Shaoxing shizhi (Shaoxing annals) (review)

226 China Review International: Vol. 6, No. i, Spring 1999 incontestable, but her own investigation also suggests another interpretation of the border issue. Possibly the border dispute, so acrimonious in its heyday, was in reality something ofa red herring, devoid ofreal substantive content. As Paine's research notes, although China might be considered to have had more ofa claim than Russia to the lands ceded to Russia in die period between 1858 and 1864, neither side possessed strong historical ties to an area that lay beyond the traditional boundaries of either empire. Nonetheless, given Russian labor shortages and Chinese (and also Korean) demographic pressures, it is also tempting to speculate that the future is likely to erode the boundary distinctions maintained in the past. Whether this will be cause for conflict remains to be seen. In sum, Imperial Rivals provides a wealdi ofinformation that is valuable for furthering understanding among not only specialists in diplomatic history but also a broader audience encompassing, among others, students ofpolitical science and international relations. This fine work deserves to be widely read. Jeanne L. Wilson Jeanne L. Wilson is an associateprofessor ofpolitical science at Wheaton College and a Research Associate at the Davis Centerfor Russian Studies at Harvard University; she is currently working on contemporary Russian-Chinese relations. m Ren Guiquan, He Xin'en, and Liu Xiaobai, editors. Shaoxingshizhi (Shaoxing annals). 6 volumes. Hangzhou, Zhejiang: People's Publishing House, 1996. 3,398 pp. 98 photos, 32 maps. Hardcover, $480. The compilation oflocal gazetteers (difang zhi) by cities, counties, prefectures, and provinces in China has a history ofmore than two thousand years. This keeping of detailed geographical records has been a unique tradition in China, and these records have been a valuable source ofmaterial for regional historical studies. As each gazetteer was compiled and edited by local scholars and gentry, its contents reflect the cultural and economic achievements of that particular region. Although the middle course ofthe Yellow River has been considered the cradle of Chinese civilization, the first local Chinese gazetteer, the Yuji shu, was y niversi y compiled byYuan Kang and Wu Ping in the year 52 B.c. in Shaoxing, Zhejiang. Ever since—for more than two millennia—the city and county of Shaoxing has kept up this fine tradition, compiling and publishing more than 140 different kinds oflocal gazetteers. The most recent previous version of the ShaoxingAnnals ofHawai'i Press Reviews 227 was published in 1939 in a total ofsixteen volumes. After that year, the compilation stopped for several decades. Then, in 1982, the State Council of China introduced a plan for publishing classical literature, including local gazetteers. Subsequently, many cities and counties began to establish editorial boards to collect data for the revival oflocal gazetteers in new versions. When the Shaoxing Annalswas once again issued in 1996, it was recognized by a national committee in 1997 as die best local gazetteer published in China since the implementation of the economic reform policy some two decades ago. The ShaoxingAnnals is indeed the most comprehensive local gazetteer ever published in the People's Republic. An integration oftraditional local gazetteers and scientific studies ofregional geography, it is a combination ofthematic adas, tourist guide, local history, economic handbook, regional geography, and comprehensive record ofthe development ofShaoxing and die achievements ofits people in the twentieth century. While most literature on China available in either Chinese or Western languages mainlylooks at China as a whole, the ShaoxingAnnals is a detailed encyclopedia ofa particular place that is undergoing rapid sociopolitical transformation as a result ofeconomic reform, foreign investment, and the convenient linkages tiiat it has with Hangzhou, the provincial capital, and Shanghai. To a great extent, Shaoxing can be considered a microcosm of contemporary China, and this work should be welcomed by any scholar interested in the dramatic social changes occurring in this developing country. The publication is composed offive thick volumes of text plus a sixth index volume. The first volume includes ninety-eight color photos depicting the environs of the municipality and the state ofits development; thirty-two thematic maps in color showing the spatial structure of the human and physical geography of one medium-sized city and five rural counties; and five informative prefaces...