Research On "Notes On Bamboo Shots" Of Zan Ning

"Notes on bamboo shots" is a natural science works written by monk Zan Ning in Song Dynasty, it is also the first monograph on bamboo shots in Chinese history. There are about ten thousand characters only, but covers a wide range of knowledge. In the book, Zan Ning not only introduced the botany science of bamboo almost in every aspect but also referred to many other disciplines, some of them are still practical and precious today."Notes on bamboo shots" is the first bamboo monograph in Chinese history, but not emphasised by the academia, the related research still remains blank. An attempt is made to study systematically on the book in this paper.The paper includes three chapters which inspected and reviewed the "Notes on bamboo shots" generally.In the first chapter, the author, writing time, background and editions of the book were carefully studied and verified. By the perspective of philology, according to the ancient literatures and original context, it is confirmed that the author of the notes is Zan Ning and it was written in the year between 971(BC) and 978(BC). Thinking of the time character and Zan Ning's personal condition, the background of the book was discussed including the great exploring of bamboo resources, prevailing of eating bamboo, literati's love of bamboo, monks'cherishing bamboo as life and Zan Ning's personal character of wide knowledge and affection on writing. A brief summary is made according to several existing editions of the notes.The second chapter studies the main body of the book. The vast context of bamboo shots notes are scientifically induced by forms. And then clarifies some issues like:the planting methods were succession and development from predecessors and not citing of Han Yu's poems were not because of private will and so on. Some mistakes like double list of bamboo shots classification, citing error are corrected by way of literature verification. "Notes of bamboo shots" carries a feature of great citing and textual research and its writing style is like Lv Yu's "The book of tea". Modern academic value of "Notes on bamboo shots" is researched in the third chapter. In the book many other knowledge are covered like medicine, living science, custom and convention, myth and legend, phonology, Chinese traditional Xiao culture and bamboo culture. Citing of many ancient literature makes the book of great philology value.