| Abstract |
Dian Lüe is an officially-supported gazetteer by Xie Zhao-zhi (hereafter referred to as Xie). Dian Lüe is, beyond doubt, a gazetteer of Yun-nan, but it also abounds with various writers’ poems and letters. Therefore, we might as well see the gazetteer as a literary work revealing Xie’s creative mind. The essay focuses on Xie’s depictions of Yun-nan and the connotations of such depictions. In the ten volumes of Dian Lüe, Xie calls up the topography, landscape, local produce and customs of Yun-nan. In addition, local public figures’ association with country squires, the narrations of arts and past memories, and the folklores about Yun-nan aborigines also promote the artistic side of Yun-nan. The gazetteer is significant in terms of its literary traits, cultural perspectives, and literary-historical and individual-spatial interpretations. Furthermore, this essay points out the way in which knowledge is introduced and the literary connotations consequent upon such a way, and then probes into Xie’s viewpoints as a ruler-writer based upon his attitude(s) toward the cultural contacts in Yun-nan and Fu-jian.
|
