Aobotu 熬波圖 (www.chinaknowledge.de)

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May 29, 2010 © Ulrich Theobald

Aobotu 熬波圖 "Illustrated boiling of sea water" is an illustrated book about salt production written during the Yuan period 元 (1279-1368) by Chen Chun 陳椿 (1293-1335).

He compiled the book on the base of older texts drafted when he was overseer of the salines at Xiasha 下砂場. It contains 47 illustrations with explanations to all steps of the production of salt from erecting furnaces, collecting firewood and boiling down the brine.

The Aobotu is included in the Ming-period 明 (1368-1644) encyclopaedia Yongle dadian 永樂大典. Five illustrations are missing. In this version it was reproduced in the series Siku quanshu 四庫全書. The text, without illustrations, is included in the series Xuetang congkan 雪堂叢刊, with the title of Aobotu yong 熬波圖咏.

Illustration No. 20 擔灰攤晒圖 "Transporting the grey (raw material) to expose it to the sun"

Illustration No. 27 打滷入船圖 "Filling the brine into boats"

Illustration No. 37 鑄造鐵柈圖 "Melting down iron to make shovels"

Illustration No. 42 上滷煎鹽圖 "Filling in the brine to boil it down to salt"

Yoshida Tora's 吉田寅 study and translation of the Aobotu from 1983 (Gendai seien gijutsu shiryō "Gōhazu" no kenkyū: tsuketari "Gōhazu" yakuchū 現代製塩技術資料「熬波図」の研究: 附「熬波図」訳註) was translated into English by Hans Ulrich Vogel (1993), Salt Production Techniques in Ancient China: The "Aobo tu" (Leiden: Brill).

Table 1. Contents of the *Aobotu* 熬波圖
1	各團竈座圖	The hearth places of each unit
2	築壘圍墻圖	Stamping and piling up an encircling wall
3	起盖竈舍圖	Setting up and roofing the hearth houses
4	團内便倉圖	The benefitting storehouse in the unit
5	褁築灰淋圖	Constructing the ash-leaching [basin]
6	築疊池井圖	The construction of ponds and wells
7	盖池井屋圖	Building shelters for the ponds and wells (illustration missing)
8	開河通海圖	Opening a channel with connection to the sea
9	埧堰蓄水圖	Within the embankment the sea water is stored (illustration missing)
10	就海引潮圖	Diverting the tidewater (illustration missing)
11	築獲海岸圖	Protecting the sea shore by dyking
12	車接海潮圖	Connecting to the tidewater with water-lifting machines
13	疏浚潮溝圖	Dredging the tide [water] ditches (illustration missing)
14	開闢攤場圖	The opening up of the spreading place
15	車水耕平圖	Lifting the water and ploughing evenly (illustration missing)
16	敲泥拾草圖	Breaking up clods and clearing weeds
17	海潮浸灌圖	Flooding and irrigating with the tidewater
18	削土取平圖	Parting the earth and levelling it
19	棹水潑水圖	Lifting water with a bucket and sprinkling it
20	擔灰攤晒圖	Carrying the ashes and spreading them for exposure
21	篠灰取匀圖	Levelling the ashes with dwarf-bamboo brushes
22	篩水晒灰圖	Sprinkling water and exposing the ashes
23	扒掃聚灰圖	Collecting the ashes by paring and sweeping
24	擔灰入淋圖	Carrying the ashes and pouring them into the leaching basin
25	淋灰取滷圖	Leaching the ashes and extracting the brine
26	滷船鹽𦨣圖	Brine boats and salt boats
27	打滷入船圖	Loading the brine into the boats
28	擔載運滷圖	Carrying or shipping the brine
29	打滷入團圖	Unloading the brine and conveying it into the unit
30	樵斫柴薪圖	Gathering and chopping fuel
31	束縛柴薪圖	Bundling up the fuel
32	砍斫柴玍圖	Cutting fuel sprouts
33	塌車𨎿車圖	Sledges and wheeled carts
34	人車運柴圖	Transporting the fuel by sledges and carriers
35	𨎿車運柴圖	Transporting the fuel by wheeled carts
36	鐡盤模様圖	The design of the iron pan
37	鑄造鐵柈圖	Casting the iron pan
38	砌柱承柈圖	Building the brock props which support the pan
39	排湊盤面圖	Arranging and joining the pan surface
40	煉打草灰圖	Refining straw and ashes by beating
41	装泥柈縫圖	Plastering the seams of the iron pan
42	上滷煎鹽圖	Adding the brine and boiling it to salt
43	撈晒撩鹽圖	Straining and removing salt
44	乾柈起鹽圖	Recovery of salt from the dry pan
45	出扒生灰圖	Raking out the living ashes
46	日収散鹽圖	The loose salt is collected daily
47	起運散鹽圖	Transporting the loose salt

Sources:

Guo Zhengzhong 郭正忠 (1985). „Lüelun Songdai haiyan shengchan de jishu jinbu: Jian kao Aobotu de zuozhe, shidai yu qianshen 略論宋代海鹽生產的技術進步——兼考《熬波圖》的作者、時代與前身“, Zhejiang xuekan 浙江學刊, 1985 (8).

Ji Zhuzhu 嵇姝姝 (2012). "Aobotu jiazhi qianlun 《熬波圖》價值淺論", Qunwen tiandi 群文天地, 2012 (4).

Li Xueqin 李學勤, Lü Wenyu 呂文鬰 (1996), Siku da cidian 四庫大辭典 (Changchun: Jilin daxue chubanshe), Vol. 1, p. 1443.

Liu Miao 劉淼 (1995). "Aobotu de yi kaocha 《熬波圖》的一考察", Yanye shi yanjiu 鹽業史研究, 1995 (12).

Liu Miao 劉淼 (1996). "Aobotu de yi kaocha (xu) 《熬波圖》的一考察（續）", Yanye shi yanjiu 鹽業史研究, 1996 (3).

Shen Ke 沈克 (2013). "Aobotu tuxiang kaobian 《熬波圖》圖像考辨", Meixue yanjiu 美術研究, 2013 (2).

Wang Chunlin 王春林, ed. (2001). Keji bianji da cidian 科技編輯大辭典 (Beijing: Di er junyi daxue chubanshe), 346.

Wu Shenyuan 吳申元, Xia Lingen 夏林根, Zhang Zheyong 張哲永, ed. (1989). Shanghai cidian 上海詞典 (Shanghai: Fudan daxue chubanshe), 430.

Zeng Kang 曾抗 (1996). "Aobotu 熬波圖", in Zhou Gucheng 周谷城, ed. Zhongguo xueshu mingzhu tiyao 中國學術名著提要, Vol. Keji 科技卷 (Shanghai: Fudan daxue chubanshe), 778.