晚漢晉宋之間，由於南向開發與海洋貿易，記載南方特有動植物的異物志蔚然成風。此一豐富的寶庫除了作為博物談資外，更重要的功能毋寧是協助帝國在知識上掌握陌生新疆域，進一步將之安置於恰當位置，成為可言說的「天下」的一部份。值得注意的是，士人雖共享此一知識庫，但個別的選擇與融裁卻可能呈現出不同意態，進而使帝國採取不同行動。本文以西晉末年嵇含準備赴廣州刺史任前所作《南方草木狀》為例，觀察他如何透過博物知識的記錄將南方納入「天下」。以「狀」為名，無疑帶有將地方情實上達的意圖，而本書與其他異物志最大的差別，即在特別著意於南方物產進入中原王朝的歷史紀錄。相對於漢武帝朝的珍異物資攫取，嵇含明顯更傾向進一步掌握土地之宜，透過土貢將地方納入國家的資源流通網絡。書中對「南北異宜」的強調既是以地方的有限性作為共同體存在必要之依據，也在物產與人才的類比傳統下帶有對南方秀士難以進入朝廷的諷諭。關於南方的博物知識紀錄雖往往以「奇」、「異」為標舉，但《南方草木狀》為我們展示了另一種可能：透過與土地、人民息息相關的植物，重新認識其所生長著根的「日常」，進而打破「彼／此」的思維範限，將嶺南納入「天下」，也藉著嶺南帶「中州之人」走向更廣闊的「世界」。透過對《南方草木狀》的考察，本文希望反省一般討論帝國擴張時對東方主義式「他者」的強調，思考另一種成為共同體的模式，並提供一個觀察中國博物之學發展脈絡的可能視角。

From the late Han period to the Liu Song dynasty, due to southbound development and overseas trade, the documentation of special southern species gradually flourished. These valuable documentation databases served not only as interesting conversation topics but also helped the empire to dominate this new intellectual territory which further could be pronounced as the part of the imperial world. It's worth noting that although intellectuals shared the same database, their individual selection and editions of the database gave “south” different meanings and led to different imperial policies toward the “south.” This article aims to analyze Nanfang caomu zhuang, written by Ji Han as the preparation for the position of the governor of Guangzhou, to see how he utilized the knowledge of natural history to make the “south” become a more recognized region. The word, “zhuang,” indicates the intention of introducing the local specialties, and the special interest on the documentation of southern tributes. And this kind of interest also distinguishes Nanfang caomu zhuang from other writings. Comparing to Emperor Han Wu's ambition to conquer and colonize the periphery of the land, Ji Han obviously preferred to the local as the core resources of the empire in terms of tribute system. The focus on the role of environment in plant growing severed as evidences of the necessity of administered redistribution, and a reminder of the risk of bureaucracy's ignorance of southern intellectuals. Finally, although the documentations often boast the wonder and exotic of the southern species, Nanfang caomu zhuang provided an alternative. Through the plants closely related to the people and the land, readers in central China could learn the “daily life” of the south and break out of the frame of normal and abnormal. In other words, by incorporating the “south” into China, Chinese people may therefore move toward a broader “world”. Overall, through the analysis of Nanfang caomu zhuang, this article would like to provide an empire model which focuses on how to formulate the sense of being community rather than differentiation and isolation, and to seek further understanding of the development of Chinese natural history.