Yuan Haowen's Search for Identity in Jinan Travel Log

This StoryMap project focuses on a travel log written by Yuan Haowen (1190–1257, sobriquet Yishan 遺山 [the left mountain]) on his trip to Jinan during a sensitive time. Yuan Haowen was one of the most celebrated poets active during the last years of the Jin dynasty (r. 1115–1234). Albeit raised in a traditional literati family and well-versed, Yuan's identity was marginal if judged from a traditional Chinese viewpoint: he was not a Han ethnic but allegedly a  Xianbei  descendent; he served as a Han literatus in the government of the Jurchen Jin, who defeated the Northern Song (r. 960–1127) and established an independent regime in the north; he also dedicated to preserving the Jin culture in his late years in seclusion. Yuan's sophisticated identity posed him at the crossroad between Han and non-Han ethnic civilizations. ¹  The time of this trip, the year 1235, highlights another crossroad for Yuan Haowen: the collapse of Jin under the Mongol conquest. A year before the demise of Jin in 1234, Yuan was captivated and sent to Liaocheng 聊城, Shandong under escort. After being released in 1235, he sought shelter at his friend Zhao Tianxi's 趙天錫 (1189–1240) place in Guanshi 冠氏. The fall of his country created a geographical rupture between his residence and the homeland in his memories, and the overwhelming sense of loss compelled him to seek ways to amend his fragmented identity. The approach Yuan adopted to grasp the remainder of Jin's memories was through preserving the finest works of Jin literati. In 1233, he began compiling a poetry anthology entitled Anthology of the Central Region (Zhongzhou ji, 中州集) in Liaocheng. In the preface to the anthology, he explained his motivation for this collection:

 _{The next Year (1233), I was detained in Liaocheng. I led a reclusive life, and immersed myself in literature. Everyday, I ponder the words of Feng Yandeng (1175–1233) and Liu Zuqian (ca. 1232) (who urged Yuan to compile a poetry collection in 1232). I also reflected that over the past hundred years, many poets had worked diligently and passionately to create poetry, and thus their works could be passed down. However, due to war and destruction, only a small fraction of these works have survived. If they are not carefully collected and preserved, they will be lost to history and forgotten forever, which is a great pity. Therefore, I tried to recall the poems of the older generation, as well as my friends and acquaintances, and immediately recorded them. Later, with the help of Shang Ting (sobriquet Mengqing, 1209–1289), the son of Shang Heng (sobriquet Pingshu, 1187–1232), who brought his father's handwritten copies to Dongping, I compiled all the poems into one collection, and titled it as the Anthology of the Central Region.   明年，留滞聊城。杜门深居，颇以翰墨为事。冯、刘之言，日往来于心。亦念百馀年以来，诗人为多，苦心之士，积日力之久，故其诗往往可传。兵火散亡，计所存者才什一耳。不緫萃之，则将遂湮灭而无闻，为可惜也。乃记忆前軰及交游诸人之诗，随即录之。会平叔之子孟卿携其先公手抄本来东平，因得合予所录者为一编，目曰中州集。2} 

While the collected poems form a rich source for the discussion of Yuan Haowen and his contemporaries' experiences during the Jurchen-Mongol transition, this project is more interested in the formation of the geospatial orientation that Yuan adopted in his writing of the time. The title of the collection reveals Yuan's obsession with the concept of the "Central Region" (Zhongzhou, 中州), which probably began to form when he started his project in 1233. Then, a question naturally arises: What is the Central Region in Yuan Haowen's mind? Was the term a generic reference to everywhere within Jin's domain, or did Yuan have a cultural attachment to a certain region or location? Was it utterly symbolic? Was it entirely material based? Or, was it an integration of both symbol and material? The Central Region concept first appeared in the chapter of "The Questions of Tang" in The Book of Liezi as an abstract spatial reference. It is unclear if the concept was related to any of the Nine Regions (Jiuzhou, 九州) mapped by Yü the Great. In Shuoyuan 說苑, Liu Xiang 劉向 (77 BCE–6 BCE) interpreted the relationship between the two concepts by stating that "Within the four seas, there are Nine Regions. The Son of Heaven resides in the Central Region and governs the Eight Directions" 四海之內有九州，天子處中州而制八方耳. ³ 

The region of Yu 豫 was located to the south of the lower reaches of the Yellow River and covered parts of today's Henan and Hubei provinces. As it fell in the middle of the nine regions, it was regarded as the Central Region in later times. In the Northern Song, the Central Region also served as a narrow reference to the capital Bianjing 汴京 (today's Kaifeng, Henan). ⁴  It seems possible that Yuan Haowen imagined the space of the Central Region narrowly as Bianjing, as the Jin government was forced to move the capital from Yanjing 燕京 (today's Beijing) to Bianjing in 1214 after the Mongols marched further to the south. Nevertheless, the year also marked the beginning of suffering for Yuan, his family, and his peers. Although managed to travel to the new capital for examination, Yuan spent most of his time secluding in Kunyang 昆陽 (today's Yexian in Henan) and Dengfeng 登封 as a peasant. The deteriorating political and social milieu in the capital engendered a predicament that impelled Yuan to relinquish his service even if he finally passed the civil service examination in 1221 after six attempts. In light of this context, the notion of Bianjing as the Central Region to which Yuan's nostalgia was anchored appears somewhat dubious, given that it served as an emblem of Jin's tumultuous final years. Was Yuan's Central Region referring to the region of Yu under the Nine Regions system? As is roughly illustrated in the maps above, the ancient region of Yu largely fell under the Jurchen control during the Southern Song. However, this hypothesis is still problematic. The term "Central Region" first appeared in Yuan Haowen's poem "Downtrodden" 落魄 (1216), the last couplet of which wrote: "The Central Region, divided by the River's flow. My remaining years, to an unpredictable future I bestow" 中州遂南北，殘息付悠悠. ⁵  This couplet was inspired by the fall of Taiyuan 太原 and the Mongol occupation of the territory north to the Yellow River. The implied context was that the lands on both the north and the south banks of the Yellow river were part of the "Central Region," and Yuan's imagination of the Central Region clearly includes a large section in the region of Ji 冀 in the map of "the Tribute of Yü." Although Yuan Haowen's Central Region expanded to the north, he did not simply conflate the concept with the spatial imagination of the Jin territory. In 1217, he composed thirty heptasyllabic quatrains under the title "On Poetry, Thirty Verses" 論詩三十首. The last couplet of the seventh poem writes: "Since ancient times, the heroic spirit of Central Region. Also reaches far to Shadow Mountain and the Chele River's domains" 中州萬古英雄氣，也到陰山敕勒川. ⁶  Here, the poet alluded to the locations mentioned in the "Song of Chele" 敕勒歌, a Xianbei folk song passed down from the Six Dynasties. Although the location of Chele River is disputed, Shadow Mountain has served as the natural boundary between the nomadic civilization in the north and the agricultural civilization in the south for centuries. ⁷  It is likely that Yuan Haowen used the song to indicate his Xianbei heritage and the vast lands of the north, which were now conquered by the Mongols, to express his wish for return. Nonetheless, the use of the word "also" suggests that Yuan recognized these Jin territories located north to Shadow Mountain as distinct from the cultural imagination of the "Central Region." They could be reached by the "spirit" from the Central Region but remained inherently culturally foreign. To fully comprehend Yuan Haowen's understanding of the "Central Region," it is necessary to examine his other writings and how they describe this revered area. One work that offers valuable insight is Yuan's "Jinan Travel Log." This project will closely analyze this piece to uncover the spatial orientation of Yuan's cultural world after the fall of Jin. I will demonstrate how Yuan Haowen established a connection between his temporary sanctuary in Jinan and King's Chamber Mountain 王屋山 by invoking his knowledge of an interconnected sacred landscape system. By doing so, he reinforced the connection between his location and the Central Region, thereby creating a spatial vision that helped fortify the cultural orientation of a Jin adherent under Mongol rule. Through examining Yuan Haowen's spatial and cultural imaginations, this project also aims to demonstrate the significance of geospatial awareness in literary analysis. In particular, I intend to show that the inclusion of dynamic geospatial materials can enrich the discussion of landscape and travel literature. To achieve this, I employed digital humanities methods utilizing the ArcGIS StoryMaps platform to visualize the findings of this study. By adopting this hybrid approach, this project seeks to highlight the potential for innovative approaches in future literary and cultural studies.

 _{1 Jinping Wang, In the Wake of the Mongols, Chapter 1; Bol, Peter K. "Seeking Common Ground: Han Literati under Jurchen Rule." Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 47.2 (1987): 461-538.   2 《中州集序》，pp. 318-320, 元好問文編年校註。注里提到始编于天兴二年癸巳(1233)，刊刻于己酉年，历时16年   3 說苑 辨物   4 李清照《永遇樂》：中州盛日，閨門多暇，記得偏重三五   5 《落魄》, pp. 80-82, 元好問詩編年校註。     6   論詩三十首 其七, p. 52, 元好問詩編年校註。   7 李树辉. 敕勒、《敕勒歌》、敕勒川考论. 中国边疆史地研究，2021年第31卷第4期，pp. 139-149.   Wang Changling's 王昌齡 (ca. 698–756) "Out the Passes" 出塞 has this line: "If only that Flying General of Dragon Fort were here, he would not let the Turkish horses make the crossing of Shadow Mountain." 但使龍城飛將在，不教胡馬度陰山 (Translation by Stephen Owen, in An Anthology of Chinese Literature: Beginnings to 1911, Norton, New York, 462, 1996). It is a manifestation of the Han people's understanding of Shadow Mountains's significance during the Middle Period.} 

The following text is a travel log titled "Jinan xingji" 濟南行記 composed by Yuan Haowen 元好問 (1190–1257) in 1235. See the original Chinese text with annotation in Yuan Haowen wen bianniao jiaozhu 元好問文編年校註 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju), pp. 354-362. The following English translation is modified based on Richard Strassberg's translation. See pp. 236-245 in Richard E. Strassberg's  Inscribed Landscapes: Travel Writing from Imperial China  (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1994).

(In this section, the original text and its English translation will be displayed in bold black, with important sections highlighted in red. Analyses and notes will appear in blue. Annotations to texts quoted in the analyses will appear in yellow. For easier navigation, the main text is divided into four parts.)

When I was a child, I followed my adoptive father to Ye Prefect when he went to serve in office there. We passed through Jinan, but I could remember only the general appearance of the city. As an adult, whenever I heard others talk of the scenic beauty of the region and its wealth of sights, I always regretted not being able to travel there. In autumn, during the seventh lunar month of the year yiwei (July 17–August 15, 1235), it had already been some three years since I had come north of the Yellow River. Then, I had the occasion to go to Jinan on account of an old friend, Li Fuzhi (Li Tianyi 李天翼, jinshi 1214), and I compiled this record of my travels over a twenty-day period for all those who enjoy such things. 予兒時從先隴城府君官掖縣，嘗過濟南，然但能憶其大城府而已。長大來，聞人談此州風物之美、遊觀之富，每以不得一遊為恨。歲乙未（1235）秋七月，予來河朔者三年矣，始以故人李君輔之之故，而得一至焉。因次第二十日間所遊歷，為《行記》一篇，傳之好事者。

Note: The following section is a map tour based on the original text in translation. Please click on each item to check for the original text and related notes.

Indeed, when times were peaceful, no place could compare with Jinan's architecture. But after twenty years of chaos, only thorns, brush, roof tiles, and rubble remain, just like the former Palace of Abundant Virtue in the Southern Capital, which has lain in ruins for what looks like a century. Situated among streams, brooks, grass, and trees, it has taken on a certain charm of cold desolation and unobtrusive antiquity. Although once there were high roofs with painted beams, it can never be restored. Still, Nature's skill lives on; it never depends on exterior decoration, yet it continues to seem wonderful. 大概承平時，濟南樓觀天下莫與為比。喪亂二十年，惟有荊榛瓦礫而已。正如南都隆德故宮，頹圮百年，澗溪草樹，有荒寒古淡之趣。錐高甍畫棟無復其舊，而天巧具在，不待外飾而後奇也。 Analysis: The previous section provides an overview of the pavilions and buildings on and around the Brilliance Lake, but Yuan's purpose was not to praise the magnificence of the human constructions. Rather, the past glories forms a jarring contrast with the present ruins, signifying the eternal lost of his own country to the iron hoof of the Mongol conquerors. Probably struck by the sight of the ruins, Yuan turned his desolate and melancholic feelings in to the fifth piece of his "Unclassified Poems of Jinan." (see Yuan Haowen shi biannian jiaozhu, p. 723)

At the place where we left the banquet, stone inscriptions were burnt into broken pieces, which used to be grand buildings and magnificent towers in those early years. That should only be matched with the place with painted pikes and clear scented air, ¹  but I cannot offer a pentasyllabic poem in Counsellor Wei's fashion. ²  石刻燒殘讌集辭，雄樓傑觀想當時。 只應畫戟清香地，多欠韋郎五字詩。

The poem begins with the depressed view of the dilapidated ruins surrounding the Pavilion Below Mount Li where Yuan and his friends gathered. Those rubbles in front of their eyes were the remains of some fine architecture that once symbolized the glory of Jin. As a surviving loyalist, Yuan was emotionally overwhelmed, so he escaped into a space of fantasy, in which he imagined their gathering place to be as resplendent as the prefectural studio of Wei Yingwu. Nonetheless, Yuan's time was no match to the High Tang, and he considered himself no match to Wei. He eventually did not challenge himself to emulate Wei's noble and lofty voice in a pentasyllabic verse, but decided to record the moment in the above heptasyllabic verse, leaving a poetry debt to the irretrievable dream of the bygone Jinan.

 ^{1) This line alludes to Wei Yingwu's 韋應物 (737–791?) pentasyllabic poem entitled "Junzhai yuzhong yu zhu wenshi yanji" 郡齋雨中與諸文士燕集 (At the Prefectural Library in the Rain: Banqueting with Various Literary Men). The first two lines of the poem go: "The guards, a dark mass of painted pikes, As we feast reclining, a clear scent hangs in the air" 兵衛森畫戟，宴寢凝清香. See translation by Stephen Owen, in The Great Age of Chinese Poetry: The High T'ang, Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1981, 309.} 

 ^{2) Yuan Haowen was fond of Wei Yingwu's pentasyllabic poems and expressed his admiration in several places. This poetic taste bore influence from Bai Juyi and Su Shi's commentaries. In "Yu Yuanjiu shu" 與元九書 (Letter to Yuan Zhen), Bai Juyi enthusiastically praised that "(Wei Yingwu's) pentasyllabic poetry is characterized by a lofty grace and calm limpidity. He constitutes a style in his own right. Who of those who grasp the writing brush these days are up to his work?" 其五言詩，又高雅閑淡，自成一家之體，今之秉筆者，誰能及之? (See translation by Stephen Owen, The Great Age of Chinese Poetry: The High T'ang, p. 304). Resonating with this point, Su Shi summarized Bai's admiration for Wei in one poetic line: "Bai Letian composed more than three thousand long and short verses, yet he was obsessed with Counsellor Wei's pentasyllabic poems" 樂天長短三千首，卻愛韋郎五字詩.} 

Albeit traumatized, Yuan found his last source of comfort in the eternity of Nature, which was crystalized in Brilliance Lake, Shun's Spring, and the surrounding mountains. Therefore, he rested his heart in the landscapes that still "live on" in the following paragraphs.

Analysis: Interestingly, Yuan Haowen's treatment of the two common elements representing Nature - the mountains and waters - appears to be uneven, with a clear preference for the latter. In the above section, Yuan offers a panorama visual tour of the mountains beginning from Kuang Mountain and ending with Candle Mountain from the Pavilion Below Mount Li. Together they formed a circle on the map, with its center falling on the Daming Lake. While writing the landscape in this way, Yuan surely had Ouyang Xiu's 歐陽修 (1007–1072) “The Account of the Pavilion of the Drunken Old Man” 醉翁亭記 in mind. Ouyang composed this prose in 1046 when serving as a governor of Chuzhou 滁州. The prose begins depicting the view Ouyang enjoyed from the pavilion with this line: “Surrounding Chuzhou everywhere are mountains” 環滁皆山也, which implicitly compares Chuzhou to an isolated Peach Blossom Spring, as Steven Owen has insightfully noticed  _{(footnote: All Mine!, pp. 46-47)} . Also surrounded by mountains, the gathering with Jinan's governor at the Pavilion Below Mount Li probably invoked a feeling of déjà vu for Yuan, making him a remote guest of Ouyang Xiu's honorable party at a different time and space. Jinan, thereby, also transforms into a Peach Blossom Spring sanctuary that offers a temporary escape and relaxation for Yuan, who suffered years of miserable drifting in warfare, just like the villages in the Peach Blossom Spring fable. However, the gathering at the pavilion is not the focus of Yuan's writing. Nor are the mountains, as most of them only receive a sketchy description. Yuan only lavishes praise on Flower Calyx Peak, calling it the "most scenic point" in Jinan because the surrounding rivers make it appear as if it is a lotus bud "in the water." Yuan also highlights his knowledge of the local river system, mentioning that the waters are all connected to the Ji River 济水. His emphasis on the waters prompts the question: why was he so fascinated by the waters? The answer is explored in the following paragraphs. After surveying the mountains, Yuan Haowen began delving into the world of waters.

The "Springs in the City Below Mount Li" section in the Sweet Dew Garden describes as such: 《甘露園紀·歷下泉》云：

Analysis: After offering a detailed introduction to the above four famous springs, Yuan Haowen quoted extendedly from the Sweet Dew Garden, a book not mentioned in any other sources. It could have been a booklet cataloging local knowledge that did not make a wider literary impact. Albeit unimportant to the then readers, this book caught Yuan's attention because of the following section highlighted in red.

The source of the Ji River is quite distant. It begins at King's Chamber Mountain in Hedong, where it is called the Yan River. It flows into the Qin Marsh, where it sinks down into the ground, reemerging at Unity Mountain, where it begins to be called "Ji." Therefore, "The Tributes of Yü" states: "Yü led the course of the Yan River eastward. It passes Wen District and the City of Tui and enters the Yellow River, where it becomes a torrential flow at Xing. Then, it goes underground between Cao and Pu. Then it reemerges at the north of Tao's Hill, merges with the Wen River, passes the City Below Mount Li, enters the Le River and flows north before flowing eastward." 「夫濟遠矣，初出河東王屋，曰沇水，注秦澤，潛行地中，復出共山，始曰濟。 故《禹書》曰：『道沇水東之，逾溫，逾墳城（《水經註》載“隤城”，疑误），入於河，益於滎，洑於曹、濮之間，乃出於陶丘，北會於汶，過歷下，濼水之北，遂東流。』

Moreover, the Ji River is considered a "du" —a great river that flows into the sea—together with the Yangtze, the Huai, and the Yellow rivers, which are similar in size and equally noble. Only the Ji River's channel is obstructed by the Grand Row Mountains and separated from the Yellow River, yet it still flows into the sea on its own—If it is not because of this, the Ji River does not deserve to be called a "du." The paths of the Long, Huai, and Yellow rivers flow above the level of the land, demonstrating the constant nature of water, but the Relief River sometimes flows below the level of the land, showing the adaptable nature of water. 且濟之為瀆，與江、淮、河等大而均尊。獨濟水所行道，障於太行，限於大河，終能獨達於海，不然，則無以謂之瀆矣。江、淮、河行地上，水性之常者也，濟或洑於地中，水性之變者也。」

Analysis: The excerpt of "The Tributes of Yü" quoted in the now-lost Sweet Dew Garden varies from the "The Tributes of Yü" text preserved in the present version The Book of Documents, which is much briefer than the Sweet Dew Garden version:

 _{He travelled along the Yan river; it flows eastwards, becomes the Ji and enters the Yellow River; it rushes out and forms the Xing; eastwards, it emerges from the north of Tao's Hill, and again eastwards it comes to the He (marsh); again towards the north-east it joins the Wen River, again it (flows) northwards; (going) eastwards it enters the sea. (modified based on the translation by Bernard Karlgren, "The Book of Documents", p. 17)   導沇水，東流為濟，入于河，溢為滎；東出于陶丘北，又東至于菏，又東北，會于汶，又北，東入于海。} 

Compared to The Book of Documents, the Sweet Dew Garden version added the following sections: "It passes Wen District and the City of Tui," "then, it goes underground between Cao and Pu," and "passes the City Below Mount Li, enters the Le River and flows north." The added information, together with the beginning sentences of this text, "It begins at King's Chamber Mountain in Hedong," promoted a new vision of the Ji River: it flowed invisibly from King's Chamber Mountain to Jinan, nurturing Jinan with its unceasing water. Yuan probably would not be surprised by the knowledge of underground rivers. The narrative in this source resonated with the content under the "Ji River" 济水 chapter in Commentary on the Classic of Waters (Shui jing zhu 水經注):

 _{The Guideways Through Mountains and Seas says, "The Wangwu Mountain is where the Lian River originates. It flows northwest and merges into the Taize Lake." Guo Jingchun commented, "Lian and Yan have similar sounds, (so this should) refer to the Yan River. The river flows underground until it reaches the southern foot of the Gongshan Mountain and reemerges at the Dongqiu Mountain."   《山海經》曰：王屋之山，聯水出焉，西北流，注于泰澤。郭景純云：聯、沇聲相近，即沇水也。潛行地下，至共山南，復出于東丘。 (《水經註校正》卷七，酈道元，陳橋驛校證，p. 187，中華書局，2007)} 

In the Song dynasty, Commentary on the Classic of Waters became a text widely available to literati readers. The local legends Yuan mentioned under his description of the Eruption Spring that "some people who were curious once tested this by dropping some chaff in the water" and the chaff resurfaced from a different river could be considered an evidence he found to testify this knowledge. In addition, the imagination of hidden rivers was embedded in the knowledge of grotto-heavens (dongtian, 洞天), the subterranean system of caves and rivers or "earthly veins" (dimai, 地脈) worshipped in religious Daoism.   Being an important center of Daoist culture for centuries, King's Chamber Mountain was known as the top of the ten superior grotto-heavens, and Daoists believed that it was connected to other grotto-heaven mountains through underground tunnels. It became an outstanding landmark in the literary world after the Daoist master Sima Chengzhen 司馬承禎 (647–735) and Princess Yuzhen 玉真公主 (ca. 692–762) dwelled in the landscape for seclusion. In the Jin-Yuan period, King's Chamber Mountain continued to act as a quintessential Daoist site.  _{(Yuan stayed at Jiyuan in 1238 and wrote many poems about his interaction with the local Daoist priests. See 元好問詩編年校註, after p. 865.)}  Literati's recognition of grotto heavens underwent a significant change in the Song dynasty as many intellectuals gained more knowledge of this Daoist sacred space and began looking for accessible grotto-heavens in actual landscapes.  _{(see Chapter 2 in my dissertation)}  In "Matching Tao Yuanming’s “Peach Blossom Spring with preface" 和陶桃花源並引, Su Shi 蘇軾 (1037–1101) argued that “there are many places like this between heaven and earth, not just Peach Blossom Spring” and applied the knowledge of grotto-heavens to reinterpret the relationship between the Pleach Blossom Spring legend and sacred landscapes. Yuan was an ardent admirer of Su Shi, so he should be familiar with Su's opinion on grotto-heavens. Additionally, he had a close relationship with the Quanzhen Daoist circle especially after moving to Shandong  _{(see Jinping Wang, Chapter 2; 高橋幸吉. "元好問と道教." 藝文研究 92 (2007): 54-73)} , and knew about the earthly veins and wrote about the concept in other landscape poems.  _{(see 晋溪 and 同雷淵希顏再登箕山)}  It is possible that he learned from the local Daoists about the King's Chamber Mountain. Under this context, the the line “You do not realize a grotto-heaven hidden there” in the fourth piece of his ten "Unclassified Poems of Jinan" takes on another layer of significance: the "Peach Blossom Spring" of Jinan, in Yuan's opinion, became a de facto grotto-heaven associated with the system of Daoist sacred mountains. By depicting Jinan as one of the grotto-heavens linked to the first grotto-heaven through underground rivers, Yuan reinforces the connection between his location and King's Chamber Mountain . Clearly, Yuan's obsession with interconnected spaces was not merely due to his fascination with the knowledge of sacred geography. Located on the southern rim of Taihang 太行 mountain range and within the domain of Yu region, King's Chamber Mountain was closely associated with the worship of ancient sage kings, especially Yü the Great 大禹 and the Yellow Emperor 黃帝. The final section of Commentary on the Classic of Waters, entitled "Locations of Mountains, Rivers, Marshes and Lands in the 'The Tributes of Yü'" 禹貢山水澤地所在, writes that "the Yellow Emperor received the Cinnabar Instruction at this mountain (King's Chamber Mountain)" 昔黃帝受丹訣于是山也.  _{(《水經註校正》卷四十，p. 950)}   Legends about the Yellow Emperor praying at King's Chamber Mountain also passed down through Daoist lineages. For example, Baopuzi 抱樸子 writes: "Of old, Yellow Emperor was born with the ability to speak and had all the divinities at his command. We might say that heaven had conferred divine spontaneity upon him. Yet he was unable to acquire the divine process by merely sitting upright and doing nothing. Therefore, he ascended King's Chamber Mountain to receive the Cinnabar Classic" 昔黃帝生而能言，役使百靈，可謂天授自然之體者也，猶複不能端坐而得道。故陟王屋而受丹經.  _{(The Cinnabar Classic is believed to be referring to Huangdi jiuding shendan jing jue 黃帝九鼎神丹經訣, which is also known as the Cinnabar Instruction. Translation of Baopuzi is modified based on James R. Ware's p. 215)}  Besides compiling the Inscriptions and Records of Marchmounts and Rivers of Grotto-heavens and Auspicious Places 洞天福地岳瀆山銘記 (DZ 599), the text that systemized the grotto-heaven knowledge and sanctified King's Chamber Mountain as the first grotto-heaven, the Five Dynasties Daoist practitioner and scholar Du Guangting 杜光庭 (850–933) also composed a preface for "Sacred Traces on the Heavenly Altar of King's Chamber Mountain" 天壇王屋山聖跡記, which provides more details about the Yellow Emperor's sacrifice at the mountain and interprets it as the key factor that helped the Yellow Emperor defeat Chi You:

 _{Within the ten superior grotto-heavens, there is a grotto called the Grotto of Clear Void Lesser-Holdings in King's Chamber Mountain, which is surrounded by a vast area. It is located in King's Chamber County, northwest of the city of Luoyang. The cave is governed by the Perfected Master Wang. According to legend, on the first day of the first month of the first year of the Yellow Emperor's reign, he held a banquet at King's Chamber Mountain, observed a three-day fast for purification, and climbed to the top of the mountain. He worshipped the Jade Emperor at the Jade Forest Terrace and defeated the evil beast Chi You. He then took the Queen Mother of the West to the Heavenly Altar and served her personally.   十大洞天內一王屋山清虛小有之洞，周迥萬里，在洛京西北王屋縣，仙人王真人治之。傳日：黃帝於元年正月甲子，列席於王屋山，清齋三日，登山至頂，於瓊林臺檮上帝，破蚩尤。遂劫王母降於天壇，母既降，黃帝親供侍焉。 (《全唐文/卷0931》; 《正統道藏》洞神部記傳頰)}  

Considering Yuan's close relationship with the Daoist circle and the fact that the mountain was located northwest of Dengfeng, the place where Yuan spent years with his family in seclusion, it is not possible for Yuan to overlook the provenance of King's Chamber Mountain's cultural connections to Yü the Great and the Yellow Emperor. The idea that the mountain stored the legacies of two of the Chinese culture bearers, coupled with Yuan's nostalgia must have stirred deep sentiment in him. He could not help but connect himself to the Ji River–the ribbon that tied him to the space which he was culturally attached.

Therefore, Yuan conjured a spiritual and visual connection through rivers connecting different grotto-heavens. His gaze toward the invisible mountains by tracing upstream resonates with the vision of Wang Wei 王維 (ca. 701–761). In banishment, Wang Wei left his trace in Liaocheng, the city where Yuan was detained in 1234. Overwhelmed by nostalgic feelings, Wang composed a poem titled "Written Crossing the Yellow River to Qinghe" 渡河到清河作 when gazing back to the faraway home in Chang'an when sailing on the Yellow River to Qinghe   _{(see translation by Stephen Owen, in The Great Age of Chinese Poetry: The High T'ang, Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 30-31, 1981)} :

The boat set sail upon the great river whose swollen waters stretched to sky's edge. Sky and waves split apart suddenly— the district capital's thousands of homes. Moving on, I can see the town market and vaguely make out mulberry and hemp. I turn to gaze back toward my homeland— only vast floods that stretch to the clouds. 泛舟大河裏，積水窮天涯。 天波忽開拆，郡邑千萬家。 行復見城市，宛然有桑麻。 回瞻舊鄉國，渺漫連雲霞。

Stephen Owen's analysis aptly captures the essence of this poem: "What the poet sees is determined by the indifferent features of topography, which here assume a dramatic and protean form in the riverscape. With its power to conceal or expose, the riverscape possesses the corollary power to create interest and longing in the human mind: it controls visual absence and loss, the necessary stimuli of desire."  _{(The Great Age of Chinese Poetry, p. 31)}   A similar poignant desire for home was also growing wildly in Yuan's heart. However, his home was forever lost after Jin fell into enemy hands. The Yellow River that Wang Wei's desire harbored also could not carry his melancholic spirit home as it changed its course and no longer flowed across Shandong (See Map 2). Therefore, he entrusted his longing to the Ji River, which was even more visually concealing as its vestige could disappear when flowing in the hidden earthly veins. The notion of the home also changed. Instead of casting his gaze towards the capital, Yuan gazed towards the source of water, or more precisely speaking, the cultural space revered as a source of the Chinese civilization. In other words, Yuan freed himself from the land reined by the Mongol shackles and pledged his devotion to the indelible cultural tradition, which was amorphous and elusive but vigorous and resilient, just like the Ji River. With his mind settled on the water, he said:

I like its discussion of the "mutability" and "constancy" of water, for it matches my own mind on the subject. Therefore, I have transcribed this passage. 予愛其論水之變與常，有當於予心者，故並錄之。

Analysis: The core philosophy that underpinned Yuan Haowen's worship of water was the metaphor of water in Daodejing:

 _{There is nothing in the world more soft and weak than water, and yet for attacking things that are firm and strong there is nothing that can take precedence of it; for there is nothing (so effectual) for which it can be changed. Every one in the world knows that the soft overcomes the hard, and the weak the strong, but no one is able to carry it out in practice.   天下莫柔弱于水，而攻坚强者莫之能胜，其无以易之。弱之胜强，柔之胜刚，天下莫不知，莫能行。} 

In Daodejing, water represents the dichotomy of weak and strong, soft and hard. Meanwhile, water is the symbol of the Way, the constancy of which hinges on its mutability. Yuan adapted these ideas to address his era of tumultuous transformations, expressing his hope to see through the radical upheavals and find stability in the pattern of water so as to anchor his identity and find a home for his soul. After explaining his sentiment for and understanding of the water of Jinan, Yuan continued his narrative of his trip. He lingered around the springs and traveled further to the east side of Jinan before concluding his trip.

Pearl Spring now lies within Drafter Zhang's garden. Twenty years ago, my friend Lei Xiyan (1186–1231) wrote a poem about it. I realized the skillfulness of this poem only when I visited the spring myself. 珍珠泉今為張舍人園亭。二十年前，吾希顏兄嘗有詩，至泉上，則知詩為工矣。

In all, there are seventy-two famous springs in Jinan. Eruption ranks as the best, then Golden Thread, and then Pearl. As for Jade Bracelet, Golden Tiger, Black Tiger, Willow Catkins, Imperial Glory, Carefree, Washing the Alms Bowl, and Crystal Pond, it isn't that they lack beauty but that they cannot be equated with the top three springs. During this journey, I visited Eruption Spring six or seven times, stayed at the Cloister by Spirit Spring on three occasions, and made two excursions by boat on Brilliance Lake. I then turned eastward and passed through wooden barricades on the river. 凡濟南名泉七十有二，爆流為上，金線次之，珍珠又次之。若玉環、金虎、黑虎、柳絮、皇華、無憂、洗缽及水晶簟，非不佳，然亦不能與三泉侔矣。此遊至爆流者六七，宿靈泉庵者三，泛大明湖者再，遂東入水柵。

The name of this waterway is Embroidery River, and it originates at the foot of the Long White Mountains, winding its way around for ten or fifteen miles. Regional Councillors Zhang Zijun and Zhang Feiqing entertained me with wine at the Embroidery River Pavilion. We floated on a boat through more than three miles of lotuses, and the songs we sang were in the old style of the capital. There were lively discussions, and the hearty drinking ended only when evening fell. I stayed there for five days and then returned. 柵之水名繡江，發源長白山下，周圍三四十里。府參佐張子鈞、張飛卿觴予繡江亭，漾舟荷花中十餘里，樂府皆京國之舊，劇談豪飲，抵暮乃罷。留五日而還。

The road passed by the estate of Drafter Wang. By the side of the road was a stone inscription that read: "Epitaph of Qian Zhen written in the twelfth lunar month of the year bingwu during the Kaihuang era of the Sui dynasty [January 15–February 12, 587]: He was a man from Wuchang in Ba Commandery, was well versed in the Three Teachings of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism, and content to remain in the country, where he lived to a ripe old age." The language of the inscription was crude and the character Ba was written as Si, no doubt a popular confusion of similar characters passed down from the Northern Chou and Sui dynasties. It also said that he was buried west of Bao's Mountain, from which I could discern that the small hill to the southwest was Bao's Mountain. I calculated the years from bingwu, the sixth year of the Kaihuang era of the Sui, to jiawu [1234–1235] today: the stone stele has stood by the grave for 649 years. 道出王舍人莊，道旁一石刻，云：「隋開皇丙午十二月，鈆珍墓誌。珍，巴郡武昌人，學通三家，優遊田里，以壽卒。」誌文鄙陋，字以「巴」為「巳」，蓋周隋以來，俗書傳習之弊。其云葬包山之西者，知西南小丘為包山也。以歲計之，隋開皇六年丙午，至今甲午，碑石出壙中，蓋十周天餘一大衍數也。

South of the road was the Schoolhouse of Vice-Minister Zhang Shan (995–1074) of the Dragon Diagram Hall, who personally attended the Renzong Emperor [r. 1022–1063]. The characters for "Schoolhouse" were written by Su Shi, and there was a regulated verse by Fan Chuncui (1046–1117), both of which were engraved in stone. Zhang Shan's courtesy name was Shuwen. He himself wrote: "After I began my career, whenever I visited my family while on official business, I would meet my nephews who lived in the countryside. We would get thoroughly drunk, stopping only when we felt completely happy, and would note each time the month and the year." Shuwen gained a reputation for his writing and had a successful official career, but because of his fame he was able to return to visit his family only three times during his life. This is the degree to which a famous official must labor; it makes one sigh with regret. 道南有仁宗時侍從龍圖張侍郎掞讀書堂。「讀書堂」三字，東坡所書，并范純粹律詩，俱有石刻。掞字叔文，自題仕宦之後，每以王事至某家，則必會鄉鄰甥侄，盡醉極歡而罷，各以歲月為識。叔文有文譽，仕亦達，然以榮利之故，終身至其家三而已。名宦之役人如此，可為一歎也！

I arrived at Jinan, where I stayed another two days, making an excursion by boat on Brilliance Lake. I waited for Du Zhongliang (Du Renjie), who failed to arrive. The next day, I took the Qi River Road. After a light rain, the peaks of the Supreme Mountain could all be clearly distinguished. On either side, small mountains could be seen, layers upon layers of them. Clouds and mist appeared and disappeared, but I had no time to observe it all. I regretted that no fine words came to me so that I might write them down. 至濟南，又留二日，泛大明，待杜子不至。明日，行齊河道中，小雨後，太山峰嶺歷歷可數，兩旁小山間見層出，雲煙出沒，顧揖不暇，恨無佳句為摹寫之耳。

In all, I was able to write fifteen poems, to which I add those written in response by my friends, transcribing them as follows. 前後所得詩凡十五首，並諸公唱酬附於左。

Analysis and conclusion: On his return journey, Yuan Haowen came across two sites of interest. One was a stele eulogizing the long life of a hermit, who practiced Three Teachings and unexpectedly gained a lasting posthumous fame due to his leisure lifestyle. The second was the Dragon Diagram Hall, which served as a commemorative monument for Zhang Shan, an influential statesman during the Northern Song dynasty. According to the traditional Confucian believes, Zhang was undoubtedly a more preferable model. However, Yuan "sigh(ed) with regret" when reflecting on his path, lamenting Zhang's separation from his roots in pursuit of reputation. Yuan was struck by the fact that both men, regardless of their efforts, were posthumously commemorated in the same location, causing him to once again ponder the futility of human endeavor. After reflecting on his experience, Yuan bid farewell to his temporary utopia in Jinan and departed via the mountain path. By literally reconstructing the mountains and rivers of Jinan into a grotto-heaven landscape, Yuan Haowen successfully placed himself in the "earthly veins" of the Chinese cultural heritage, which not only found expression in the first grotto-heaven in the "Central Region," but also permeated throughout all regions that revered the memories of the sage kings. Through this spatial reconfiguration, he gained the power to spatially reintegrate the land ravaged by the barbarous Mongol conquerors while temporally helping the Jin literati rejoin past legacies and identities.

This effort also made the geospatial notion of the Central Region in the context of the Anthology of the Central Region more significant. The Yuan dynasty literatus Jia Xuanweng 家鉉翁 (ca. 1213–1297) provided an eloquent comment on Yuan's literary effort in "Postface to the Anthology of the Central Region" 題中州詩集後:  _{Although the land is divided into North and South, people and things have no such division, and the continuity and context of our orthodox tradition and literary veins are limited to neither the north nor the south. Even if we are thousands of miles away, we are still part of the Central Region. How much more so if we are actually in the Central Region?   故壤地有南北，而人物無南北，道統文脈無南北。雖在萬裏外，皆中州也，而況於在中州者乎？}  In this retrospective light, Yuan Haowen's vision of the "earthly veins" not only promoted an imagination of an interconnected world centering on the "Central Region." The earthly connections also conflated with the reintegration of the "literary veins" (wenmai, 文脈), thereby upholding and perpetuating unified memories of Chinese literary and cultural traditions in a new geospatial recognition in face of the sociopolitical vicissitudes during the Jin-Yuan transition.

• Yuan Haowen 元好問. Yuan Haowen shi biannian jiaozhu 元好問詩編年校註. Edited by Di Baoxin 狄寶心. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju. 2011. ------. Yuan Haowen wen biannian jiaozhu 元好問文編年校註. Edited by Di Baoxin 狄寶心. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju. 2012.

• Karlgren, Bernard. "The Book of Documents." Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities 22. (1950).
• Owen, Stephen. All Mine!: Happiness, Ownership, and Naming in Eleventh-century China. Columbia University Press, 2021. ------. The Great Age of Chinese Poetry: the High T'ang. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1981. ------. The Poetry of Du Fu. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG, 2015.
• Strassberg, Richard E.. Inscribed Landscapes: Travel Writing from Imperial China. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1994.
• Wang, Jinping. In the Wake of the Mongols: The Making of a New Social Order in North China, 1200–1600. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2018.
• To be completed....