History of Mount Dai (Mount Tai)岱史

Also known as

Gazetteer of Mount Tai (related)

Author / transmission

Zha Zhilong (Ming)

Period

Ming · Compiled by Zha Zhilong of the Ming, completed around the 14th year of the Wanli reign (1586); eighteen juan.

Canon division

Outside the canon (local gazetteer)

Collected in

Outside the Canon (Ming Wanli-era printed edition).

Category

Mountain Gazetteers

Fascicles

18 juan

Synopsis

The eighteen-juan Daishi (History of Mount Dai), compiled by Zha Zhilong of the Ming, is the earliest comparatively complete surviving gazetteer of Mount Tai. Mount Tai, the Eastern Peak among the Five Great Peaks, was both the site of successive emperors' feng and shan sacrifices and the center of the cults of the Great Emperor of the Eastern Peak and Bixia Yuanjun; temples such as Dai Temple, Bixia Temple, the Queen Mother's Pool and Doumu Palace are dense upon the mountain. The whole work is divided into treatises on astral fields, mountains and waters, topography, shrines and temples, the feng and shan sacrifices, the observance rites, numinous shrines, official careers, biographies, marvels, remains, and literature, systematically recording the natural geography, state sacrificial rites, religious establishments, and documents of Mount Tai. Its 'Treatise on the Feng and Shan Sacrifices' and 'Treatise on the Observance Rites' preserve institutional details of successive dynasties' sacrifices and offerings, and its 'Treatise on Numinous Shrines' records in detail the history of Dai Temple and Bixia Temple, of particular importance for the study of the flourishing of the cult of Bixia Yuanjun in the Ming (the incense tax and scale of pilgrims in the Wanli reign). Mount Tai was listed as a UNESCO Mixed World Heritage Site (cultural and natural) in 1987, and the Daishi, together with the Qing-dynasty works Taishan daoli ji by Nie Jian and Taishan zhi by Jin Qi, provides the documentary foundation for that status.

Key Ideas

• Earliest comparatively complete surviving gazetteer of Mount Tai
• Records of state sacrificial rites such as the feng and shan sacrifices and observance rites
• History of Dai Temple and Bixia Temple
• A firsthand record of the flourishing cult of Bixia Yuanjun in the Ming
• Documentary foundation for its status as a Mixed World Heritage Site

Structure

Eighteen juan, divided into treatises on astral fields, mountains and waters, the feng and shan sacrifices, the observance rites, numinous shrines, biographies, and literature.

Editions

• Ming Wanli-era printed edition
• Facsimile edition in the Siku Quanshu Cunmu Congshu
• Collated edition, Taishan Publishing House

Full Text & Online Resources

• CTEXT search
• Wikipedia: Mount Tai

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