Jinshu chuanxi lu 金薯傳習錄

Jinshu chuanxi lu 金薯傳習錄 "The propagation of Jin's sweet potatoes" is a book on sweetpotatoes written by Chen Shiyuan 陳世元 (dates unknown), courtesy name Jiexian 捷先, style Juezhai 覺齋, from Jin'an 晉安, Fujian. He had been a university student (taixuesheng 太學生), but made a life as a merchant in Zhejiang.

Sweetpotatoes (Ipomoea batatas) had been brought to China from the Philippines. A crucial function in this transmission is attributed to Chen Zhenlong 陳振龍 (c. 1543-1619), a sixth-generation ancestor of the author of this book. At the time, the governor of the province of Fujian, Jin Xuezeng 金學曾 (jinshi degree 1568), promoted the cultivation of sweet potatoes because this plant is unpretentious and can help to nourish the people during times of draught and famine. Because of Jin's crucial function in the popularization of the plant, it was in Fujian called jinshu 金薯 "Jin's potato". The plant soon spread to other provinces.

Chen's book has a length of 2 juan. The first fascicle describes the introduction and spread of the crop in China, cultivation methods, preparation and consumption, storage, and processing. Most chapters are written as "rules" (faze 法則) for the correct handling. The second part of the book quotes extensively from prose and poetry statements about sweetpotatoes.

Chen's book is extensively quoted in the more famous book Ganshulu 甘薯錄 by Lu Yao 陸耀 (d. 1794).

The book was first published in 1768, and reprinted in 1776. A modern version was published by the Nongye Press 農業出版社 in 1982 in a joined edition with Xu Youju's 徐有榘 (1764-1845) book Zhongshupu 種薯譜.