Polder Banks Built below Shizi Mountain, 1628

The record

毅宗崇祯元年，知县曾就义奏，筑溧水狮子山下圩埂三千余丈。

Translated: In the first year of the Chongzhen era, the magistrate Zeng Jiuyi petitioned, and more than three thousand zhang of polder bank were built below Shizi Mountain in Lishui.

Date and place

The work belongs to 1628, the first year of the Chongzhen era. Shizi Mountain is a mountain in Lishui, and the bank was built at its foot. The sources consulted here do not give its precise position within the county.

What was done

The gazetteer records only that the magistrate Zeng Jiuyi petitioned; it does not say to whom the petition was addressed, where the money came from, how many labourers were used, or in which months the work began and ended. The scale of the work was "more than three thousand zhang".

Consequences

The gazetteer says nothing of the upkeep of the bank after it was built, of its effect, or of any later extension. This entry does not add anything the gazetteer does not contain.

Uncertainties

First, the word rendered "petitioned" may mean a memorial to the throne or a report to a superior; the gazetteer does not explain which, and this entry does not decide. Second, the three thousand zhang is a figure in the old measure, and the gazetteer gives no equivalent distance, so this entry makes no conversion. Third, the line of the bank and how it was divided are not recorded.