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28
2018
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02
The Pan Shan Gazetteer, Authored by Imperial Order of the Qing Emperor Qianlong
Author:
In the nineteenth year of the Qianlong reign, Jiang Pu and others, acting on imperial edict, undertook a major revision, expanding the earlier local gazetteer to twenty-one volumes. The work was completed in the twelfth month of the nineteenth year of Qianlong and submitted to the Ministry of Punishments in the twentieth year of the reign.
The Qianlong Emperor attached great importance to the re‑editing of the Pan Shan Gazetteer, a fact amply documented in the “Imperially Commissioned Pan Shan Gazetteer”: “On the eighteenth day of the second month in the nineteenth year of the Qianlong reign, while stationed at the temporary imperial palace, he ordered ministers Jiang Pu, Wang Youdun, Dong Bangda, and others to compile a new gazetteer of Pan Shan. In response, we beheld the emperor’s own hand inscribing the verse: ‘The sun and stars shine together.’” By composing the poem “The Sun and Stars Shine Together” for the new Pan Shan Gazetteer, Qianlong expressed his hope that the new and the old gazetteers would “shine side by side,” thereby wishing that his own meritorious deeds would be as illustrious as the celebrated scenic wonders of Pan Shan. In his poem “Scenes Along the Mountain Journey,” Qianlong wrote: “I brought Dong Bangda along and instructed him to draw a complete map of the Pan Shan terraces, while also intending to revise the new gazetteer.” This reveals how seriously Qianlong regarded the creation of detailed illustrations for the new gazetteer.
Once the compilers of the new gazetteer of Panshan had been selected, the Qianlong Emperor “immediately ordered them to enter the mountains to conduct field surveys,” personally visiting all the locales and compiling illustrated descriptions, collating materials, and verifying accounts. Upon completion of the preliminary preparations, the emperor composed a poem to mark the occasion, which includes the lines: “I have personally surveyed the entire panorama of this renowned mountain” and “The illustrious sites and celebrated achievements I long to record in the annals.”
After nearly eleven months of work, the compilation of the new local gazetteer was completed, and the Qianlong Emperor wrote the preface to the Panshan Gazetteer. Sixty years separated the new gazetteer from its predecessor; owing to the numerous imperial tours undertaken by Emperors Kangxi and Qianlong—during which they “surveyed the terrain and laid out gardens, lavished funds on temple renovations”—both Panshan’s celebrated scenic spots and its cultural landmarks underwent profound changes, ushering the mountain into a period of flourishing prosperity within an era of great peace and prosperity. Although the new gazetteer was conceived as a tribute to the Qianlong Emperor, intended to extol the achievements of his reign, its positive contributions remain undeniably significant.
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