The Bowu Zhi; An Annotated Translation by Zhang Hua; Greatrex, Roger - 1987

Stockholm, Sweden: Skrifter Utgivna Av Foreningen for Orientaliska Stuoier, 20, 1987. First Edition . Paperback. Very Good/No Jacket. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY AUTHOR. Very good blue pictorial trade paperback. Faded cover and spine, slight wear, soiling. 1987, 8vo, [4], 328pp. Abstract tipped in, 2 errata pages tipped in. Notes pages 184-277 Bibliography of Chinese and Japanese titles pages 278-328. "This dissertation has a two-fold purpose. Firstly, it provides an annotated translation of the full text of the Bowu Zhi by Zhang Hua (232-300), an intriguing early mediaeval work that contains passages which throw interesting light on a number of fields in mediaeval Chinese scholarship and the development of traditional Chinese science. As reference to the Bowu Zhi is rendered difficult by the parlous state of the text, a full translation with accompanying textual reconstructions where necessary was unavoidable, to which has been added a brief study of Zhang Hua. The second purpose of this dissertation is to attempt to gain a clearer understanding of the textual authenticity of the various extant editions of the Bowu Zhi, and thus determine whether the Bowu Zhi is a reliable source of mediaeval Chinese scholarship. The Bowu Zhi is widely held to be a refacimento, dating from the Song or even the Ming dynasties, to which later interpolations have been added at an unknown date along with commentaries by two previously unidentified scholars. The author of this dissertation discusses and rejects the refacimento theory, suggesting that one current edition of the Bowu Zhi may be traceable to the early Tang dynasty, and also attempts to identify the authors of the two commentaries. While a full study of the content of the Bowu Zhi must await research on the hundreds of enigmatic quotations from the Bowu Zhi found throughout Chinese literature but not within the pages of current editions, in his conclusion the author of the dissertation briefly points to four inter-related topics which demonstrate the Bowu Zhi's importance in the comprehension of traditional Chinese science."