Before Wu Zhijing passed the examination and started his career as a scholar official, he was an ordinary literati who was preparing for examination, participating in literary associations, and teaching essay writings in Hangzhou. Although Wu published several works over the years, his one and only extant work was the Monastic Gazetteer of Hangzhou, which was also later compiled into the notable Four Treasures of the Emperor during the Qing. The book’s readers include not only the emperor but also literati. This paper investigates Wu and his friends’ works and reconstructs Wu’s life, and looks into the implications of the Monastic Gazetteer of Hangzhou. This book also succeeds two traditions of local and monastic gazetteer writing; one succeeds the Hangzhou local gazetteer writing, the other succeeds the writing format of Records of the Luoyang Monasteries which focuses on Buddhist monasteries in a city. Based on a local literati’s perspective, Wu Zhijing presents the history of the rise and decline of Hangzhou Buddhism in categories such as Buddhist monasteries, dharma lineage, patronage, and local development. From later records, readership and book catalogs, the readers widely regarded Monastic Gazetteer of Hangzhou an authoritative work of Hangzhou Buddhism, and a reliable travel guide of Hangzhou.
