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0 100 metres
si zuotang
wu zuotang
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liu zuotang
li jiang
road
Plate 22.13 (left) Map of Nanjing in 1944, showing the 13 basins on
the eastern shore of the Yangtze River. Nanjing Municipal Museum
Plate 22.14 (above) Illustration from Nanjing Archaeological Report
of shipyard excavation; the rectangle at the bottom right represents
the length and width of a hypothetical 137m x 56m treasure ship
Notes Sanbao zhengyi ji 三寶征彝集 manuscript (also dated after 1617) and
1 MS: j. 304, 7766–8. the Qi shi Dansheng tang 祁氏淡生堂 manuscript of 1620. In these
2 According to the work that has been done on Ming weights and works, the dimensions are not integrated into the text but written
measures, the standard Ministry of Works foot (chi 尺) is 31.1cm on the blank pages before the book begins as if added later as an
long. There are ten chi in one zhang, hence one zhang is 3.11m. Qiu afterthought.
Guangming 1992. 16 Yan Congjian’s 嚴從簡 Shuyu zhouzi lu 殊域周恣錄 of 1574,
3 The Minnesota had a draft of 7.5m and a displacement of 16,000 Zhongwai jiaotong shiji congkan 中外交通史籍叢刊 series, vol. 13
tons. It was one of six ships that belonged to the ‘Connecticut-class’ (Beijing 1993), j. 8, p. 306. J.J.L. Duyvendak translates the story of
of steel battleships built for the US Navy between 1903 and 1908. the documents’ destruction see Duyvendak 1938, 341–412, esp.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connecticut-class_battleship 395–6.
(accessed 15 April 2016), and US Department of the Navy, Office of 17 Gong Zhen 1961, 12.
the Chief of Naval Operations 1969, 374–5. Charles E. Gibson tells 18 Nanjing shi bowuguan 2006, 66–7, col. pl. 13.
of the way in which ships in the West became proportionally longer 19 A table of the information about the construction of ships provided
and narrower as they advanced from the Elizabethan era to the in the Shilu can be found in Church 2005, 18–19.
17th century. See Gibson 1958, 127. 20 These accounts are Yingya shenglan (1451, first preface 1416), Xingcha
4 See Seppings 1818, 1–8. The article is available online at http:// shenglan 星槎勝覽 (1436) and Xiyang fanguo zhi (1434), respectively.
www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/Shipbuilding/ 21 Gong Zhen 1961, 12.
Seppings%281818%29.html (accessed 16 April 2015). 22 Xin Yuanou 2002.
5 Church 2005. 23 Zhu Yunming, ‘Down to the Western Oceans’ (Xia Xiyang 下西洋),
6 Clunas and Harrison-Hall 2014. quoted in Mills 1970, 15.
7 Levathes 1994, 21. 24 Lo Jung-pang 1955, esp. 493, n. 18.
8 Xin Yuanou 2002, 1–20. 25 These dimensions were first given in the association’s promotional
9 Pao Tsun-p’eng adds up various figures for ship numbers in the literature in 2009, and published in the journal produced by the
sources and comes up with a total of 317 ships in the fleet. See Pao association. See Zhao Zhigang 2008–9, esp. 103.
Tsun-p’eng 1961, 24–5. 26 Xiang Da 1961b.
10 The ships of the line were a ‘type of sailing warship that formed the 27 This is Mills’ designation, see Mills 1970, 29, 253, 335–46.
backbone of the Western world’s great navies from the mid-17th 28 As noted below, two additional rudderposts of similar size have
century through the mid-19th century’ (http://www.britannica. been found there. See Nanjing shi bowu guan 2006, 112–14.
com/technology/ship-of-the-line) (Accessed 15 April 2016); Edye 29 The full title of this text is: Taishang shuo Tianfei jiu kuling ying jing 太
1832; Albion 1926, 9. 上說天妃救苦靈應經. It is discussed by Jin Qiupeng 金秋鵬 2000.
11 Church 2005, 32. The illustration is reproduced in Wang Bomin 1988, ill. no. 30,
12 In the excavation of the Treasure Shipyard, most of the wood was 32–3.
found to be Cunninghamia lancelota (sometimes called ‘China-fir’ 30 I have used the edition in Xuanlantang congshu xuji 玄覽堂叢書續集;
(though it is not a fir)). See Nanjing shi bowuguan 2006, 112–14. and also the modern edition edited by Wang Lianggong 王亮功
13 Xi Longfei and He Guowei 1985, 95, referring to Yang You, Yang (1999).
Zongying and Huang Genyu 1981, esp. 20. 31 The interrelationships between the two shipyards are discussed in
14 Han Zhenhua 1988. Church 2011; Church 2010.
15 Some editions of Ma Huan’s travel account, Yingya shenglan 瀛崖勝 32 Sleeswyk 1996.
覽, contain the dimensions as given in the Ming shi, and one or 33 Zhou Shide 1962.
more of these may have been the source that the editors used to 34 The Ryukyu ship illustration is found in Zhou Huang, original
compile this official history. However, the earliest and most date 1759 (Daoguang edition, c. 1830), 33b–34a.
authentic edition does not have them. This is the Jilu huibian 紀錄 35 Zhu Zaiyu 1998. On Zhu Zaiyu 朱載堉 (1536–1611) as the inventor
匯編 edition published by Shen Jiefu 沈節甫 (jinshi 1559) in of as the inventor of equal temperament in music, see Robinson
approximately 1617. It is thought to be the closest to the first edition 1980.
produced in 1451. The three later editions that do contain the 36 Xi Longfei 1999, 272–3.
dimensions are: the Chaoshuo ji 鈔說集 edition (dated after 1617), the 37 Anon. 2014.
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