Merchant Route Books: A Letter to the Editors

95 "Merchant Route Books: A Letter to the Editors” Wolfgang Franke Department of Chinese Studies University of Malaya K \ i a l aLumpur, Malaysia In the paper by Timothy Brook, "Guides for Vexed Travellers - - A Supplement," Ch'ing-shih wen-t'i 4:6 (Dec. 1981), p. 140, note 3, are three incorrect statements: ( 1 ) Chouhai tubian is not --as the author writes -- the work of Hu Zongxian , but that of Zheng Ruozeng M M , as evident from the earlier editions. In the later edition used by the author, Hu Zongxian’s grandsons, who were the editors, have arbitrarily dropped Zheng's name and supplanted it with the name of their grandfather. See my Introduction to the Sources of Ming History (Kuala Lumpur f ) Singapore, 1968), No. 7.8.10, p. 224 and the references given there. (2) The author has used the Sonkeikaku Library copy of the Chouhai tupian giving the impression that this is a rare work. Unlike the earlier editions, the one without Zheng's name is not very rare and is available in several United States and European libraries. (3) The author writes: "IMB [Dictionary of Ming Biography] ( p . 638) fails to mention [ Chouhai tubian] in Hu's biography." Actually EMB deals with Chouhai tubian and the spurious authorship of Hu Zongxian in great detail on pp. 205-207 in the biography of Zheng Ruozeng, which is the proper place. [Sent to d e editors of Ch'ing-shih wen-t'i on March 9, 1982] ...