Zhangzhou Fu Zhi

Healing Wisdom of the South: Medical Heritage in the Wanli Zhangzhou Chronicles and Digital Humanities Tracing

I. The Prescription Written in 1381 Here’s a number: 1381. That year, Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang issued a decree. At the busiest intersection of Zhangzhou city, a “Huimin Pharmacy” — a public pharmacy — opened its doors. It treated epidemics. It gave out free medicine. It saved poor people’s lives. Now open a map of modern Zhangzhou. That exact spot? Still a hospital. Four hundred years later, the coordinates haven’t moved. ...

Digital Slices of Min-nan Folklore: Festivals and Folk Beliefs in the Wanli Zhangzhou Chronicles

Geographical coordinates: Zhangzhou Prefectural City, Haicheng (Yuegang), Zhishan Mountain, Jiulong River, Tongji Bridge, Guiyu Island Have you ever wondered how people celebrated New Year 400 years ago? I was flipping through the Wanli Zhangzhou Fu Zhi when I noticed something: out of 32 volumes, two are dedicated entirely to customs — Volume 2 (Customs) and Volume 6 (Etiquette). Not a casual mention. From exactly how to worship ancestors on New Year’s Day, to how loud the Dragon Boat drums were, to how much a wedding cost — every detail, meticulously recorded. ...

The Arteries of the Land: Digital Reconstruction of Water Conservancy and Agriculture in the Wanli Zhangzhou Chronicles

Geographical coordinates: Zhangzhou Prefecture, Jiulong River, Longxi County, Haicheng County (Yuegang), Zhangpu County, Pinghe County, Zhenhai Guard Do you believe that a single water management system could keep running for over 1,300 years? From 686 AD when Chen Yuanguang opened Zhangzhou, through 1573 AD when Luo Qingxiao compiled the Zhangzhou Fu Zhi, all the way to modern satellite remote sensing — the Jiulong River water network never stopped working. ...

Seas of Turmoil and Community Resilience: A Digital View of Social Relief in the Wanli Zhangzhou Chronicles

Geographical coordinates: Zhangzhou Prefecture (Xiangcheng District), Haicheng County (Yuegang), Zhenhai Guard, Jiulong River Estuary, Zhishan Mountain, Ziyang Mountain Have you ever wondered how people survived natural disasters five hundred years ago? No weather satellites. No ministry of emergency management. No rescue helicopters. When typhoons hit, earthquakes struck, or drought left the fields barren for three years — what did they rely on? I opened the Zhangzhou Fu Zhi from 1573 (1st year of Wanli). Thirty-two volumes, dense with tiny handwritten characters. ...

Iron Armor and Red Walls: Digital Reconstruction of City Defense and Maritime Systems in the Wanli Zhangzhou Chronicles

One number kept spinning in my head long after I closed the Wanli Zhangzhou Fu Zhi at one in the morning. 2,500 zhang. That’s not just the length of a wall. That’s a nine-kilometer iron-clad defensive line. In the Ming Dynasty, Zhangzhou’s prefectural city was far larger and more sophisticated than any casual image of a “small southern Fujian town” would suggest. It wasn’t a city with a wall around it. It was a military machine wrapped in brick and stone. ...

The Eastern Origin of the Age of Discovery: Yuegang and the Haicheng Trade System in the Wanli Chronicles

Let me ask you a question: Seventy years after Columbus “discovered” the New World, could ordinary Ming citizens legally sail overseas for business? The answer is no. Not only no — doing it without permission could get your head cut off. But there was one exception. Just one. In 1573, the Ming Empire quietly opened a door in Haicheng County, Zhangzhou. It wasn’t a big door. But where it led was Luzon, Manila, Mexico — the entire world. ...