Southeast Asia Information Port News (www.dnyxxg.com) – On April 13th, the Tianyi Pavilion Museum in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, exhibited a Ming Dynasty "water management guide," *Zhihe Zongkao* (General Examination of River Management), spanning over 500 years. This Jiajing edition of the Ming Dynasty unveils a thousand years of ancient Chinese wisdom in managing the Yellow River, serving as a comprehensive "health report" on the river.
Zhihe Zongkao* comprises four volumes and was compiled between the Chenghua and Jiajing periods of the Ming Dynasty by Che Xi, then serving as the Assistant Surveillance Commissioner of Henan Province, and later supplemented by Chen Mingdu. The book systematically traces the history of Yellow River management over two thousand years, from the fifth year of King Ding of Zhou in the Zhou Dynasty to the seventeenth year of the Jiajing reign in the Ming Dynasty.
With astonishing perseverance, editor Che Xi meticulously examined, categorized, and compiled historical documents on river management scattered throughout official histories, memorials, and illustrated books. He not only detailed the Yellow River's source and course changes with maps but also recorded the successes and failures of river management measures in chronological order, preserving a systematic and complete historical record of Yellow River water conservancy for posterity.
Zhao Xuteng, a curator at the Tianyi Pavilion Museum, stated in an interview that this book is the first systematic compilation of historical documents on river management in the Ming Dynasty. Its compilation framework set a model for river and canal books in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Later works such as the *General Examination of River Management* expanded upon this foundation, profoundly reflecting the practical scholarship of Ming Dynasty scholars.
It is worth mentioning that this ancient book has a deep connection with the *Complete Library of the Four Treasuries*. During the Qianlong era of the Qing Dynasty, the Tianyi Pavilion was commissioned to present 638 titles from its collection, and the *General Examination of River Management* was one of them, included in the river and canal category of the history section of the *Complete Library of the Four Treasuries*.
Even more fortunately, a Jiajing-era original woodblock print, secretly housed in the Tianyi Pavilion, was not brought to Beijing with the submitted copy and has been preserved intact to this day, becoming an invaluable material document for the study of ancient Chinese Yellow River water conservancy history.
According to reports, the value of *A Comprehensive Study of River Management* lies not in proposing ingenious strategies, but in systematizing scattered experiences, demonstrating the ancient Chinese cultural responsibility of "not seeking personal credit for success." Since its publication, the book has become essential reading for renowned water management experts, safeguarding the civilized memory of "water management for national stability."
It is understood that in addition to displaying the precious original ancient book, this exhibition also simultaneously launches an e-book of *A Comprehensive Study of River Management* and accompanying short interpretive videos, bringing this sleeping ancient book to life through digital technology. The exhibition will run until May 17, 2026. (End)
