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Haitangpu 海棠譜

Jun 17, 2011 © Ulrich Theobald

Haitangpu 海棠譜 is a book on the cultivation of crab-apples (Malus spectabilis) written during the Southern Song period 南宋 (1127-1279) by Chen Si 陳思 (fl. 1259). The 3-juan-long book was finished in 1259. The author says in the preface that the haitang apples were, because of their colour and qualities, not inferior to plums or peonies. Chen quotes from a lot of earlier sources to demonstrate how important the haitang apple was for consumption, and that many earlier persons. In the first chapter the author narrates histories around crab-apples, but only provides a few quotations about the practical cultivation of the haitang apple. In the second and third chapters, he quotes from ancient poetry.

The Haitangpu is included in the series Baichuan xuehai 百川學海, Shuofu 說郛, Wulin wangzhe yizhu 武林往哲遺著 and Siku quanshu 四庫全書.

Source:
Li Xueqin 李學勤, Lü Wenyu 呂文鬰, eds. (1996). Siku da cidian 四庫大辭典 (Changchun: Jilin daxue chubanshe), Vol. 2, 1866.