Making Sense of Health, Disease, and the Environment in Cross-Cultural History: The Arabic-Islamic World, China, Europe, and North America by Florence Bretelle-Establet & Marie Gaille & Mehrnaz Katouzian-Safadi

Author:Florence Bretelle-Establet & Marie Gaille & Mehrnaz Katouzian-Safadi
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030190828
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

8.3.6 Jin Gui 靳貴 (ca.1464–1520?): The Discordant Voice of an Outside Scholar

Interestingly, the recurring images linked to the harmful environment of Lingnan were noted by a Ming scholar, who, while himself an outsider, did not share the viewpoint of all his counterparts. In a dedication written in homage of his student Wu Jingzhong 吳警眾, after the latter’s success in the provincial examinations and his appointment as a magistrate in the district of Guixian in Guangxi, Jin Gui 靳貴 (ca.1464–1520?) opposes the views generally held on the Far South and explains why. For him, this reputation which had pervaded gazetteers since the Song dynasty was justified because the place was particular in comparison with central China from where most scholars came. To the repetitive prejudgment making the Far South the crucible of abnormalities that he enumerates—zhang, snakes, low-lying and thin soil, and deficient bodies—he opposes a discourse of truth based on his own experience of the place, repeating that he had never seen any of the supposed dangers:People use to say that beyond the Ling Mountains, there is zhang everywhere. It is today the provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi. It is because this is the southernmost place where it is very hot. Climate/customs (fengqi 風氣) are particular if one compares these with central China (zhongyuan 中原). All officials who have lived there, use these words, for a long time […] The Guihai Yuheng reports that in the Two Guang, only Guilin 桂林 is free of zhang, but beyond, toward the south, all districts are zhang. Zhang includes (that of) green herbs, Heteropogon contortus, new cereal, etc. It is what gazetteers have said for 600 or 700 years, through the Song, the Yuan, the Ming, until today. As regards zhang, it is not only Guilin which is free of it. All villages and districts above Wu 梧 (Wuzhou) and 潯 Xun river are free of zhang. And even, in Sicheng 泗城, in Xilong 西隆, in the steep mountains where roads are rare there is no zhang. The ancient provincial gazetteer says: where vegetation is dense and covering, there are trigonocephalus snakes, I have never seen any. The Descriptions of Yue by Min Xu speak of low-lying ground, of thin soil, of a constant Yang Qi which would lead people to have open skin pores because of constant sudation, leading them to be deficient in yin or yang. I have never seen any of this. We must not wrongly accuse (this place) just because the local climate/customs are particular.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.