Study on the Records of Field Allocation in the Local Gazetteers of the Song Dynasty

The Song dynasty was a critical period for the comprehensive integration of the traditional theory of astronomical field allocation (tianwen fenye 天文分野 ) and geographical compilation in ancient China. Thus, the basic compilation principles of geographical chronicles was established, and the local gazetteers also tended to have fallen into a pattern. The astronomical field allocation theory became the conventional content of geographical chronicles describing the establishment and evolution of various regions, and was even set as a single category, which became the routine of compiling the local gazetteers, and continued to the Ming and Qing dynasties. There are 29 existing local gazetteers of the Song dynasty seen in The Collection of Song and Yuan Local Gazetteers (宋元方志丛刊), of which at least 17 books clearly recorded the content of the astronomical field allocation. Besides, further lost local gazetteers of the Song dynasty, which kept the records of field allocation, are highly concentrated in the geographical book Yudi Jisheng (舆地纪胜) written by Wang Xiangzhi in the southern Song dynasty. This book has the records of field allocation under every administrative unit such as administration ( 府 ), prefecture (州), and commandery (军), and often indicates the records of field allocation kept in the previous local gazetteers. It involves about more than 80 different local gazetteers of the Song dynasty. They are really precious. This study intends to collect all of the records of field allocation kept in the existing local gazetteers of the Song dynasty and Yudi Jisheng, and make use of these data to conduct further analysis and research.