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Book/Printed Material Xi yuan lu 洗冤錄

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[ Volume 2 ]

About this Item

Title

  • Xi yuan lu

Other Title

  • 洗冤錄

Translated Title

  • Collected Cases of Injustice Rectified

Summary

  • Xi yuan lu (Collected cases of injustice rectified) was compiled by Song Ci of Southern Song. This is the world's first-ever systematically written book of forensic science. It summed up the achievements in forensic science prior to and during the Song dynasty. Song Ci (1186-1249), courtesy name Huifu, a native of Jianyang (in present-day Fujian), received his jinshi degree in the tenth year (1217) of the Jiading era. He served successively as provincial judicial commissioner in Guangdong, Jiangxi, Guangxi, and Hunan, in charge of penal and prison affairs. He made an extensive collection of Nei shu lu and earlier works, drew on his own experience in the field, and compiled this work. It begins with the imperial decree on the inspection of bodies and injuries, an introduction to investigative procedures, and notes on the difficulties of investigation. The chapters that follow are on initial and repeated postmortem examinations, bone examination, and on identifying, by the appearances of bodies, various causes of death, and emergency treatment methods for detoxification. It also contains detailed explanations, with illustrations, about different kinds of death, such as suicide, murder, and death from natural causes. There are chapters on methods of reviving persons after hanging, use of splints for broken bones, detecting traces of wounds in the sun under an oil-cloth umbrella, applying a silver needle to detect poison, and other applications, all based on scientific knowledge. The work's first printed edition, dated the seventh year (1247) of the Chunyou era of Emperor Lizong of Southern Song, no longer exists. The earliest extant print edition is from the Yuan dynasty, held in the collection of Beijing University Library. This copy is a Ming edition in two volumes from the series of Ge zhi cong shu (Collectanea of works inquiring into and extending knowledge), published by late-Ming scholar Hu Wenhuan. The Yuan and Ming editions have similar unity and coherence in writing, but both have omissions and errors; also, the juan numbers were altered. Huang Pilie, the Qing bibliophile, compared this copy to the Yuan copy held in his collection and added a postscript, in which he identified the differences between the two editions. There is also an additional juan in the front of the Ming copy called Ti shi (Literary style), which includes the years of the Dade and Yanyou eras (end of the 13th century-early 14th century) of the Yuan dynasty, obviously not written by Song Ci. The work has been translated into many languages, including English, French, Dutch, German, Russian, Japanese, and Korean, and has influenced the development of forensic science in many countries.

Names

  • Song, Ci, 1186-1249 Compiler

Created / Published

  • Hangzhou, Zhejiang : Hu Wenhuan, [1500 to 1700]

Headings

  • -  China
  • -  1247
  • -  Chinese classics
  • -  Chinese literature
  • -  Crimes
  • -  Forensic sciences
  • -  Human body
  • -  Medicine, Chinese
  • -  Wounds and injuries

Notes

  • -  Title devised, in English, by Library staff.
  • -  Original resource extent: 2 volumes : stitch-bound ; 26.8 x 14.4 centimeters.
  • -  Original resource at: National Library of China.
  • -  Content in Chinese.
  • -  Description based on data extracted from World Digital Library, which may be extracted from partner institutions.
  • -  Title revised per Asian Division.--cc28 2023-01-06

Medium

  • 1 online resource.

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2021666510

Online Format

  • compressed data
  • pdf
  • image

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Song, Ci, Compiler. XI Yuan Lu. [Hangzhou, Zhejiang: Hu Wenhuan, to 1700, 1500] Pdf. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021666510/.

APA citation style:

Song, C. (1500) XI Yuan Lu. [Hangzhou, Zhejiang: Hu Wenhuan, to 1700] [Pdf] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2021666510/.

MLA citation style:

Song, Ci, Compiler. XI Yuan Lu. [Hangzhou, Zhejiang: Hu Wenhuan, to 1700, 1500] Pdf. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2021666510/>.