,Volume 6 Biology and Biological Technology, Part 1: Botany.Cambridge University Press.ISBN9780521087315.

Footnotes

  1. ^Needham, Joseph;Wang, Ling; Robinson, Kenneth Girdwood (1962).Science and Civilisation in China,Volume 4, Physics and Physical Technology, Part 1. Physics(2nd ed.).Cambridge University Press.p. 190.ISBN9780521058025.
  2. ^abRonan, Colin (1994).The Shorter Science and Civilisation in China.vol. 4.Cambridge University Press.p. 118.
  3. ^abcdNeedham & Wang 1954,p. 51.
  4. ^Hume, Edward H. (1955), "Review: 'An Empire of Learning'",The Quarterly Review of Biology30.3: 278-280. p. 279.
  5. ^Theobald, Ulrich (2010),Shiben thế bổn "Generational Records",Chinaknowledge.
  6. ^abNeedham & Wang 1954,p. 52.
  7. ^Song Zhong Tống trung (1957),Shiben bazhongThế bổn tám loại [Eight versions of theShiben]. Commercial Press thương vụ ấn thư quán.
  8. ^Needham, Lu & Huang 1986,pp. 212–13.
  9. ^Needham, Lu & Huang 1986,p. 212.
  10. ^Needham, Lu & Huang 1986,p. 213.
  11. ^Theobald, Ulrich."Chinese Literature - Gezhi jingyuan truy nguyên kính nguyên ( chinaknowledge.de)".chinaknowledge.de.Retrieved2022-06-17.
  12. ^Needham, Joseph;Wang, Ling (1965).Science and Civilisation in China,Volume 4, Physics and Physical Technology, Part 2. Mechanical Engineering.Cambridge University Press.p. 189.ISBN9780521058032.

External links[edit]

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