Qianshu 黔書

Qianshu 黔書 is a book on Guizhou written during the early Qing period 清 (1644-1911) by Tian Wen 田雯 (1635-1704), courtesy name Zilun 子綸 or Ziwen 綸雯, style Yiting 猗亭 or Mengzhai 蒙齋, from Dezhou 德州, Shandong. Tian was for some time governor (xunfu 巡撫) of Guizhou, and was therefore interested in this remote region of the empire. He also wrote the book Changhe zhiji kao 長河志籍考. His collected writings are called Guhuantang ji 古歡堂集.

His book of 2 juan was printed in 1690 and speaks about administrative history, state examinations (including Tian's memorial asking for the implementation of such Qing jian xue shu 請建學疏), local tribes, customs and habits of the Miao 苗, language, local products (like rice and salt), rebellions, geography, traffic (bridges), historic or tourist spits, eminent persons and officials, and temples and shrines. Chapters are not clearly defined, but there are more than 80 different paragraphs.

Tian's book is a valuable source on southwest China. An updated version, Zhang Shu's 張澍 Xu Qianshu 續黔書, was published in 1804. It also inspired a further book on Guizhou, Li Zongfang's 李宗昉 Qianji 黔記 from 1813. The collection Qianzhi si zhong 黔志四種, published by Xiong Zhentai 熊湛英 in 1889, includes a fourth book on Guizhou, You Faxian's 猶法賢 Qianshi 黔史.

The Qianshu is included in the series, Qiannan congshu 黔南叢書, Siku quanshu 四庫全書, Yueyatang congshu 粵雅堂叢書, 叢書集成初編 and Dezhou Tianshi congshu 德州田氏叢書.