Yue yan 越諺 [Sayings from (the Land of) Yue]

60; 36; 30; 48 folding leaves. Four vols. 8vo, orig. wrappers, orig. stitching. [Shaoxing]: Guying shanfang 谷應山房, 1882.



First edition, and quite rare, of this monograph on the dialect of Shaoxing, Zhejiang, written at a pivotal moment in the history of the study of language in China. During the final few decades of Qing rule, language emerged as one of the most important areas of both nationalist and regionalist sentiment. Writing in vernacular Chinese began to gradually supplant writing in classical Chinese (Kaske, The Politics of Language in Chinese Education, 1895-1919), and dialects were studied to buttress particular visions of the unity and diversity of the Chinese people (Tam, Dialect and Nationalism in China, 1860-1960, Chap. 2). Fan's book reflects this renewed interest in both vernacular language and local language.


The author, Fan Yin (b. 1830), was a native of Shaoxing, the town whose language he described here. Located in the economically advanced lower Yangzi delta in a region in ancient times known as the state of Yue, the town produced a number of intellectuals in the Qing and Republican periods. Like many of his compatriots from Shaoxing, Fan spent much time outside his hometown, which might have contributed to a heightened awareness of linguistic difference and particularity.


Fan's book on the dialect of Shaoxing was groundbreaking. Its prioritizing of fieldwork and interviews set it apart from earlier descriptions of the local language. In the words of Zhou Zuoren 周作人 (1885-1967), fellow Shaoxing native and one of the most prominent Chinese writers of the Republican period:

As for his book Sayings from (the Land of) Yue, there is really nothing that one can reproach him for. This is especially true considering that he was a pioneer. I say pioneer, because in his method of recording, he did not [as had been done in earlier times] go through past writers to establish the etymologically correct character [for a given expression], but took the dialect as his starting point and then wrote it down in characters. In those days there were no phonological transcription letters [zhuyin zimu 注音字母], so he used [regular] characters to spell the sounds. (Zhou, Zhou Zuoren wanqi sanwen xuan, 113.)

The result was "a very influential work on vernacularisms, dialect expressions, and a locality and its customs." Zhou Zuoren repeatedly cited the work in several of his works (Tao, Yanyu lunwen, 329-34).


The Preface is dated 1878, but it was published four years later. As published, the book contained the section Yue yan shengyu 越諺剩語 [Remaining Expressions from the Sayings from (the Land of) Yue], which has its own Preface, dated 1881 (Guangxu 7). Shen Fupei 沈福培 (collator) and Zhang Shouchun 章壽椿 (writer of the fair copy) assisted in the publication, which Fan paid for through fundraising (Tao, 332).


Fine set, preserved in a hantao.



References


Tao Huizhang 陶汇章. Yanyu lunwen 谚语文论. Changchun: Jilin wenshi chubanshe, 2005.


Zhou Zuoren 周作人. Zhou Zuoren wanqi sanwen xuan 周作人晚期散文选. Edited by Zhian 止庵. Changsha: Hubei renmin chubanshe, 1994.