St. Petersburg Copies of the Main Geographical Treatise of the Qing Dynasty China Yu zhi Da Qing yi tong zhi

Cover Page

Cite item

Full Text

Abstract

The article presents the data on the editions of official Corpus “The Imperially Commissioned Complete Description of the Great Qing Empire” (Yu zhi Da Qing yi tong zhi 御製 大清一統志), currently housed in St. Petersburg. The history of existence of this most important work on the geography of Qing China in Europe and Russia shows how highly it was rated by foreign Sinologists as a bibliographical source. They used the Corpus for writing their own works, and there was even a certain rivalry between the largest European manuscript collections striving to find and acquire it. The presence of several of its copies in St. Petersburg proves that Russian Sinologists perfectly understood the influence of the comprehensive work on “history and geography” (lishi dili 歷史地理) on the further development of historical science about China.

About the authors

Irina F. Popova

Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, RAS

Author for correspondence.
Email: irina_f_popova@mail.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-6327-3079

Director of the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, RAS, Professor

Russian Federation, St. Petersburg

Viacheslav P. Zaytsev

Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, RAS

Email: sldr76@gmail.com
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-6870-0877
SPIN-code: 5302-3512
Scopus Author ID: 57200333618
ResearcherId: O-9275-2016

Researcher, Serindia Laboratory

Russian Federation, St. Petersburg

References

  1. Avvakum (Chestnoi, Dmitrii S.). Katalog knigam, rukopisiam i kartam, na kitaiskom, man’chzhurskom, mongol’skom, tibetskom i sanskritskom iazykakh, nakhodiashchimsia v biblioteke Aziiatskogo Departamenta [A Catalogue of Books, Manuscripts and Maps, in the Chinese, Manchu, Mongolian, Tibetan and Sanskrit Languages, Housed at the Library of the Asiatic Department]. St. Petersburg: V tipografii Eduarda Pratsa, 1843 (in Russian).
  2. Bacmeister, Johann Vollrath. “Umständliche Anzeige einer Rußischen Uebersetsung der neuesten chinesischen Reichs-Geographie”. St. Petersburgisches Journal, Bd. 7, 1779, April, pp. 235–251 (in German).
  3. Bichurin, Nikita Ya. (Iakinf). Sobranie svedenii po istoricheskoi geografii Vostochnoi i Sredinnoi Azii [A Collection of Information on the Historical Geography of Eastern and Central Asia]. Comp. by L.N. Gumilev and M.F. Khvan. Cheboksary: Chuvashskoe gosudarstvennoe izdatel’stvo, 1960 (in Russian).
  4. Busse, Johann Heinrich. “Ueber die bei der hiesigen Akademischen Bibliothek angesammleten Bücher in Sinesischer, Manshurischer, Mongolischer und Japanischer Sprache”. Journal von Rußland, Bd. 2, Stück 8 (Februar, 1794), pp. 128–134; Stück 9 (März, 1794), pp. 216–221; Stück 10 (April, 1794), pp. 277–280 (in German).
  5. Catalogue des livres imprimés, des manuscrits et des ouvrages chinois, tartares, japonais, etc., composant la bibliothèque de feu M. Klaproth. Paris: R. Merlin, Libraire, 1839 (in French).
  6. Dorn, Bernhard. Das asiatische Museum der kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu St. Petersburg. Von dem Director desselben Dr. Bernh. Dorn. St. Petersburg: Buchdruckerei der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1846 (in German).
  7. “Journal of Occurrences”. The Chinese Repository. 1843, vol. XII (June), no. 6, pp. 327–335 (in English).
  8. Kamenskii, Pavel and Lipovtsov, Stepan. Katalog kitaiskim i iaponskim knigam, v Biblioteke Imperatorskoi Akademii nauk khraniashchimsia, po preporucheniiu gospodina prezidenta onoi Akademii, Sergeia Semenovicha Uvarova, vnov’ sdelannyi Gosudarstvennoi kollegii inostrannykh del perevodchikami, kollezhskimi assessorami: Pavlom Kamenskim i Stepanom Lipovtsovym [A Catalogue of Chinese and Japanese books kept at the Library of the Imperial Academy of Sciences compiled anew by Collegiate Assessors Pavel Kamensky and Stepan Lipovtsov, translators at the State Collegium for Foreign Affairs, on the instructions of Sergei Semenovich Uvarov, Mr. President of the said Academy]. [St. Petersburg]: [Tip. Akad. nauk], [1818] (in Russian).
  9. Kanda, Nobuo. “Present State of Preservation of Manchu Literature”. Memoirs of the Research Department of the Toyo Bunko (The Oriental Library), 1968, no. 26, pp. 63–95 (in English).
  10. Karimullin, Abrar G. “Vostokovednye fondy Kazanskogo universiteta” [Oriental Collections of the Kazan University]. Problemy vostokovedeniia, 1959, no. 1, pp. 153–157 (in Russian).
  11. Khokhlov, Aleksandr N. “Kitaiskie staropechatnye knigi v Rossii XIX–XX vv. (gosudarstvennye i chastnye kollektsii kitaiskikh ksilografov) (2015 g.)” [Early Chinese Printed Books in Russia in the 19th and 20th Centuries (State and Private Collections of Chinese Woodblocks) (2015)]. In: Arkhiv rossiiskoi kitaistiki [Archive of Russian Chinese Studies], 2016, vol. IV, pp. 290–448. Moscow: Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (in Russian).
  12. Klaproth, Julius. Abhandlung über die Sprache und Schrift der Uiguren. Nebst einem Wörterverzeichnisse und anderen uigurischen Sprachproben, aus dem Kaiserlichen Übersetzungshofe zu Peking. Hrsgb. von Julius Klaproth. Paris: In der Königlichen Druckerey, 1820 (in German).
  13. Klaproth, Julius. Katalog der chinesischen und mandjurischen Bücher der Bibliothek der Akademie der Wissenschaften in St. Petersburg. Zum ersten Mal aus dem Manuskript hrsgb. von H. Walravens. Berlin: C. Bell Verlag, 1988 (Ch‘ing-wen tsung-hui: Beiträge zur Mandjuristik: Bibliographien, Texteditionen, Aufsätze; Bd. 1) (in German).
  14. Klaproth, Julius. Magasin asiatique, ou, Revue geographique et historique de l’Asie Centrale et Septentrionale; Publiée par M.J. Klaproth. Tome premier. Paris: A la Librairie orientale de Dondey-Dupré père et fils, 1825 (in French).
  15. Kulikova, Alla M. Rossiiskoe vostokovedenie XIX veka v litsakh [Nineteenth-Century Oriental Studies in Russia: Personalia]. St. Petersburg: Peterburgskoe Vostokovedenie, 2001 (Arkhiv rossiiskogo vostokovedeniia) (in Russian).
  16. Leont’ev, Aleksei. Kratchaishee opisanie gorodam, dokhodam i protchemu Kitaiskogo gosudarstva, a pri tom i vsem gosudarstvam, korolevstvam i kniazhestvam, koi kitaitsam svedomy. Vybrannoe iz Kitaiskoi gosudarstvennoi geografii, koia napechatana v Pekine na kitaiskom iazyke pri nyneshnem khane Kian Lune. Sekretarem Leontievym [A Brief Description of the Cities, Revenues and other Things of the Chinese State, as Well as All the States, Kingdoms and Principalities that are Known to the Chinese. Selected from the Chinese State Geography, which was printed in Beijing in the Chinese Language under the current khan Qianlong. By Secretary Leontiev]. St. Petersburg: [Tipografiia Akademii nauk], 1778 (in Russian).
  17. Mozharovskii, Apollon F. “Arkhimandrit Petr Kamenskii. Nachal’nik Ross[i]isko-Imperatorskoi X missii v Pekine. (Prodolzhenie). XIII” [Archimandrite Peter Kamensky. Chief of the Russian-Imperial Tenth Mission in Peking. (Continued). Chapter XIII]. Nizhegorodskie ieparkhial’nye vedomosti, 1887, 15 November, no. 22, pt. unofficial, pp. 1220–1232 (in Russian).
  18. Mozharovskii, Apollon F. “K istorii nashei dukhovnoi missii v Kitae” [On the History of Our Spiritual Mission in China]. Russkii arkhiv, 1886, book 2 (iss. 7), pp. 405–437 (in Russian).
  19. Popova, Irina F. & Zaytsev, Viacheslav P. “N.Ia. Bichurin (o. Iakinf). Zabavnye izvestiia o Rossii v Kitaiskoi Geografii” [N.Ya. Bichurin (Fr. Hyacinth). Amusing News about Russia in Chinese Geography. Introduction and commentaries by I.F. Popova and V.P. Zaytsev]. Vestnik Buriatskogo nauchnogo tsentra SO RAN, 2025, no. 1(57), pp. 108–116 (in Russian). doi: 10.30792/2222-9175-2025-57-108-116.
  20. Postnikov, Aleksei V. “Novye dannye o rossiiskikh kartograficheskikh materialakh XVIII — nachala XIX v. vo Frantsii” [New Data on Russian Cartographic Materials of the 18th—early 19th Сenturies in France]. In: Arkhiv istorii nauki i tekhniki [Archive of the History of Science and Technology], 2007, iss. III, pp. 390–423. Moscow: Nauka (in Russian).
  21. Riedl-Dorn, Christa. Ein uomo universale des 19. Jahrhunderts und sein wissenschaftliches Netzwerk: Stephan Ladislaus Endlicher und seine Korrespondenz mit Wissenschaftlern seiner Zeit: Mit 54 Abbildungen. Göttingen: V&R unipress; [Wien]: Vienna University Press, 2019 (Schriften des Archivs der Universität Wien: Fortsetzung der Schriftenreihe des Universitätsarchivs, Universität Wien; Bd. 26) (in German).
  22. Rossochin. “Beschreibung des altaischen Gebürges aus dem chinesischen Buche: Daizyn-itun Dshi, übersetzt durch den 1759 zu Petersburg bey der Akademie verstorbnen, aus Nertschinsk gebürtigen”. Translateur Rossochin. In: Neue Nordische Beyträge zur physikalischen und geographischen Erdund Völkerbeschreibung, Naturgeschichte und Oekonomie. Bd. 1. St. Petersburg; Leipzig: bey Johann Zacharias Logan, 1781, pp. 223–230 (in German).
  23. Samoylov, Nikolai A. & Maiatskii, Dmitrii I. “Tsinskie kalendari s dnevnikovymi zapisiami N.I. Voznesenskogo (1801–?)” [Qing Calendars with Diary Notes by N.I. Voznesensky (1801–?)]. Klio, 2023, no. 09(201), pp. 13–20 (in Russian). doi: 10.51676/2070-9773-2023-09-13.
  24. Schmidt, Isaak Jakob. “Anzeige einer von der Regierung neu-erworbenen Sammlung Orientalischer Werke”. St. Petersburgische Zeitung, 1830, 23 Juli, no. 88, pp. 675–676; 1830, 25 Juli, no. 89, pp. 685–686; 1830, 28 Juli, no. 90, pp. 693–694 (in German).
  25. Stählin, Jacob von. “Atlas von China, nebst einer geographischen Erläuterung desselben. Abgefasset von einem gebohrnen Chinesen zu Pekin 1746, und aus der chinesischen Sprache zu St. Petersburg 1756 von Rossochin in die rußische, aus dieser aber nun in die deutsche übersetzt”. In: Magazin für die neue Historie und Geographie, angelegt von D. Anton Friderich Büsching. Dritter Theil, 1769, pp. 575–604. Hamburg: im Verlag Johann Nicolaus Carl Buchenröders und Compagnie (in German).
  26. Vakhtin, Boris B. et al. Katalog fonda kitaiskikh ksilografov Instituta vostokovedeniia AN SSSR [Catalogue of the Collection of Chinese Woodblock Editions of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the USSR Academy of Sciences]. [Vol.] I. Moscow: Nauka, 1973 (in Russian).
  27. Vasil’ev, Vasilii P. Materialy po istorii kitaiskoi literatury. Lektsii, chitannye zasluzhennym professorom S.-Peterburgskogo Imperatorskogo universiteta V.P. Vasil’evym [Materials on the History of Chinese Literature. Lectures Given by V.P. Vasiliev, Professor Emeritus of the St. Petersburg Imperial University]. [St. Petersburg]: Lit. Ikonnikova, [1887] (in Russian).
  28. Vasil’ev, Vasilii P. Ocherk istorii kitaiskoi literatury V.P. Vasil’eva (Iz “Vseobshchei istorii literatury”, izdavaemoi V.F. Korshem i K.L. Rikkerom) [Outline of the History of Chinese Literature by V.P. Vasiliev (From the “General History of Literature” published by V.F. Korsh and K.L. Ricker)]. St. Petersburg: Tipografiia M.M. Stasiulevicha, 1880 (in Russian).
  29. Vasil’ev, Vasilii P. “Zapiska o vostochnykh knigakh v S.-Peterburgskom universitete” [Note on Oriental Books at St. Petersburg University]. Russkii vestnik, 1857, vol. 11, September, book 2, pp. 305–343 (in Russian).
  30. Veber Karl, I. “Spisok sochinenii na kitaiskom iazyke po chasti geografii i statistiki[, raspolozhennykh v alfavitnom i sistematicheskom poriadke” [List of Works in Chinese on Geography and Statistics, Arranged Alphabetically and Systematically]. In: Spisok knig, priobretennykh bibliotekoi Imperatorskogo S.-Peterburgskogo universiteta s 1 iiulia 1904 goda po 31 dekabria 1906 goda [A List of Books Purchased by the Library of the Imperial St. Petersburg University from July 1, 1904 to December 31, 1906]. St. Petersburg: Tipografiia G. Shakht i Kº, 1907. XVI, Appendix, pp. 1–41 (in Russian).
  31. “[Vysochaishee povelenie:] No. 25 (Iiunia 13). O prisoedinenii k Biblioteke Akademii nauk sobraniia Aziatskikh knig, kuplennogo u barona Shillinga fon-Kanshtadta” [Imperial Order: no. 25 (of June 13). On the Accession of the Collection of Asian Books Purchased from Baron Schilling von Cannstatt to the Library of the Academy of Sciences]. Zhurnal Ministerstva narodnogo prosveshcheniia, 1835, pt. 7, no. 7 (July), section I, pp. IX–X (in Russian).
  32. Walravens, Hartmut. Julius Klaproth (1783–1835): Briefwechsel mit Gelehrten, großenteils aus dem Akademiearchiv in St. Petersburg. Mit einem Namenregister zu Julius Klaproth: Briefe und Dokumente (BiblO 4). Hrsgb. von Hartmut Walravens. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2002 (Orientalistik Bibliographien und Dokumentationen; Band 18) (in German).
  33. Walravens, Hartmut. “Schilling von Canstadt and His Correspondence with Julius Klaproth in the IOM”. Written Monuments of the Orient, 2019, vol. 5, no. 2(10), pp. 105–143 (in English).
  34. Wang Dawen 王大文. Wenxian bianzuan yu “da yi tong” guannian: «Da Qing yi tong zhi» yanjiu 文献编纂与“大一统”观念: 《大清一统志》研究 = Document Compilation and Great Unification Concept: Research of Da Qing Yi Tong Zhi. Beijing: Fangzhi chubanshe 方志出版社, 2016 (in Chinese).

Supplementary files

Supplementary Files
Action
1. JATS XML
Download


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.