Fish Farming in Pre-modern China: A Study and Translation of Two Texts

Abstract

This article examines two rare sources on fish farming in pre-modern China: a text fragment entitled Taozhu gong Yang yu jing 陶朱公養魚經 (Lord Taozhu’s Classic on Fish Farming) preserved in Jia Sixie’s 賈思勰 (fl. 6th cent CE) Qimin yaoshu 齊民要術 (Essential Techniques for the Peasantry), and a treatise similarly entitled Yang yu jing 養魚經 (Classic on Fish Farming) by Ming scholar Huang Xingzeng 黃省曾 (1490–1540). The essay explores the history of managed aquaculture leading up to the compilation of these texts, analyses their sources and contents, and presents annotated translations.