ZHENG, Zhen 鄭珍.

Qin shu ji 親屬記 [Records on Kinship].

40 folding leaves. Large 8vo, orig. wrappers, orig. stitching. [Guangzhou]: Guangya shuju 廣雅書局, 1892.

A rare glossary on kinship terminology. Our book aimed to provide a guide to the words used for family relations in antiquity, glossing them with references to literary sources and occasionally contemporary language (Zeng, “Zheng Zhen Qinshu ji lunlüe”). The degree of kinship is the overarching organizational principle used in the work. Zheng Zhen (1806-64), a minor provincial official, a philologist and poet (Huang & Huang, Jindai shiwen, 22). He finished his draft for the book in 1860. His son Zheng Zhitong 鄭知同 (1831-90) — who wrote a Preface — and Chen Ju 陳矩 (1851-1939) later added to it and first published it in 1886. Chen’s older brother, Chen Tian 陳田 (1850-1922), wrote a colophon that unusually follows the end of the first juan, rather than the end of the second. The Chen brothers were officials and writers. After the Republican revolution, Chen Ju became the head of Guizhou Library (Hou, Guizhou jinxiandai renwu ziliao xubian, 143).

The publisher of our edition, Guangya shuju, was founded in Guangzhou in 1887 by Zhang Zhidong 張之洞 (1837-1909), a prominent late-Qing conservative official and promoter of education. The publisher was “extremely exacting and precise in its collation of books” (Li, Qingdai Guangdong buxue yanjiu, 119). Zheng Zhitong worked at the press and brought a number of his father’s works to publication (Tang, Guizhou jinxiandai renwu ziliao, 206), including our edition (WorldCat 37855421).

Fine copy.

References

Hou Qingquan 侯清泉, ed. Guizhou jinxiandai renwu ziliao xubian 贵州近现代人物资料续集. Guiyang: Zhongguo jinxiandai shi shiliao xue xuehui Guiyang Shi huiyuan lianluo chu, 2001.

Huang Ming 黄明 & Huang Shen 黄珅. Jindai shiwen 近代诗文. Shanghai: Shanghai renmin chubanshe, 2017.

Li Xubo 李绪柏. Qingdai Guangdong buxue yanjiu 清代广东朴学研究. Guangzhou: Guangdong sheng tushuguan chubanshe, 2001.

Tang Chengde 唐承德, ed. Guizhou jinxiandai renwu ziliao 贵州近现代人物资料. Guiyang: Zhongguo jinxiandai shi shiliao xue xuehui Guiyang Shi huiyuan lianluo chu, 1997.

Zeng Zhaocong. 曾昭聰, “Zheng Zhen Qinshu ji lunlüe” 郑珍《亲属记》论略. Guizhou wenshi congkan 2011, no. 4.