Mount Tai History and Gazetteer 岱史

Compiled by Zha Zhilong in the Ming Dynasty, the book was completed during the Wanli reign period.

Eighteen volumes in total, it is included in the Supplementary Daozang under the The Dongshen Section category.

Mount Tai History and Gazetteer

This work is a historical gazetteer of Dai Mountain (namely Mount Tai). According to the preface at the beginning of the book: Tan Yao, the Censor in Charge of Salt Transportation in Changlu, Shandong Province, lamented that the historical gazetteers of Dai Mountain compiled by predecessors were brief and scattered. He thus ordered Zha Zhilong, the Transport Commissioner under his administration, to recompose and supplement the texts, resulting in the completion of this book. The entire work is divided into fourteen treatises, among which three treatises—Illustrated Research, Astronomical Division Research, and Topographical Advantages Research—detail the geographical maps, celestial phenomena, and mountain-river topography of Mount Tai. The Table of Mountains and Rivers and Table of Territories list the mountains, rivers and territorial scope of Mount Tai. Four treatises—Record of Imperial Inspections, Record of Imperial Sacrifices, Record of Historical Relics, and Record of Sacred Temples—narrate the history and relics of emperors of successive dynasties inspecting Mount Tai and holding sacrificial rituals there. Another five treatises—Gazetteer of Palaces and Temples, Gazetteer of Local Products, Gazetteer of Incense Taxes, Gazetteer of Calamities and Auspices, and Gazetteer of Mountain Ascents—respectively document the palaces, Taoist abbeys and Buddhist temples on Mount Tai, its local products and natural features, incense tax revenues, disasters and auspicious omens. They also compile poems, odes, prefaces and travel notes composed by literati and government officials who climbed Mount Tai in different dynasties. The book is compiled in a clear and well-organized manner with detailed textual research and explanations; each treatise is preceded by a short preface that outlines its guiding principles and structural rules.