Abstract:

The East Asian Library of the University of California, Berkeley, collects two copies of Lidai Minghua Ji, A and B. Through visual inspection, it is known that the format, font and inscription at the beginning of volume 1 of A and B are identical, and the papers used are yellow bamboo paper. There are the same errors in binding, so it can be concluded that they have the same original. This original should be another unknown copy of the Ming Dynasty reprinted from the Song Dynasty. B is the original single engraved version of Jigu Ge, the earliest one; Jindai Mishu edition was revised according to B, which was later; part of Lidai Minghua Ji in A and B may have the same original. Three kinds of books, namely Hou Hualu, Guhua Pinlu and Xu Huapin Bing Xu, were selected from collections of Jigu Ge, then modified and bound as one by people in late Qing. After dispersing from Jigu Ge, A was owned by the Japanese Imazeki Tenpō, then collected in the Mitsui Library. Later, it was purchased by the East Asian Library, Berkeley. B was originally collected by Li Wentian who was a famous official in late Qing, and has been collected by his son Li Yuanshuo and his grandson Li Yan. On January 9, 1938, because of financial embarrassment and his ancestors’ affinity with Hong Kong businessmen, Li Yan gave B to Hong Kong businessman Fung Heung-tsuen. Feng Jufei, the son of Fung Heung-tsuen, was ordered by his mother to present it to Ping-Wah Fung, brother of the same clan. Later, it scattered from Ping-Wah Fung and was collected by Berkeley eventually. The spread and collection of Lidai Minghua Ji in East Asian Library, Berkeley, is a typical case in the process of knowledge globalization.