5 - The Emergence and Impact of the Gazetteer of Kongzhai

Summary

Kongzhai’s documentary trail became considerably more complex over the course of the 17th century as new texts were written to solicit funds, commemorate buildings, and celebrate the revival of the long-dormant site. Official gazetteers quoted a few of these writings, which may have circulated separately or, more likely, had already been collected in Chen Gong’s supplement to Lu Yingyang’s Annals of the Confucius Temple. In any case, the appearance of the Gazetteer of Kongzhai in 1681 marked a new phase in the rhetorical construction of Kongzhai. Possibly compiled in the context of efforts to obtain official recognition, this specialized work included several pictures and a variety of texts, organized into categories and chapters. After 1705, when Kongzhai’s patrons succeeded in obtaining the Kangxi emperor’s calligraphy, they added new material for nearly two decades, until the expanded edition of the Gazetteer of Kongzhai reached final form in 1724. Modeled to some extent on the Gazetteer of Queli and gazetteers of famous academies, such as White Deer Grotto, the Gazetteer of Kongzhai is a substantial publication that complemented efforts to develop Kongzhai into a “famous place” imbued with the aura of Confucius.