Visible and Spectacular

Commentary on Geographical Writings in Medieval China

Abstract

Since the Book of Songs, commentary has been a crucial tool for interpreting and understanding previous literary works. In medieval China, commentary extended beyond the interpretation of classics to various genres, demonstrating diverse purposes and effects. This paper investigates the perspectives and techniques of commentators in two geographical writings in medieval China, Li Daoyuan's Shuijing zhu and Yang Xuanzhi's Luoyang qielan ji. It illustrates how these commentators represent landscape in a way distinct from the original text, offering a fresh approach to the study of commentary. By establishing organisational structures that differ from the main text, selecting words and citations from previous documents, supplementing this with their personal sensory experiences, and even extracting keywords from the main text for elaboration, commentators on geographical writings expand and deepen the descriptions of landscapes in the main text. This enriches the meaning of a location’s scenery, constructing a more profound interpretation and thereby a distinctive landscape belonging to the commentators. As such, commentary functions not only as an analytical tool but also as a unique mode of representing landscapes.

自《詩經》以來，註疏一直是理解和解讀前代文獻不可或缺的輔助工具。到了中古時期，註疏不僅用於儒家經典的詮釋，還呈現出體裁跨越和功能多樣性的趨勢。本文以中古地理書寫中的兩部註疏——酈道元《水經註》和楊衒之《洛陽伽藍記》為例，嘗試為註疏研究提供新的視角。這兩部作品雖然依循正文的文句順序進行註解，卻呈現出獨立的文本架構。註疏者有意識地依照新的架構選擇詞彙和引文，融入個人的直觀體驗，並從正文中挑選出關鍵字進行補充和詮釋。這種註疏方式不僅擴展和深化了原有的景觀描寫，還塑造了註疏者對地景獨特的解讀。換言之，中古地理書寫的註疏不僅詮釋了地志文獻，還提供另一種地景再現的形式。