APPENDIX IX 



SUNG OHIO'S ACCOUNT OF THE ORGANIZATION OF A LYCHEE CLUB 



AT P'UT'IEN, FUKIEN PROVINCE, DURING THE MING 



DYNASTY* 



Translated by Michael J. Hagerty, Chinese Translator of the United 



States Department of Agriculture, assisted by Ch'en 



Ts'ing-hua and Wu Mien 



INTRODUCTION 



Sung Chio (literary name Sung Ta-mo) in 1608 wrote his Li chih p'u or 

 treatise on the lychee. He was a native of P'ut'ien district in Hsinghwa prefecture, 

 one of the famous lychee-grpwing regions in Fukien Province. 



His treatise is reprinted both in the Imperial Encyclopedia (see p. 119, 

 No. 5) and in Mr. Wu's great work on Chinese Botany (see p. 120, No. n). It 

 contains seven chapters, as follows: i. "Fortunate Occupation" (Introduction); 

 2. "The Lychee Club"; 3. "The Narrative" (History); 4. "Records of the Sung 

 Family Lychee"; 5. "Lychee Wine" ; 6. "Remarkable Events"; 7. "The Lychee 

 Slave (Lungan)." The whole treatise is written in a highly imaginative style 

 and is replete with hyperboles and literary allusions. The author extols the lychee 

 above all other fruits. "The lychee is the genius, the Buddha of the fruits; there 

 is nothing to be compared to it," so he begins his treatise. In the first chapter he 

 tells of eating a thousand or two lychee fruits a day and a hundred thousand fruits 

 during the season. Only two of his friends, Kup Sh&ig-tai and Fang Tzu-tao, 

 could eat as many. He says, "I took pleasure in separating the varieties and 

 enjoyed compiling this treatise." 



Under the heading "Unalloyed Bliss in Eating the Lychee," he lists 

 thirty-three favorable or auspicous circumstances which add to the pleasure of 

 eating lychee, such as: "the coming of agreeable friends," "facing flowing 

 water," "examining treatises on the lychee," etc., etc. Then under "Somber 

 Happenings in Eating the Lychee," he lists thirty-four unfavorable circum- 

 stances tending to diminish the pleasure derived from eating the lychees, such 

 as: "heavy rains," "having people about who do not like to eat lychees," "lis- 

 tening to bad poems or songs," "urging guests not to eat lychee under pre- 

 tense of avoiding ill effects from the heat," appearance of the Pine cone vari- 

 ety," (the last to ripen, marking the end of the season), etc., etc. 



*This translation of Sung Chio's account of a lychee club is taken from the second chapter 

 of his Li chih p'u reprinted in the Chinese Imperial Encyclopedia, Book 273, Hui Kao, Pt. i, fol. 

 7 of the Small Edition, or Pt. i, fol. 15-16 of the Imperial Edition. 



Sung Chio's entire work and the five other treatises on the lychee reprinted in this En- 

 cyclopedia, have been translated by Mr. Hagerty assisted by Ch'en Ts'ing-hua and Wu Mien. 

 Photostat copies of the typewritten translations, as well as of the entire text of the Imperial Edition 

 of the Encyclopedia referring to the lychee and lungan (Books 273-277 and part of Book 280, in all, 

 202 folios), may be secured by arrangement with the Library of the U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture, Washington, D. C. Translations of the other four treatises on the lychee (Nos. i, 2, 4 

 and 9, on pp. 118-119), not reprinted in the Imperial Encyclopedia, as well as the Chinese texts, can 

 also be secured there. 



The Library of the U. S. Department of Agriculture has also a set of photostat copies of 

 he historical and botanical references on the lychee from western sources, 409 pages in all, prepared 

 by Mrs. Walter T. Swingle (Nos. 100-232, see pp. 127-141). These also may be secured by special 

 arrangement. 



160 



