Introduction. 9 



of the Southern Sung dynasty, Kao-tsung (11 27-1 162 a. d.) and con- 

 sisting of over seven hundred pieces, prepared by a commission of 

 nineteen, including one writer and four artists, 1 headed by Lung Ta- 

 yuan, president of the Board of Rites (Li pu) who also prefaced the 

 work in 11 76. Dr. Bushell, who has devoted a careful study to this 

 book, gives also a translation of this preface (Bishop, Vol. I, p. 32). 

 The second preface {Ibid., p. 33) by Kiang Ch'un, dated 1779, relates 

 how "a manuscript copy of the book had been purchased in 1773, when 

 the Emperor had issued a decree to search throughout the empire for 

 lost books, and a copy sent to be examined by the library commission 

 then sitting. This year I again read through the original manuscript 

 and found the description clearly written and the illustrations cleverly 

 executed, so that it was worthy of being compared with the Siian ho 

 Po ku t'u. This book describes the ancient bronzes referred to in the 

 Chou li, while our work describes the jade, so that we could not spare 

 either. The Po ku t'u was reprinted several times and gained a wide 

 circulation, while this book remained in manuscript 2 and attracted no 

 notice, not being included in the Catalogue of Literature of the Sung 

 History, nor quoted by older writers. Lung Ta-yiian, whose name is 

 included in the chapter on Imperial Sycophants of the Sung History, 

 died before the date of publication, but he is left at the head of the 

 commission, in memory of the work done by him. His actions were 

 not worthy, but that is no reason for suppressing his book. I venture 

 to bring this book before the eye of the Emperor, that it may again 

 be referred to the library committee for revision and be corrected by 

 them, and have the honor of being reprinted under special imperial 

 authority." 



The verdict of the Library Committee seems to have been unsatis- 

 factory, continues Dr. Bushell, for they criticize the book most severely 

 in the Imperial Catalogue (Se ku ts'iian shu tsung mu, Ch. 116, pp. 7-9) 

 on account of there being no references to it in later books, and of 

 certain anachronisms in the list of members of the commission, and 

 declare it finally to be a fraud, and not even a clever one; without any 

 examination, however, of the contents — as Bushell adds, which could 

 have hardly been the case. 



1 Liu Sung-nien, Li T'ang, Ma Yuan, and Hia Kuei. It was their task to 

 reproduce the jade pieces in colors for the one original copy to be dedicated to the 

 emperor. 



*It has been said that the Ku yii t'u p'u was published in 11 76 and republished 

 in 1779 (Hirth, T'oung Pao, Vol. VII, p. 500, and The Ancient History of China, 

 p. 89). It is of importance to note that 1779 is the date of the first publication, 

 and that the work was allowed to remain in manuscript up to that time, i. e. over 

 600 years. The original manuscript was then lost, and we have no means of judging 

 in how far, or how correctly the illustrations of the original have been preserved in 

 the printed edition. 



