Editing, Circulating, and Reading Huang Zhong’s Hai yu 海語

Huang Zhong’s 1536 Hai yu is a short text about foreign countries and products connected to the sea. To compile his book, the author mainly used information based on what seafarers told him in his native place Nanhai, Guangdong, making the text a unique source for Chinese maritime history during the early sixteenth century. In the Ming dynasty, at least three different versions were circulating, all of which are now lost. Luckily, all three editions were preserved in congshu of the late Ming and Qing dynasties. The Hai yu was read and quoted by later scholars, especially those from the Jiangnan area, who valued the book for its expertise on products and animals. Through the analysis of two full text databases of Chinese texts and gazetteers, this article examines the history of reading of Huang Zhong’s book, as well as the circulation of knowledge and the changes and adaptions Huang Zhong’s knowledge went through.