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BOOK REVIEWS
If other, even earlier historical writings are to be taken into account, the editorial principle for presenting an introduction for each chapter, as Prof. Li has done in his new book, can be further traced to as far back as the 2nd century. For instance, in I-wen chih, "Records of Literary Documentation”, the 30th chuan of Han Shu (History of the Han Dynasty), all the available documents have been classified, according to their nature, into the following groups: Book of Changes, Book of Documents, Book of Songs, Book of Rites, Book of Music, etc. In each group, before listing all books devoted to the same theme, Pan Ku, the author of Han Shu, also provided many introductory essays; one for each of those groups.
Undoubtedly, namely the old Chinese editorial principle, of presenting an introduction to each chapter, which was first initiated by a historian in the 2nd century and again used by art historians in the 12th and the 14th centuries, has played an important role in Prof. Li's A Thousand Peaks and Myriad Ravines.
I have devoted the rest of this review to a discussion of points of detail on which I differ from Professor Li's findings. These do not detract from Professor Li's considerable contribution to scholarship, but it is appropriate to mention them here for the sake of readers and users of this book.
First of all, there happen to be some problems of identification. For example, Figure 52 (A-1) in vol. II deals with a complete set of reproductions of a landscape album dated 1729 by Huang Shen. In leaf 9 (pl. LXXXVI) of this album, in addition to its title and date, this 18th-century artist has also inscribed one 5-word poem. The 16th Chinese character which appeared in the 3rd line of this poem is an adjective which modifies a kind of orange that Huang Shen might have seen locally. This character, in Vol. I, p. 246 is identified by Prof. Li as 'yeh' since its literary meaning is rendered by its English translation as 'wild'. The reviewer questions this. His reasons are two-fold.
In an old Chinese writing, Yen Tzu chun-chiu … the ancient quibbler Yen Tsu (d. 500 B.C.) once stated that Chinese oranges in Southern Huai area were always good while the same fruit when moved to the Northern Huai area was always bad because of its thick skin.15 In this connection, the title of leaf 9 seems worthy of notice, since it is inscribed by the artist himself as