This work is based on an important book by Gu Zuyu (1631–92), a geographer from Wuxi, Jiangsu Province. Following in the footsteps of his father who wished to compile a comprehensive geography of the Ming dynasty, Gu Zuyu wrote <em>Du shi fang yu ji yao</em> (Essentials of historical geography), covering all dynasties in past centuries. The book identifies places and names more accurately than previous similar works. Gu began with five juan, worked on the book over many years, and eventually expanded it to 130 juan. The book was printed in Chengdu, Sichuan, during the Jiaqing reign (1796–1821) of the Qing dynasty, and given the title <em>Da Yuan hun yi tong zhi</em> (Amalgamated geographical encyclopedia of the Yuan dynasty). The new version drastically and repeatedly altered the contents of the older work, almost to an unrecognizable degree. It also included the names of the compilers of a 1303 work entitled <em>Da Yuan yi tong zhi</em> (Comprehensive geography of the great Yuan), such as Beilanpan and Yue Xuan, as well as that work’s original preface. The postscript, in red ink, was written by the famed Qing historian Qian Daxin (1728–1804). The seal impressions of names of the collectors and collections are falsified, and the Ming reign periods in the original work were all taken out. According to <em>Guo hui tu shu guan cang Zhongguo shan ben shu lu</em> (A descriptive catalog of rare Chinese books in the Library of Congress), this manuscript copy is probably a Qing edition, most likely from the reigns of emperors Daoguang and Xianfeng (1821–61). The copy is incomplete, with only six juan, covering Tianshun Fu (name of Beijing during the Ming and Qing) and Shunde Fu (name of Xingtai, Hebei, during the Ming dynasty).
<br>Yuan dynasty, 1271-1368
Gu, Zuyu, 1631-1692
between 1821 and 1861 <div style="display: none;">date QS:P571,+1850-00-00T00:00:00Z/7,P1319,+1821-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1326,+1861-00-00T00:00:00Z/9</div>
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