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The book Bowuzhi is one of the earliest encylopedias of ancient China. It is written by the Jin Dynasty scholar Zhang Hua 張華 (232-300 AD). Unfortunately, much of the content is lost. The book contains material about geography, zoology, history, biographies and stories about remarkable people and strange events. It belongs to the category of guaiji 怪記 literature, a kind of literature that reports strange and unnatural things. The author surley stands under the influence of reports about regions and foreign countries, like the Shanhaijing 山海經 "Classic of Mountains and Rivers".
The first three supra-chapters (juan 卷 "rolls") contain material about geography and strange things. The second part (roll 4-5; and roll 7) contains material about natural science and pseudo-science like magic. Roll 6 contains investigations in different things like names, geography, rituals, music, clothing, and vessels and can thus be called a "kernel of encyclopedia", although the examples are very selective. Roll 8 contains historical material; the last two rolls report miscellaneaous things.
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Exemplarious translation:
１．山
五嶽：華、岱、恒、衡、嵩．
按太行山而北去，不知山所限極處．亦如東海不知所窮盡也．
石者，金之根甲．石流精以生水，水生木，木含火．
水
漢使張騫渡西海，至搭秦．大秦之西烏遲國，烏遲國之西，復言有海．西海之濱，有小昆侖（＝崑崙），高萬仞，方八百里．東海廣漫，未聞有渡者．
四瀆：河，出昆侖（＝崑崙）墟，江，出岷山，濟，出王屋，淮，出桐柏．
Mountains
The Five Sacred Peaks are: Huashan (in the west/Shaanxi); Daishan (=Taishan in the east/Shandong); Hengshan (in the north/Hebei); Henggshan (in the south/Hunan); and Songshan (in the middle/Henan).
If you walk along the mountain range of Taixingshan (Mt.Mianyan 綿延 in Shanxi,Hebei, and Henan) to the north, it is impossible to recognize where the highest peaks are to find: it is just as impossible to say as where is the end of the eastern ocean.
(About the Five Elements:) Stone is the the shell where Metal comes out. If the stones poures out its essence, Water is born; Water gives birth to Wood; and Wood contains Fire.
Rivers:
[...] Emperor Han (Wudi) sent out Zhang Qian to cross the Western Ocean, and so he arrived at the country of Daqin. In the west of Daqin was the country of Wuchi. More further to the west, he was told, he would find anther ocean. At the shore of this ocean, they said, he would find a mountain called Small Kunlun Mountain, ten thousand fathoms high, and eight hundred leagues long. Even the Eastern Ocean is so wide that we have never heard of anybody who had crossed the ocean.
[...] The Four Big Streams are: The Yellow River that has its source in the Kunlun Mountains; the Yangtse River that rises in the Minshan Range; the River Ji that rises in the Wangwu Mountains (in modern Henan); and the River Huai that comes from the Tongbo Mountains (also in Henan) [...].
２．異人
日南有野女，群行覓丈夫，其狀且白，裸袒無衣襦．
異俗
楚之南有炎（＝啖）人之國．其親戚死，朽其肉而棄之．然後埋其骨，乃為孝也．
荊州極西南界至蜀，諸民曰獠子．婦人妊娠，七月而產．臨水生兒，便置水中，浮則取養之，沉便棄之．然千百多浮．既長，皆拔去上齒牙各一，以為身飾．
[...] Strange People
[...] In the commandery of Rinan (modern Vietnam), there live some women in the wilderness. They crowd together in search for a husband; and their whole appearance is very white and pure, as they do not wear any clothes at all.
Strange Customs
In the southern area of Chu (modern Hunan) is the country of "Burning People" (another tradition writes "Feeding People"). When their parents or relatives have died, they cut away their flesh from the bones and throw it away. Burying only the bones of their kinship, they take this custom for "filial piety".
[...] In the far southwest of the area Jingzhou (modern Hunan), near the border to Shu (modern Sichuan), the people are called Monsterlings (modern Yilao Minority 仡佬族 in Guizhou and Guangxi). If their wifes are pregnant, after a pregancy of only seven months, they give birth to their children just at the bank of a river. The women put their babies into the water; and if the baby is able to swim, they will rise it, otherwise they let it drown. But almost all babies are able to swim. Adult people cut out one incisive and one molar tooth, to make adornments out of it.
４．物性
九竅者胎生，八竅者卵生，龜鱉皆此類．咸卵生影伏．
大腰無雄，龜鼉類也．無雄，與蛇通氣則孕．細腰無雌，蜂類也．無雌，取桑蠶或阜螽子，咒而成子．
物理
麒麟斗而日蝕，鯨魚死則彗星出，嬰兒號婦乳出，蠶弭（＝咡）絲而商弦絕．
食忌
人啖豆三年，則身重，行止難．
啖麥，令人多力，健行．
Biology
Animals with nine body openings are viviparous; animals with eight body openings are oviparous, like tortoises and turtles. All of them do not breed after producing (and digging) their eggs.
[...]Animals with thick waists have no male gender; tortoises and crocodiles belong to this kind. Like snakes, these animals get impregnated by breathing the universal energy qi. Animals with slender waists have no female gender, like bees and wasps. To get impregnated, they collect the eggs and cocoons of silkworms and of grasshoppers. Casting a spell upon these eggs, wasps are able to make them become their own eggs and children.
Physics (Astonomy)
If unicorns (the mythical and fabulous Qilin beast) are fighting, an eclipse of the sun occurs; if a leviathan (or whale) has died, comets will appear; if a baby cries loudly, breast-milk is secreted; if a silkworm starts to spin a cocoon, the shang string (of a zither) will tear.
Diet
If somebody eats only beans for three years, his body weight will increase, and he will have problems to walk.
[...]Eating grain will strengthen the body, and you will be a good walker.
５．辨方士
鉤弋夫人被殺於雲陽，而言尸解柩空．
[...] The Effect of Magic
[...]Emperor Han Wudi's concubine, Lady Gouyi, was executed (for some crime) in the Yunyang Palace, but there is the legend that her body had disappeared, and her coffin was emptied.
６．服飾考
古者，男子皆絲衣，有故乃素服．又有冠無幘，故雖凶事，皆著冠也．
[...]Clothing
[...] In old times, men normally used to wear (colored) silk clothes. Only in case of a mourning ceremony, white (hempen) clothes were worn. Further, in old times, men only used to wear a cap, without headscarf (below it). Therefore, (unlike today,) they even wore a cap during a burial (because they did not have a headscarf to cover the head).
Translated by Ulrich Theobald.
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