Huizhou, in South Anhui, was not only a relatively important locality in terms of Chinese publishing in the last two dynasties, but also a region that produced numerous genealogies, many of them printed.

Xiuning Daishi zupu 休寧戴氏族譜 was compiled in 1632. Some copies are stored in Beijing and Shanghai, and one of them is on line, on the Mormon website.

On this website, the presentation of Xiuning Daishi zupu is : 休寧戴氏族譜 [15卷] or 戴氏荊墩門家譜 (Title) ; (明 戴堯天 (Added Author); Langue: Chinese; Publication: 中國北京 : 中國社會科學院歷史研究所圖書館, 1986 ; Physique: 微捲1捲 ; 16釐米 ;Notes 不得複製. ; 書名據卷端編目.  封面題: 戴氏荊[墩門家譜].原書: 刻本, 明崇禎5[1632]. 10冊 : 世系表, 插圖. 始祖: 戴安字寧叔. 散居地: 安徽省休寧縣等地.

The zupu presents extremely simple tables, in the most of the case only names of family members are given, but it includes a remarkable map of Longfu 隆阜, the locality in the Xiuning district 休寧, now in the municipality of Huangshanshi 黃山市, where the Dai family was established: it’s near to Tunxi 屯溪town.

This map of the village Longfu (Longfu cunju zhi tu隆阜村居之圖) is also avalable on line.

This kind of map is quite common in Qing dynasty (1644-1911) genealogies, but that one was realized before the end of the Ming dynasty (1368-1911) : we can see high constructions, quite rarely represented in other images (storage buildings?). The map was engraved by Huang Shouxian 黃壽先刻 and designed by Huang Yifeng of She(xian) 歙邑黃一鳳寫. It is possible to locate the places indicated in the image (Longfu and Zhuli 珠里) in ancient and modern maps.

The text below is printed on a single sheet, which was folded and kept by the owners of this genealogy copy. It’s not reproduced on line by https://familysearch.org . It is included in the original copy kept in Beijing, at the National Library of China (NLC); this is the only document of this kind in the 286 volumes of Huizhou genealogies studied by Michela Bussotti & Bao Guoqiang 鮑國強 and presented in the online database of Huizhou genealogies by EFEO – Department of Rare Books and Special Collections at the National Library of China. This database collects elements providing information on compilation, editing, and printing; it’s online on the website of EFEO and on the website of NLC:

To make a genealogy naturally incurred considerable expense, and to that extent the question of genealogy compilation and publication is also one of money. We are used to seeing at the end of printed genealogies lists of the names of donors who have received a printed copy of the genealogy. Although in the NLC copy of Xiuning Daishi zupu, this names list of “the donors of money/keepers of volumes” is missing, there is a note on a strip of paper about the individual who possessed this volume (Dai Shiji: see below appendix 1). Probably a similar strip of paper was originally stuck on the cover of each fascicule of the genealogy.

In the text examined here, it seems that different payments are required of those involved in this genealogy project: for merely having their name included in the genealogy, they must pay, just as they have to make a separate payment to “cut the wood blocks,” and also in order to receive a personal copy of the printed genealogy. This text also reflects the dialogue and negotiation between the compiler and the other members of the family, which was eventually written down in this « agreement » contracted between Dai Yaotian and recipients of the genealogy.

Proposition of agreement about the revision of the genealogy (ten paragraphs) 議修族譜約言十款 : text in PDF and below

Additional “appendices” are transcribed below:

appendix 2, the last entree of the fanli 凡例“notes to the readers”,

appendix 3,  quotation from a preface of the genealogy explaining that the author is Dai Yitao (Yaotian) was jinshi 1631;

appendix 4, quotation from post-face of the genealogy that mentions explicitly the existence of the document copied here.

They help to understand when and how the genealogy was published, the volumes distribution and the intervention of the local government administration as a guarantee of a legal keep and proper storage of them.

APPENDIX (from Bussotti & Bao online database)

1 休寧戴氏族譜第二冊第 籍 字第 三 號封付 二十五 世孫 世濟 收掌部 [the text printed on strip of paper and completed by handwriting, with the seal:  重修休寧戴氏族譜辨偽圖書]

2譜成散訖後原板俱削以防私偽且每譜一部必編其號,註付其人圖書封固然後散給仍開總單請[ ] 府縣 照印交貯公所存驗日後如有圖書留錯及總單內無名者定係假譜即當窮治 [凡例，第十二条]

3戴儀陶以辛未成進士出余門未服官歸省返梓里鳩群宗而譜之 [戶部尚書武英殿大學士通家眷生何如寵再拜撰，《序休寍戴氏族譜》，崇禎壬申（五年1632）]

4 儀陶叔登第歸來聚族而謀茲譜謂文獻攸關顯承允籍慨然以輯脩為己任遂條十則以示倡於其禁紛嚣分董率表通顯防私偽寓勸勉兢兢然以史法立譜灋蓋其慎哉而余於譜之成深有幸焉[崇禎五年（1632）。 戴一美《後序》]