遠方諸山蜜臈處，以木為器，中開小孔，以蜜臘塗器，內外令遍。春月蜂將生育時，捕取三兩頭著器中，蜂飛去尋將伴來，經日漸益，遂持器歸。
In the distant mountains where beeswax is found, [the local beekeepers][1] make wooden containers with small openings and apply beeswax all over the containers inside and out. When bees are about to breed in the spring, [the beekeepers] catch two or three bees to put in [each] container. The bees will fly away to fetch their companions, enlarging [the colony] day by day. Then [the beekeepers] will retrieve the containers. [2]
* From Zhang Hua 張華 (232-300), Bowuzhi 博物志, edited by Fan Ning 范寧 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1980), 10.110.
[1] The added subject is based on a slightly different version of this passage quoted in Li Fang 李昉 (925-996) ed., Taiping Yulan 太平御覽 (Sibu congkan sanbian 四部叢刊三編 edition): https://ctext.org/library.pl?if=gb&file=80654&page=103.
[2] Another passage on beeswax in the same book specifies one harvest a year; see Zhang Hua, Bowuzhi, 10.110.
Album leaf by Wang Tubing 王圖炳 (1668-1743)
Image credit: National Palace Museum, Taipei
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