Friday, September 19, 2008
History of Yuan
The History of Yuan is one of the official Chinese historical works known as the Twenty-Four Histories of China. It consists of 210 chapter and covers the history of Mongols from the time of to the death of the last Yuan emperor Shun . ''Yuanshi'' was composed in 1370 by the official ''Bureau of History'' of the Ming dynasty, under direction of Song Lian commissioned by the court of the Ming Dynasty. The compilation formalized the official history of the preceding defunct Yuan Dynasty. Under the guidance of Song Lian, the official dynastic history broke with the old Confucian historiographical tradition, and established a new historical paradigm professing that the influence of history was equal in influence to the great Confucian classics in directing the human affairs.
History of Southern Dynasties
The History of Southern Dynasties is one of the official Chinese historical works in the Twenty-Four Histories canon. It contain 80 volumes and covering the period from 420 to 589, the histories of Liu Song, Southern Qi, Liang Dynasty, and Chen Dynasty. Like the ''History of Northern Dynasties'', the book along was started by Li Dashi. Following his death, Li Yanshou, son of Li Dashi completed the work on the book between 643 to 659. As a historian, Li Yanshou also took part of some of the compilation during the early Tang Dynasty. Unlike the many other contemporary historical texts, the book was not sponsored by state.
History of Northern Dynasties
The History of Northern Dynasties is one of the official Chinese historical works in the Twenty-Four Histories canon. It contain 100 volumes and covering the period from 386 to 618, the histories of Northern Wei, Western Wei, Eastern Wei, Northern Zhou, Northern Qi, and Sui Dynasty. Like the ''History of Southern Dynasties'', the book along was started by Li Dashi. Following his death, Li Yanshou, son of Li Dashi, completed the work on the book between 643 to 659. Unlike most of the rest of the Twenty-Four Histories, this work was not sponsored by state.
History of Ming
The History of Ming is one of the official Chinese historical works known as the Twenty-Four Histories of China. It consists of 332 volumes and covers the history of Ming Dynasty from 1368 to 1644, which was written by a number of officials commissioned by the court of Qing Dynasty, with the lead editor Zhang Tingyu. The compilation started in the era of Shunzhi Emperor and completed in 1739 in the era of Qianlong Emperor, though most of the volumes were written in the era of Kangxi Emperor.
Five Dynasties History
The Five Dynasties History was an official history of the , which controlled much of . It was compiled by the Song Dynasty official-scholar Xue Juzheng in the first two decades of the Song Dynasty, which was founded in 960. It is one of the ''Twenty-Four Histories'' recognized through Chinese history.
The book comprises 150 chapters, and was in effect divided into 5 books, Book of Liang, Book of Tang, Book of Jin, Book of Han and Book of Zhou. After the New History of the Five Dynasties by Ouyang Xiu was published, it is no longer popular. The fatal blow came in 12th century when it was removed from the Imperial Library and no longer published by order of the Jin Dynasty. The book was completely lost since then.
During the 18th century, Qing Dynasty scholars found many complete quotes of the book in Yong Le Da Dian. They extracted them and together with other sources of the same period, they were able to reconstruct the entire book, albeit missing of a few chapters. There have been rumours that copies of the original book exist, but to date, none was found.
The Five Dynasties are composed of a string of dynasties in northern China that succeeded one another from 907 to 960. They bridge the time from which the Tang Dynasty fell in 907 to the rise of the Song Dynasty in 960, which eventually conquered all but the very northernmost reaches of China.
The Five Dynasties are the Later Liang Dynasty, Later Tang Dynasty, , Later Han Dynasty, and Later Zhou Dynasty.
Xue Juzheng lived through all five of the Five Dynasties and received his '’jinshi’’ examination degree under the Later Tang Dynasty. He then continued to hold office through the three subsequent dynasties. He took service with the Tang Dynasty when it established itself in northern China in 960.
The primary purpose of ''The Five Dynasties History'' was to establish the claim of the Song Dynasty to the Mandate of Heaven, essentially the divine right to rule the Chinese realm. The Song Dynasty took over control of northern China from the last of the Five Dynasties, the Later Zhou Dynasty. From there, they conquered southern China to eventually rule all but the northern fringe of China known as the Sixteen Prefectures, which was under the control of the Liao Dynasty. Xue sought to establish the claim of the Song Dynasty to the Mandate of Heaven through the succession of the Five Dynasties.
Xue argued that as each of these five dynasties controlled the traditional heart of China and held territory vastly larger than any of the kingdoms to the south, the Mandate naturally flowed through these dynasties.
In establishing the path of the Mandate through from the Tang Dynasty to the Song Dynasty through the Five Dynasties, there are several issues that Xue Zhucheng had to address. The first of these was the brutality exercised by the Later Liang Dynasty, the first of the five dynasties. Zhu Wen’s brutality led many to want to exclude that dynasty from the Mandate of Heaven due to the requirement that the leader work with benevolence.
Another issue had to do with the middle three, the Later Tang Dynasty, Later Jin Dynasty, and Later Han Dynasty respectively. None of these were Han Chinese ruled dynasties. Rather, all were led by .
Finally, the last major hurdle had to do with the ability to rule of all China. While each of these five dynasties held more territory than any of the other Chinese polities of the era, the reality is that none of them realistically had the chance to conquer the southern kingdoms and unite the entire realm.
Xue’s work gives us invaluable information regarding the Five Dynasties that ruled most of northern China from 907 to 960. Historians rely on this source today for much of what we now know about this period of Chinese history.
There are a couple of more ominous legacies as well, however. One is the use of official histories to strengthen claims to the Mandate of Heaven, including the bending of historical fact to suit the needs of the patron dynasty. While this is not the first instance of distorting history to legitimize ruling claims this particular work strengthened this trend in Chinese history.
Finally, there is the legitimizing of foreign dynasties, which set up the justification for later conquest dynasties that would control much of China’s destiny for most of the next millennium.
The book comprises 150 chapters, and was in effect divided into 5 books, Book of Liang, Book of Tang, Book of Jin, Book of Han and Book of Zhou. After the New History of the Five Dynasties by Ouyang Xiu was published, it is no longer popular. The fatal blow came in 12th century when it was removed from the Imperial Library and no longer published by order of the Jin Dynasty. The book was completely lost since then.
During the 18th century, Qing Dynasty scholars found many complete quotes of the book in Yong Le Da Dian. They extracted them and together with other sources of the same period, they were able to reconstruct the entire book, albeit missing of a few chapters. There have been rumours that copies of the original book exist, but to date, none was found.
The Five Dynasties
The Five Dynasties are composed of a string of dynasties in northern China that succeeded one another from 907 to 960. They bridge the time from which the Tang Dynasty fell in 907 to the rise of the Song Dynasty in 960, which eventually conquered all but the very northernmost reaches of China.
The Five Dynasties are the Later Liang Dynasty, Later Tang Dynasty, , Later Han Dynasty, and Later Zhou Dynasty.
Xue Juzheng
Xue Juzheng lived through all five of the Five Dynasties and received his '’jinshi’’ examination degree under the Later Tang Dynasty. He then continued to hold office through the three subsequent dynasties. He took service with the Tang Dynasty when it established itself in northern China in 960.
Purpose
The primary purpose of ''The Five Dynasties History'' was to establish the claim of the Song Dynasty to the Mandate of Heaven, essentially the divine right to rule the Chinese realm. The Song Dynasty took over control of northern China from the last of the Five Dynasties, the Later Zhou Dynasty. From there, they conquered southern China to eventually rule all but the northern fringe of China known as the Sixteen Prefectures, which was under the control of the Liao Dynasty. Xue sought to establish the claim of the Song Dynasty to the Mandate of Heaven through the succession of the Five Dynasties.
Xue argued that as each of these five dynasties controlled the traditional heart of China and held territory vastly larger than any of the kingdoms to the south, the Mandate naturally flowed through these dynasties.
Issues
In establishing the path of the Mandate through from the Tang Dynasty to the Song Dynasty through the Five Dynasties, there are several issues that Xue Zhucheng had to address. The first of these was the brutality exercised by the Later Liang Dynasty, the first of the five dynasties. Zhu Wen’s brutality led many to want to exclude that dynasty from the Mandate of Heaven due to the requirement that the leader work with benevolence.
Another issue had to do with the middle three, the Later Tang Dynasty, Later Jin Dynasty, and Later Han Dynasty respectively. None of these were Han Chinese ruled dynasties. Rather, all were led by .
Finally, the last major hurdle had to do with the ability to rule of all China. While each of these five dynasties held more territory than any of the other Chinese polities of the era, the reality is that none of them realistically had the chance to conquer the southern kingdoms and unite the entire realm.
Legacy
Xue’s work gives us invaluable information regarding the Five Dynasties that ruled most of northern China from 907 to 960. Historians rely on this source today for much of what we now know about this period of Chinese history.
There are a couple of more ominous legacies as well, however. One is the use of official histories to strengthen claims to the Mandate of Heaven, including the bending of historical fact to suit the needs of the patron dynasty. While this is not the first instance of distorting history to legitimize ruling claims this particular work strengthened this trend in Chinese history.
Finally, there is the legitimizing of foreign dynasties, which set up the justification for later conquest dynasties that would control much of China’s destiny for most of the next millennium.
Description of the Starry Raft
Description of the Starry Raft is written in year 1436 by the translator/interpreter of admiral Zheng He, the description depicted places, peoples, cultures, etc, about all of what he saw.
Classic of History
The Classic of History is a compilation of documentary records related to events in ancient history of China. It is also commonly known as the Shàngshū , or simply Shū . The title is translated in western texts variously as ''"Classic of History"'', ''"Classic of Documents"'', ''"Book of History"'', ''"Book of Documents"''.
The book consists of 58 chapters , of which 33 are generally considered authentic works of the 6th century BC. The first five chapters of the book purport to preserve the sayings and recall the deeds of such illustrious emperors as and , who reigned during legendary age; the next 4 are devoted to the Xia Dynasty, the historicity of which has not been definitively established; the next 17 chapters deal with the Shang Dynasty and its collapse. The blame for this is placed on the last Shang ruler, who is described as oppressive, murderous, extravagant, and lustful. The final 32 chapters cover the Zhou Dynasty until the reign of Duke Mu of Qin. It contains examples of early Chinese prose, and is generally considered one of the Five Classics. The Shujing is possibly the earliest narrative of China, and may predate the ''Historiai'' of Herodotus as a history by a century. Many citations of the Shangshu can be found in the , in Hubei, dated to the 300 BC.
In the transmission of the book, there are three main variations: the New Text version, the version, and the forged Old Text version.
* The first, transmitted by Fu Sheng after the fall of the Qin Dynasty, was a New Text version in 33 chapters , which had lost more than 72 chapters of the original.
* The second version was an Old Text version found by Prince Liu Yu and transmitted by Kong Anguo during the last half of the 2nd century BC, which added some 16 new chapters and were part of the Old Text Classics later championed by the scholar Liu Xin during the beginning of 1st century, the chapters were lost during the later times.
* The third, was a forged version of the Old Text with 26 chapters , which had been allegedly rediscovered by the scholar Mei Ze during the 4th century, and presented to the imperial court of the . His version consists of 59 chapters which stemmed from both 33 extended chapters and the final 26 chapters added. By then most of the versions of Old Text had been lost since then.
Since the Song Dynasty, starting from Zhu Xi, many doubts had been expressed concerning the provenance of the existing Old Text chapters of the book, but it was not until Yan Ruoju's research and the definitive conclusions he drew in his unpublished but widely distributed manuscript entitled ''Evidential analysis of the Old Text Documents'' that the question was considered settled by the 17th century.
Compilation
The book consists of 58 chapters , of which 33 are generally considered authentic works of the 6th century BC. The first five chapters of the book purport to preserve the sayings and recall the deeds of such illustrious emperors as and , who reigned during legendary age; the next 4 are devoted to the Xia Dynasty, the historicity of which has not been definitively established; the next 17 chapters deal with the Shang Dynasty and its collapse. The blame for this is placed on the last Shang ruler, who is described as oppressive, murderous, extravagant, and lustful. The final 32 chapters cover the Zhou Dynasty until the reign of Duke Mu of Qin. It contains examples of early Chinese prose, and is generally considered one of the Five Classics. The Shujing is possibly the earliest narrative of China, and may predate the ''Historiai'' of Herodotus as a history by a century. Many citations of the Shangshu can be found in the , in Hubei, dated to the 300 BC.
Transmitting of texts
In the transmission of the book, there are three main variations: the New Text version, the version, and the forged Old Text version.
* The first, transmitted by Fu Sheng after the fall of the Qin Dynasty, was a New Text version in 33 chapters , which had lost more than 72 chapters of the original.
* The second version was an Old Text version found by Prince Liu Yu and transmitted by Kong Anguo during the last half of the 2nd century BC, which added some 16 new chapters and were part of the Old Text Classics later championed by the scholar Liu Xin during the beginning of 1st century, the chapters were lost during the later times.
* The third, was a forged version of the Old Text with 26 chapters , which had been allegedly rediscovered by the scholar Mei Ze during the 4th century, and presented to the imperial court of the . His version consists of 59 chapters which stemmed from both 33 extended chapters and the final 26 chapters added. By then most of the versions of Old Text had been lost since then.
Since the Song Dynasty, starting from Zhu Xi, many doubts had been expressed concerning the provenance of the existing Old Text chapters of the book, but it was not until Yan Ruoju's research and the definitive conclusions he drew in his unpublished but widely distributed manuscript entitled ''Evidential analysis of the Old Text Documents'' that the question was considered settled by the 17th century.
Contents
| ## | Translation New Text version; "forged" Old Text version | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | 虞書 | 堯典 | Document of Yu | The Canon of Yao |
| 02 | 舜典 | The Canon of Shun | ||
| 03 | 大禹謨 | The Counsels of Great Yu | ||
| 04 | 皋陶謨 | The Counsels of Gaotao | ||
| 05 | 益稷 | Yi and Ji | ||
| 06 | 夏書 | 禹貢 | Document of Xia | The Tribute of Yu |
| 07 | 甘誓 | The Speech at Gan | ||
| 08 | 五子之歌 | The Songs of the Five Brothers | ||
| 09 | 胤征 | The Punitive Expedition of Yin | ||
| 10 | 商書 | 湯誓 | Document of Shang | The Speech of Tang |
| 11 | 仲虺之誥 | The Announcement of Zhonghui | ||
| 12 | 湯誥 | The Announcement of Tang | ||
| 13 | 伊訓 | The Instructions of Yi | ||
| 14 | 太甲上中下 | King Taijia Part 1, 2 & 3 | ||
| 15 | 咸有一德 | The Common Possession of Pure Virtue | ||
| 16 | 盤庚上中下 | King Pangeng Part 1, 2 & 3 | ||
| 17 | 說命上中下 | The Charge to Yue Part 1, 2 & 3 | ||
| 18 | 高宗肜日 | The Day of the Supplementary Sacrifice of King Gaozong | ||
| 19 | 西伯戡黎 | The Chief of the West 's Conquest of Li | ||
| 20 | 微子 | Prince Weizi | ||
| 21 | 周書 | 泰誓上中下 | Document of Zhou | The Great Speech Part 1, 2 & 3 |
| 22 | 牧誓 | The Speech at Muye | ||
| 23 | 武成 | The Successful Completion of the War | ||
| 24 | 洪範 | The Great Plan | ||
| 25 | 旅獒 | The Hounds of Lu | ||
| 26 | 金滕 | The Golden Coffer | ||
| 27 | 大誥 | The Great Announcement | ||
| 28 | 微子之命 | The Charge to Prince Weizi | ||
| 29 | 康誥 | The Announcement to Prince Kang | ||
| 30 | 酒誥 | The Announcement about Drunkenness | ||
| 31 | 梓材 | The Timber of Rottlera | ||
| 32 | 召誥 | The Announcement of Duke Shao | ||
| 33 | 洛誥 | The Announcement Concerning Luoyang | ||
| 34 | 多士 | The Numerous Officers | ||
| 35 | 無逸 | Against Luxurious Ease | ||
| 36 | 君奭 | Lord Shi | ||
| 37 | 蔡仲之命 | The Charge to Cai Zhong | ||
| 38 | 多方 | The Numerous Regions | ||
| 39 | 立政 | The Establishment of Government | ||
| 40 | 周官 | The Offices of Zhou | ||
| 41 | 君陳 | Lord Chen | ||
| 42 | 顧命 | The Testamentary Charge | ||
| 43 | 康王之誥 | The Announcement of King Kang | ||
| 44 | 畢命 | The Charge to the Duke of Bi | ||
| 45 | 君牙 | Lord Ya | ||
| 46 | 冏命 | The Charge to Jiong | ||
| 47 | 呂刑 | Marquis Lu on Punishments | ||
| 48 | 文侯之命 | The Charge to Marquis Wen | ||
| 49 | 費誓 | The Speech at Fei | ||
| 50 | 秦誓 | The Speech of Qin | ||
Chunqiu shiyu
Chunqiu shiyu is an written on silk which was unearthed in 1973 from the Tomb no. 3 at the site in , , China. The tomb was that of a young man, presumed to be a relative and perhaps the son of Lì Cāng , who was the chancellor of Chángshā and first Marquis of Dài .
The manuscript was unearthed in 1973 along with a large number of other documents on silk and bamboo slips, including the and Laozi, as well as military, medical, and astronomical manuscripts. Chūnqiū shìyǔ records historical events from the Spring and Autumn period and partially preserves over 2000 characters.
The first half of the name of the document refers to the period covered, Chūnqiū 春秋 meaning the Spring and Autumn period , while the second half of the title, shìyǔ , is a historiographer’s narrative, one type of the ‘yǔ’ narrative genre of the period.
The calligraphy of the document is similar to that on some bamboo books, a form transitional between the Qín seal script of the and periods, and the clerical script of the . This, plus the fact that it does not treat as taboo the name of the Hàn dynasty founder , means that it was probably produced around the mid to late 3rd century BCE, before Liú Bāng took the throne in 202 BCE.
*裘錫圭 Qiú, Xīguī . ''Chinese Writing''. Translation of 文字學概論 by the late Gilbert L. Mattos and Jerry Norman . Early China Special Monograph Series No. 4. Berkeley: The Society for the Study of Early China and the Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley. ISBN 1-55729-071-7.
The manuscript was unearthed in 1973 along with a large number of other documents on silk and bamboo slips, including the and Laozi, as well as military, medical, and astronomical manuscripts. Chūnqiū shìyǔ records historical events from the Spring and Autumn period and partially preserves over 2000 characters.
The first half of the name of the document refers to the period covered, Chūnqiū 春秋 meaning the Spring and Autumn period , while the second half of the title, shìyǔ , is a historiographer’s narrative, one type of the ‘yǔ’ narrative genre of the period.
The calligraphy of the document is similar to that on some bamboo books, a form transitional between the Qín seal script of the and periods, and the clerical script of the . This, plus the fact that it does not treat as taboo the name of the Hàn dynasty founder , means that it was probably produced around the mid to late 3rd century BCE, before Liú Bāng took the throne in 202 BCE.
Further reading
*裘錫圭 Qiú, Xīguī . ''Chinese Writing''. Translation of 文字學概論 by the late Gilbert L. Mattos and Jerry Norman . Early China Special Monograph Series No. 4. Berkeley: The Society for the Study of Early China and the Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley. ISBN 1-55729-071-7.
Book of the Later Han
The Book of the Later Han is one of the official historical works which was compiled by in the 5th century, using a number of earlier histories and documents as sources. It covers the history of Eastern Han from 25 to 220 .
The book is part of early four historiographies of the Twenty-Four Histories canon, together with the ''Records of the Grand Historian'', ''Book of Han'' and ''Records of Three Kingdoms''. Fan Ye used a number of earlier histories, including those accounts by Sima Qian and Ban Gu, plus many others most of which have not survived intact. The final 30 volumes of the book or the 8 treatises on law, rituals, sacrifices, astronomy, five elements, geography, officials, chariots and garments taken from the ''Sequel of the Book of Han'', a work composed by Sima Biao in the 3rd century were added in the 6th century by Liu Zhao during his annotation.
The ''Records of the Western Regions'' are based on a report composed by General Ban Yong and presented to the Emperor about 125, probably included notes by his famous father, General Ban Chao. It forms the 88th volume of the ''Hou Hanshu'' and is a key source for the cultural and socio-economic data on the Western Regions, including the earliest accounts of Da Qin .
Fan Ye, himself, clearly says that the new information contained in this section on the Western Regions, is largely based on information from the report of General Ban Yong to the Emperor ''c''. 125 CE.
:"Ban Gu has recorded in detail the local conditions and customs of each kingdom in the former book . Now, the reports of the Jianwu period onwards recorded in this 'Chapter on the Western Regions' differ from the earlier ; they are from Ban Yong’s report at the end of Emperor An , and so on."
The book is part of early four historiographies of the Twenty-Four Histories canon, together with the ''Records of the Grand Historian'', ''Book of Han'' and ''Records of Three Kingdoms''. Fan Ye used a number of earlier histories, including those accounts by Sima Qian and Ban Gu, plus many others most of which have not survived intact. The final 30 volumes of the book or the 8 treatises on law, rituals, sacrifices, astronomy, five elements, geography, officials, chariots and garments taken from the ''Sequel of the Book of Han'', a work composed by Sima Biao in the 3rd century were added in the 6th century by Liu Zhao during his annotation.
The ''Records of the Western Regions'' are based on a report composed by General Ban Yong and presented to the Emperor about 125, probably included notes by his famous father, General Ban Chao. It forms the 88th volume of the ''Hou Hanshu'' and is a key source for the cultural and socio-economic data on the Western Regions, including the earliest accounts of Da Qin .
Fan Ye, himself, clearly says that the new information contained in this section on the Western Regions, is largely based on information from the report of General Ban Yong to the Emperor ''c''. 125 CE.
:"Ban Gu has recorded in detail the local conditions and customs of each kingdom in the former book . Now, the reports of the Jianwu period onwards recorded in this 'Chapter on the Western Regions' differ from the earlier ; they are from Ban Yong’s report at the end of Emperor An , and so on."
Book of Zhou
The Book of Zhou was the official history of the /Xianbei dynasty Northern Zhou, and it ranks among the official Twenty-Four Histories of imperial China. It was compiled by the Tang Dynasty historian Linghu Defen and was completed in 636. It consists of 50 chapters; some chapters have been lost and were replaced by other sources.
The book is being criticised for attempting to glorify the ancestors of the Tang Dynasty's officials who lived during that period.
The book is being criticised for attempting to glorify the ancestors of the Tang Dynasty's officials who lived during that period.
Book of Wei
The Book of Wei is a classic historical writing compiled by Wei Shou from 551 to 554, and serves as an important historical text describing the Northern Wei from 386 to 535.
In compiling the work, Wei Shou was criticized for showing partiality to ancestors of political allies and intentionally defamatory to or entirely ignoring ancestors of political enemies. Detractors of the work referred to the book as 穢書, , nearly pronounced as 'Wei Shu', but meaning "Book of Filth". From a modern historical view point, the book had glaring problems, as it took glorification of the Northern Wei to an extreme, intentionally misstating history of her predecessor state , which was a vassal of , Later Zhao, Former Yan, and Former Qin, but which the book characterized as a powerful empire that those states were vassals of. It further characterized all other rival states as barbaric and made unsubstantiated accusations against their rulers. Further, it retroactively used the sinicized surnames introduced by Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei in 496 to apply to events long before, making it difficult for readers to know what the actual names of historical personages were. In addition, Wei Shou was criticized in that, as an official of the and its successor state Northern Qi, he included the sole emperor of Eastern Wei, , among his imperial lists while intentionally omitting the three emperors from the rival state Western Wei after the division of the Northern Wei in 534. However, he was credited with harmonizing highly confusing and fragmented accounts of historical events from the state of Dai to the early period of Northern Wei and creating coherent accounts of events.
The book contain 114 volumes when written, but by the Song Dynasty some volumes were already missing. Later editors reconstructed those volumes by taking material from the ''History of the Northern Dynasties'' dated to the 7th century.
In compiling the work, Wei Shou was criticized for showing partiality to ancestors of political allies and intentionally defamatory to or entirely ignoring ancestors of political enemies. Detractors of the work referred to the book as 穢書, , nearly pronounced as 'Wei Shu', but meaning "Book of Filth". From a modern historical view point, the book had glaring problems, as it took glorification of the Northern Wei to an extreme, intentionally misstating history of her predecessor state , which was a vassal of , Later Zhao, Former Yan, and Former Qin, but which the book characterized as a powerful empire that those states were vassals of. It further characterized all other rival states as barbaric and made unsubstantiated accusations against their rulers. Further, it retroactively used the sinicized surnames introduced by Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei in 496 to apply to events long before, making it difficult for readers to know what the actual names of historical personages were. In addition, Wei Shou was criticized in that, as an official of the and its successor state Northern Qi, he included the sole emperor of Eastern Wei, , among his imperial lists while intentionally omitting the three emperors from the rival state Western Wei after the division of the Northern Wei in 534. However, he was credited with harmonizing highly confusing and fragmented accounts of historical events from the state of Dai to the early period of Northern Wei and creating coherent accounts of events.
The book contain 114 volumes when written, but by the Song Dynasty some volumes were already missing. Later editors reconstructed those volumes by taking material from the ''History of the Northern Dynasties'' dated to the 7th century.
Book of Tang
The Book of Tang or the Old Book of Tang is the first classic work about the Tang Dynasty. The book began when Gaozu of Later Jin ordered its commencement in 941. Its lead editor, Liu Xu , the chief minister and director of the National History redacted it during the last years of his life, and presented it to the Emperor Chudi in 945.
It is a compilation of earlier annals, now lost; it further incorporates other monographs and biographies, using as sources the ''Tongdian'' of Du You.
After this was revised during the Song Dynasty into the ''New Book of Tang'', Liu Xu's work continued to be preserved as the ''Old Book of Tang''. It has been canonised in the ''Twenty-Four Histories''.
It is a compilation of earlier annals, now lost; it further incorporates other monographs and biographies, using as sources the ''Tongdian'' of Du You.
After this was revised during the Song Dynasty into the ''New Book of Tang'', Liu Xu's work continued to be preserved as the ''Old Book of Tang''. It has been canonised in the ''Twenty-Four Histories''.
Book of Sui
The Book of Sui was the official history of the dynasty Sui Dynasty, and it ranks among the official Twenty-Four Histories of imperial China. It was compiled by a team of historians led by the Tang Dynasty official Wei Zheng and was completed in 636.
Book of Song
The Book of Song , also called "The History of the Song," is a historical text of the Liu Song Dynasty of the Southern Dynasties of China. It covers history from 420 to 479, and is one of the Twenty-Four Histories, a traditional collection of historical records. It was authored by Shen Yue from the Liang Dynasty and contained 100 volumes at the time that it was written. By the Song Dynasty, some volumes were already missing. Later editors reconstructed those volumes by taking material from the ''History of the Southern Dynasties'', plus a few works such as the ''Historiette of Gao'' by Gao Jun, though many of those volumes were no longer in its original condition. Modern historians believe that it had glaring problems; one of them being that the book maintained a very foggy attitude and was biased against the surrounding ethnic groups, including the ruling elites of Northern Wei.
Book of Qi
The Book of Qi or Book of Southern Qi is a history of the dynasty Southern Qi covering the period from 479 to 502, and is one of the Twenty-Four Histories of Chinese history. It was written by Xiao Zixian during the succeeding Liang Dynasty, and is unique in that Xiao Zixian was the only author of any of the Twenty-Four Histories to be a direct descendant of the founder of the dynasty being written about — specifically, he was a grandson of Southern Qi's founder Emperor Gao of Southern Qi. It was originally only known as the Book of Qi, but after the ''Book of Northern Qi'' was written, it became known as the Book of Southern Qi so that the two could be distinguished. The book contained 60 volumes when written, but one preface was later lost.
Book of Northern Qi
The Book of Northern Qi , was the official history of the dynasty Northern Qi. It was written by the Tang Dynasty historian Li Baiyao and was completed in 636. It is listed among the official Twenty-Four Histories of China. The original book contains 50 chapters but it was found during the Song Dynasty that only 17 chapters were intact. The rest are lost.
Book of Liang
The Book of Liang , was compiled under Yao Silian, completed in 635. The book heavily relied on his father, Yao Ca's original manuscript, as his comments were quoted in several chapters. The book is being criticised for its blatant distortions of the history of the ruling family.
The Chinese measure of distance used in the Book of Liang probably corresponds to 77 meters, as is the usage for the Book of the Three Kingdoms and other writings of the period.
The Book of Liang is part of the ''Twenty-Four Histories'' canon of Chinese history.
It contains the history of the Liang dynasty, and various descriptions of countries to the east of China. One of its best-known passages is the description by the monk Hui Shen of the country of Fusang, 20,000 li east of China.
is thought to have been an ancient kingdom of Japan, with its capital precinct, Yamatai, located either in Kyūshū or in the region.
:"As for Wa, they say of themselves that they are posterity of Tàibó. The people are all tattooed. Their territory is about 20,000 li from our realm, roughly to the east of Guiji . It is impossibly distant. To get there from , it is necessary to follow the coast and go beyond the Korean state to the south-east for about 500 kilometers, then for the first time cross a sea to a small island 75 kilometers away, then cross the sea again for 75 kilometers to Miro country . 50 kilometers to the southeast is the country of Ito . 10 kilometers to the southeast is the country of Nu . 10 kilometers to the east is the country of Bumi . 20 days to the south by boat is the country of Touma . 10 days to the south by boat or one month by land is the country of Yamatai . There resides the King of the Wa people."
:"The country of Wenshen is 7,000 li north-east of the country of Wa. Over their body, they have tattoos depicting wild beasts. They have three tattooed marks on their foreheads. The marks are straight for noble people, and they are small for lowly people. The people like music, but are not very generous in spite of their affluence, and do not give anything to strangers. They have houses, but no castles. The place in which their king resides is decorated with gold and silver in a manner of rare beauty. The buildings are surrounded by a ditch, about one cho in width, which they fill with quicksilver. When there is rain, it flows on top of the quicksilver. They have many rare things in their markets. Those who are guilty of a light offence are immediately punished with leather whips. Those who commit crimes punishable by death are made to be eaten by ferocious beasts; if there has been any error, then the ferocious beasts will avoid and not eat the victim. Crimes can also be redeemed through imprisonment without food."
:"The people of Dahan are 5,000 li east of Wenshen. They do not have an army and are not aggressive. Their manners are the same as those of the country of Wenshen, but their language differs."
The Chinese measure of distance used in the Book of Liang probably corresponds to 77 meters, as is the usage for the Book of the Three Kingdoms and other writings of the period.
The Book of Liang is part of the ''Twenty-Four Histories'' canon of Chinese history.
Quotations on Japan and its surrounding neighbors
It contains the history of the Liang dynasty, and various descriptions of countries to the east of China. One of its best-known passages is the description by the monk Hui Shen of the country of Fusang, 20,000 li east of China.
The State of Wa
is thought to have been an ancient kingdom of Japan, with its capital precinct, Yamatai, located either in Kyūshū or in the region.
:"As for Wa, they say of themselves that they are posterity of Tàibó. The people are all tattooed. Their territory is about 20,000 li from our realm, roughly to the east of Guiji . It is impossibly distant. To get there from , it is necessary to follow the coast and go beyond the Korean state to the south-east for about 500 kilometers, then for the first time cross a sea to a small island 75 kilometers away, then cross the sea again for 75 kilometers to Miro country . 50 kilometers to the southeast is the country of Ito . 10 kilometers to the southeast is the country of Nu . 10 kilometers to the east is the country of Bumi . 20 days to the south by boat is the country of Touma . 10 days to the south by boat or one month by land is the country of Yamatai . There resides the King of the Wa people."
The State of Wenshen
:"The country of Wenshen is 7,000 li north-east of the country of Wa. Over their body, they have tattoos depicting wild beasts. They have three tattooed marks on their foreheads. The marks are straight for noble people, and they are small for lowly people. The people like music, but are not very generous in spite of their affluence, and do not give anything to strangers. They have houses, but no castles. The place in which their king resides is decorated with gold and silver in a manner of rare beauty. The buildings are surrounded by a ditch, about one cho in width, which they fill with quicksilver. When there is rain, it flows on top of the quicksilver. They have many rare things in their markets. Those who are guilty of a light offence are immediately punished with leather whips. Those who commit crimes punishable by death are made to be eaten by ferocious beasts; if there has been any error, then the ferocious beasts will avoid and not eat the victim. Crimes can also be redeemed through imprisonment without food."
The State of Dahan
:"The people of Dahan are 5,000 li east of Wenshen. They do not have an army and are not aggressive. Their manners are the same as those of the country of Wenshen, but their language differs."
Book of Jin
The Book of Jin is one of the official Chinese historical works. It covers the history of from 265 to 420, which written by a number of officials commissioned by the court of Tang Dynasty, with the lead editor being the Prime Minister Fang Xuanling, drawing mostly from the official documents left from the earlier archives. A few of the essays in the biographical volume 1, 3, 54 and 80th were composed by Emperor Taizong of Tang himself. Its contents, however, included not only history of Jin but also the history of the Sixteen Kingdoms which were contemporaneous with the . The book was compiled in 648.
Book of Han
The Book of Han is a classic historical writing completed in 111 CE, covering the history of Western Han from 206 BCE to 25 CE. It is also sometimes called the Book of Former Han. A second book, the ''Book of Later Han'' covers the Eastern Han period from 25 to 220, and composed in the 5th century by . Depending on sources, the earliest estimate date coverage begins anywhere from 206 to 202 BCE. The book also contains the first written historical mention of Japan.
The huge encyclopedic work was started by Ban Biao. Following his death, Ban Gu, eldest son of Ban Biao, continued working on the book, which grew to a total of 100 volumes, and included essays on law, science, geography, and literature. His younger sister Ban Zhao, finished the writing in 111, 19 years after he was put in prison, and made the minor volumes 13-20th and 26th included to the work. Like the ''Records of the Grand Historian'', Zhang Qian, a famous Chinese general who travelled to the west, was the key source for the cultural and socio-economic data on the Western Regions contained in the work on 96th volume.
The book set the format for the writings of later Chinese dynasties, and today it is a reference used to study the Han period. It is often regarded as part of the early four historiographies of the Twenty-Four Histories canon, together with the ''Records of the Grand Historian'', ''Records of Three Kingdoms'' and ''Book of Later Han''.
The Japanese appear in written history in this book , in which it is recorded, "The people of Wa are located across the ocean from Lelang, are divided into more than one hundred tribes, and come to offer tribute from time to time." It is later recorded that in 57, the southern Wa kingdom of Na sent an emissary named Taifu to pay tribute to and received a golden seal. According to the ''Book of Wei'', the most powerful kingdom on the archipelago in the 3rd century was called Yamataikoku and was ruled by the legendary .
Contents
The huge encyclopedic work was started by Ban Biao. Following his death, Ban Gu, eldest son of Ban Biao, continued working on the book, which grew to a total of 100 volumes, and included essays on law, science, geography, and literature. His younger sister Ban Zhao, finished the writing in 111, 19 years after he was put in prison, and made the minor volumes 13-20th and 26th included to the work. Like the ''Records of the Grand Historian'', Zhang Qian, a famous Chinese general who travelled to the west, was the key source for the cultural and socio-economic data on the Western Regions contained in the work on 96th volume.
The book set the format for the writings of later Chinese dynasties, and today it is a reference used to study the Han period. It is often regarded as part of the early four historiographies of the Twenty-Four Histories canon, together with the ''Records of the Grand Historian'', ''Records of Three Kingdoms'' and ''Book of Later Han''.
Japan
The Japanese appear in written history in this book , in which it is recorded, "The people of Wa are located across the ocean from Lelang, are divided into more than one hundred tribes, and come to offer tribute from time to time." It is later recorded that in 57, the southern Wa kingdom of Na sent an emissary named Taifu to pay tribute to and received a golden seal. According to the ''Book of Wei'', the most powerful kingdom on the archipelago in the 3rd century was called Yamataikoku and was ruled by the legendary .
Book of Chen
The Book of Chen was the official history of the dynasty Chen Dynasty. It ranks among the official Twenty-Four Histories of imperial China, and was compiled by the Tang Dynasty historian Yao Silian, completed in 636.
Similar to Book of Liang, it is also heavily relied on Yao Silian's father Yao Ca's original manuscript.
The book is one of the more complete record of Chen Dynasty that has come down to the present. However, it is being criticised for attempting to cover up the wrong doings of the royal family. A commentary by the Tang Dynasty's prime minister, Wei Zheng which is also included in the book, contradicts strongly some of the claims made by the book.
Similar to Book of Liang, it is also heavily relied on Yao Silian's father Yao Ca's original manuscript.
The book is one of the more complete record of Chen Dynasty that has come down to the present. However, it is being criticised for attempting to cover up the wrong doings of the royal family. A commentary by the Tang Dynasty's prime minister, Wei Zheng which is also included in the book, contradicts strongly some of the claims made by the book.
Bamboo Annals
The Bamboo Annals is a chronicle of ancient China. It begins at the earliest legendary times and extends to the Warring States Period , particularly the history of the State. It has 13 sections.
The original text was interred with the king of and re-discovered in AD 281. For this reason, the chronicle survived the by Emperor Shi Huangdi.
The ''Bamboo Annals'' is one of the three most important ancient texts on early China, the others being the earlier ''Zuo Zhuan'' and the later ''Shiji''. However, the authenticity of the current version has been called into question, so that some would not translate it.
The original text was interred with the king of and re-discovered in AD 281. For this reason, the chronicle survived the by Emperor Shi Huangdi.
The ''Bamboo Annals'' is one of the three most important ancient texts on early China, the others being the earlier ''Zuo Zhuan'' and the later ''Shiji''. However, the authenticity of the current version has been called into question, so that some would not translate it.
Bai Yi Zhuan
The Bai Yi Zhuan is a description of the Thai polity of Mong Mao in 1396 written by two envoys, Qian Guxun and Li Sicong, sent by the court in China to resolve conflicts between the in Burma and Mong Mao, also known as Luchuan-Pingmian. The description includes the history, geography, political and social organization, customs, music, food, and products of the region. The Ming Shi-lu describes the work:
"The Messengers Li Si-cong and Qian Gu-xun were sent as envoys to the country of Burma and to the Bai-yi ...When Si-cong and the others returned, they memorialized the events. They also wrote Account of the Bai-yi, which recorded in detail the area's mountains and rivers, the people, the customs and the roads, and presented it. The Emperor was impressed that they had not neglected the duties of envoys and said that their talents were useful. He was very pleased and conferred upon each of them a set of clothing."
"The Messengers Li Si-cong and Qian Gu-xun were sent as envoys to the country of Burma and to the Bai-yi ...When Si-cong and the others returned, they memorialized the events. They also wrote Account of the Bai-yi, which recorded in detail the area's mountains and rivers, the people, the customs and the roads, and presented it. The Emperor was impressed that they had not neglected the duties of envoys and said that their talents were useful. He was very pleased and conferred upon each of them a set of clothing."
Zizhi Tongjian
The Zizhi Tongjian was a pioneering reference work in Chinese historiography. Emperor Yingzong of Song ordered Sima Guang and other scholars to begin compiling this universal history of China in 1065 CE and they presented it to his successor Emperor Shenzong of Song in 1084 CE. It contains 294 volumes and about 3 million words .
The book chronologically narrates the history of China from the Warring States period in 403 BCE to the beginning of the Song Dynasty in 959 CE. The major contributor of this work was Sima Guang, from collecting previously existence events and dates in ''Twenty-Four Histories'', to drafting and publication.
It changed a tradition dating back almost 1,000 years to the ''Shiji''; standard Chinese dynastic histories primarily divided chapters between annals of rulers and biographies of offcials. In Chinese terms, the book changed the format of histories from biographical style to chronological style , which is better suited for analysis and criticism. According to Wilkinson, "It had an enormous influence on later Chinese historical writing, either directly of through its many abbreviations, continuations, and adaptations. It remains an extraordinarily useful first reference for a quick and reliable coverage of events at a particular time."
In the 12th century, Zhu Xi produced a reworked, condensed version of Zizhi Tongjian, known as Tongjian Gangmu, or Zizhi Tongjian Gangmu . During the Qing Dynasty, Kangxi Emperor had the latter translated into the Manchu Language, and the French Jesuit missionary Joseph-Anna-Marie de Moyriac de Mailla made use of the Manchu translation to produce his own French translation, ""Histoire générale de la Chine, ou Annales de cet Empire; traduit du Tong-kien-kang-mou par de Mailla", published posthumously in Paris in 1777-1783, in 12 volumes.
The book chronologically narrates the history of China from the Warring States period in 403 BCE to the beginning of the Song Dynasty in 959 CE. The major contributor of this work was Sima Guang, from collecting previously existence events and dates in ''Twenty-Four Histories'', to drafting and publication.
It changed a tradition dating back almost 1,000 years to the ''Shiji''; standard Chinese dynastic histories primarily divided chapters between annals of rulers and biographies of offcials. In Chinese terms, the book changed the format of histories from biographical style to chronological style , which is better suited for analysis and criticism. According to Wilkinson, "It had an enormous influence on later Chinese historical writing, either directly of through its many abbreviations, continuations, and adaptations. It remains an extraordinarily useful first reference for a quick and reliable coverage of events at a particular time."
Derivative works
In the 12th century, Zhu Xi produced a reworked, condensed version of Zizhi Tongjian, known as Tongjian Gangmu, or Zizhi Tongjian Gangmu . During the Qing Dynasty, Kangxi Emperor had the latter translated into the Manchu Language, and the French Jesuit missionary Joseph-Anna-Marie de Moyriac de Mailla made use of the Manchu translation to produce his own French translation, ""Histoire générale de la Chine, ou Annales de cet Empire; traduit du Tong-kien-kang-mou par de Mailla", published posthumously in Paris in 1777-1783, in 12 volumes.
Zhan Guo Ce
The Zhan Guo Ce was a renowned ancient Chinese historical work and compilation of sporadic materials on the Warring States Period compiled between 3rd century to 1st century BCE. It is an important literature in the research of Warring States Period as it accounts the strategies and political views of the School of Negotiation and reveals the historical and social characteristics of the period.
The author of ''Zhan Guo Ce'' still cannot be verified, it is generally deemed, since Zhang Xincheng's argument, that the book was not written by a single author at one time. It was thought to be composed by Su Qin and his fellows before obtained by . It is interesting to note that unlike most of the pre-Qin classics, the authenticity of ''Zhan Guo Ce'', along with the ''Shijing'', ''Mozi'', ''Yulingzi'' and ''Gongsun Longzi'' had never been questioned since the Western Han period. The earliest to assert the texts as an apocryphal scriptures was perhaps the compiler of the Catalogue of Siku Quanshu, but he provided no warrant for it.
The six versions of written works from the School of Negotiation were discovered by Liu Xiang during his editing and proofreading of the imperial literary collection. Those works of political views and diplomatic strategies from the School of Negotiation were in poor condition, comprised of confusing contents and missing words. Liu Xiang proofread and edited them into the new book under the title ''Zhan Guo Ce''; it was therefore not written by a single author at one time.
Significant contents of ''Zhan Guo Ce'' were lost in subsequent centuries. Zeng Gong of the Northern Song Dynasty reclaimed some lost chapters, proofread and edited the modern version. Some writings on cloth were from the Han Dynasty tomb at near the city of Changsha in 1973 and edited and published in Beijing in 1976 as ''Zhanguo Zonghengjia Shu'' ". The book contained 27 chapters, 11 of which were found to be similar to the contents in ''Zhan Guo Ce'' and the ''Records of the Grand Historian''. That publication appeared in Taiwan in 1977 as the ''Boshu Zhanguoce''. The texts were written in between the style of Seal script and Clerical script. The transcript was probably composed around 195 BCE before its burial, as the text tend to avoid using the word ''bang'' , the personal name of Emperor Gao of Han.
The ''Zhan Guo Ce'' recounts the history of the Warring States from the conquest of the clan by the Zhi clan in 490 BC up to the failed assassination of Qin Shi Huang by Gao Jianli in 221 BC.
The book comprises approximately 120,000 words, and is divided into 33 chapters and 497 sections. The twelve strategies are:
Manwangdui texts, "Xujia spoke to the Marquis of Rang" :
华军，秦战胜魏，走孟卯，攻大粱（梁）。须贾说穰侯曰：“臣闻魏长吏胃（谓）魏王曰：…《周书》曰：‘唯命不为常。’此言幸之不可数也。夫战胜暴子，割八县之地，此非兵力之请（精）也，非计虑之攻（工）也，夫天幸为多今有（又）走孟卯，入北宅，以攻大粱（梁），是以天幸自为常也。知（智）者不然。臣闻魏氏悉其百县胜甲以上，以戎（戍）大粱（梁），臣以为不下卅万。以卅万之众，守七仞之城，臣以为汤武复生，弗易攻也。夫轻倍（背）楚、赵之兵，陵七刃（仞）之城，犯卅万之众，而志必举之，臣以为自天地始分，以至于今，未之尝有也。攻而弗拔，秦兵必罢（疲），陶必亡，则前功有必弃矣。…
Received texts, "Qin defeated Wei at Hua, put Mang Mao to flight, and besieged Daliang" :
胃（谓）燕王曰：“夫列在万乘，奇（寄）质于齐，名卑而权轻。奉万乘助齐伐宋，民劳而实费。夫以宋加之淮北，强万乘之国也，而齐兼之，是益齐也。九夷方一百里，加以鲁卫，强万乘之国也，而齐兼之，是益二齐也。夫一齐之强，燕犹弗能支，今以三齐临燕，其过（祸）比大。唯（虽）然，夫知（智）者之【举】事，因过（祸）【而为】福，转败而为功。齐紫，败素也，贾（价）十倍。句浅栖会稽，其后残吴，霸天下。此皆因过（祸）为福，转败而为功。…
Received texts, "Qi attacked Song, Song was hard pressed" :
Alternative English titles include:
* ''Stratagems of the Warring States'',
* ''Intrigues of the Warring States'',
* ''Chronicles of the Warring States'',
* ''Records of the Warring States'',
* ''Record of the Warring States'',
* ''Annals of the Warring States'',
* ''The Strategies of the Warring States'',
* ''Strategies of the Warring States'',
* ''Strategics of the Warring States'',
* ''Collection of Strategies of the Warring States'',
* ''Book of Warring States'',
* ''Legends of the Warring States''
* Liu, Jianguo . ''Distinguishing and Correcting the pre-Qin Forged Classics''. Xi'an: Shaanxi People's Press. ISBN 7-224-05725-8.
* He, Jin . ''An Analysis of Zhan Guo Ce''. Beijing: Peking University Press. ISBN 7-301-05101-8.
* Miao, Wenyuan . ''Encyclopedia of China'', 1st ed.
*''Chan-kuo Ts'e'' . . Revised edition. Translated and annotated with an introduction by J. I. Crump. University of Michigan Center for Chinese Studies. ISBN 978-0-89264-122-2.
*Crump, J. I. . ''Intrigues of the Warring States: Studies of the Chan-kuo Ts'e''. University of Michigan Press. Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 64-17440.
*Crump, J. I. . ''Legends of the Warring States: Persuasions, Romances, and Stories from Chan-Kuo Tse'' . Center for Chinese Studies, The University of Michigan. ISBN 0-89264-129-0 . ISBN 0-89264-127-4 .
*Hawkins, David. Review of ''Intrigues of the Warring States''. ''JAOS''. 86 : 1.
*He, Jianzhang . ''Zhan Guo Ce Zhu Yi'' . Zhonghua Shuju . ISBN 978-7101006223 .
*Lan, Kaixiang . ''Zhan Guo Ce Ming Pian Shang Xi'' . Beijing Shiyue Wenyi Chubanshe .
*Meng, Qingxiang . ''Zhan Guo Ce Yi Zhu'' . Heilongjiang Renmin Chubanshe . Tongyi Shuhao 10093·701.
*Qian, Guoqi . Zhan Guo Ce Ping Jie . In Wei Liangtao , ''Shi Zhu Ying Hua '' Vol. 1, pp. 157-239. Zhongguo Qingnian Chubanshe . ISBN 7500637462.
*Wang, Shouqian . ''Zhan Guo Ce Quan Yi'' . Guizhou Renmin Chubanshe . ISBN 7221041326.
*Xiong, Xianguang . ''Zhan Guo Ce Yan Jiu Yu Xian Yi'' . Zhongqing Chubanshe . ISBN 7536600208.
*Zhao, Pijie . ''Zhan Guo Ce Xian Yi'' . Renman Minxue Chubanshe .
*Zhu, Youhua . ''Zhan Guo Ce Xian Yi'' . Shanghai Guji Chubanshe .
History
The author of ''Zhan Guo Ce'' still cannot be verified, it is generally deemed, since Zhang Xincheng's argument, that the book was not written by a single author at one time. It was thought to be composed by Su Qin and his fellows before obtained by . It is interesting to note that unlike most of the pre-Qin classics, the authenticity of ''Zhan Guo Ce'', along with the ''Shijing'', ''Mozi'', ''Yulingzi'' and ''Gongsun Longzi'' had never been questioned since the Western Han period. The earliest to assert the texts as an apocryphal scriptures was perhaps the compiler of the Catalogue of Siku Quanshu, but he provided no warrant for it.
The six versions of written works from the School of Negotiation were discovered by Liu Xiang during his editing and proofreading of the imperial literary collection. Those works of political views and diplomatic strategies from the School of Negotiation were in poor condition, comprised of confusing contents and missing words. Liu Xiang proofread and edited them into the new book under the title ''Zhan Guo Ce''; it was therefore not written by a single author at one time.
Significant contents of ''Zhan Guo Ce'' were lost in subsequent centuries. Zeng Gong of the Northern Song Dynasty reclaimed some lost chapters, proofread and edited the modern version. Some writings on cloth were from the Han Dynasty tomb at near the city of Changsha in 1973 and edited and published in Beijing in 1976 as ''Zhanguo Zonghengjia Shu'' ". The book contained 27 chapters, 11 of which were found to be similar to the contents in ''Zhan Guo Ce'' and the ''Records of the Grand Historian''. That publication appeared in Taiwan in 1977 as the ''Boshu Zhanguoce''. The texts were written in between the style of Seal script and Clerical script. The transcript was probably composed around 195 BCE before its burial, as the text tend to avoid using the word ''bang'' , the personal name of Emperor Gao of Han.
Content
The ''Zhan Guo Ce'' recounts the history of the Warring States from the conquest of the clan by the Zhi clan in 490 BC up to the failed assassination of Qin Shi Huang by Gao Jianli in 221 BC.
The book comprises approximately 120,000 words, and is divided into 33 chapters and 497 sections. The twelve strategies are:
| ## | Translation | Context Identical with Manwangdui Chapters | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | 东周策 | Strategies of Eastern Zhou | Nil |
| 02 | 西周策 | Strategies of Western Zhou | |
| 03 | 秦策 | | Chapter 19/Qin 3:2 |
| 04 | |||
| 05 | |||
| 06 | |||
| 07 | |||
| 08 | 齐策 | Strategies of | Nil |
| 09 | |||
| 10 | |||
| 11 | |||
| 12 | |||
| 13 | |||
| 14 | 楚策 | Strategies of | Chapter 23/Chu 4:13 |
| 15 | |||
| 16 | |||
| 17 | |||
| 18 | 赵策 | Strategies of | Chapter 21/Zhao 1:9 Chapter 18/Zhao 4:18 |
| 19 | |||
| 20 | |||
| 21 | |||
| 22 | 魏策 | Strategies of | Chapter 15/Wei 3:3 Chapter 16/Wei 3:8 |
| 23 | |||
| 24 | |||
| 25 | |||
| 26 | 韩策 | Strategies of | Chapter 23/Han 1:16 |
| 27 | |||
| 28 | |||
| 29 | 燕策 | Strategies of | Chapter 05/Yan 1:5 and Yan 1:12 Chapter 20/Yan 1:11 Chapter 04/Yan 2:4 |
| 30 | |||
| 31 | |||
| 32 | 宋、卫策 | Strategies of and Wei | Nil |
| 33 | 中山策 | Strategies of |
Comparison in original Chinese
Manwangdui texts, "Xujia spoke to the Marquis of Rang" :
华军，秦战胜魏，走孟卯，攻大粱（梁）。须贾说穰侯曰：“臣闻魏长吏胃（谓）魏王曰：…《周书》曰：‘唯命不为常。’此言幸之不可数也。夫战胜暴子，割八县之地，此非兵力之请（精）也，非计虑之攻（工）也，夫天幸为多今有（又）走孟卯，入北宅，以攻大粱（梁），是以天幸自为常也。知（智）者不然。臣闻魏氏悉其百县胜甲以上，以戎（戍）大粱（梁），臣以为不下卅万。以卅万之众，守七仞之城，臣以为汤武复生，弗易攻也。夫轻倍（背）楚、赵之兵，陵七刃（仞）之城，犯卅万之众，而志必举之，臣以为自天地始分，以至于今，未之尝有也。攻而弗拔，秦兵必罢（疲），陶必亡，则前功有必弃矣。…
Received texts, "Qin defeated Wei at Hua, put Mang Mao to flight, and besieged Daliang" :
胃（谓）燕王曰：“夫列在万乘，奇（寄）质于齐，名卑而权轻。奉万乘助齐伐宋，民劳而实费。夫以宋加之淮北，强万乘之国也，而齐兼之，是益齐也。九夷方一百里，加以鲁卫，强万乘之国也，而齐兼之，是益二齐也。夫一齐之强，燕犹弗能支，今以三齐临燕，其过（祸）比大。唯（虽）然，夫知（智）者之【举】事，因过（祸）【而为】福，转败而为功。齐紫，败素也，贾（价）十倍。句浅栖会稽，其后残吴，霸天下。此皆因过（祸）为福，转败而为功。…
Received texts, "Qi attacked Song, Song was hard pressed" :
Alternative English titles
Alternative English titles include:
* ''Stratagems of the Warring States'',
* ''Intrigues of the Warring States'',
* ''Chronicles of the Warring States'',
* ''Records of the Warring States'',
* ''Record of the Warring States'',
* ''Annals of the Warring States'',
* ''The Strategies of the Warring States'',
* ''Strategies of the Warring States'',
* ''Strategics of the Warring States'',
* ''Collection of Strategies of the Warring States'',
* ''Book of Warring States'',
* ''Legends of the Warring States''
Bibliography
* Liu, Jianguo . ''Distinguishing and Correcting the pre-Qin Forged Classics''. Xi'an: Shaanxi People's Press. ISBN 7-224-05725-8.
* He, Jin . ''An Analysis of Zhan Guo Ce''. Beijing: Peking University Press. ISBN 7-301-05101-8.
* Miao, Wenyuan . ''Encyclopedia of China'', 1st ed.
*''Chan-kuo Ts'e'' . . Revised edition. Translated and annotated with an introduction by J. I. Crump. University of Michigan Center for Chinese Studies. ISBN 978-0-89264-122-2.
*Crump, J. I. . ''Intrigues of the Warring States: Studies of the Chan-kuo Ts'e''. University of Michigan Press. Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 64-17440.
*Crump, J. I. . ''Legends of the Warring States: Persuasions, Romances, and Stories from Chan-Kuo Tse'' . Center for Chinese Studies, The University of Michigan. ISBN 0-89264-129-0 . ISBN 0-89264-127-4 .
*Hawkins, David. Review of ''Intrigues of the Warring States''. ''JAOS''. 86 : 1.
*He, Jianzhang . ''Zhan Guo Ce Zhu Yi'' . Zhonghua Shuju . ISBN 978-7101006223 .
*Lan, Kaixiang . ''Zhan Guo Ce Ming Pian Shang Xi'' . Beijing Shiyue Wenyi Chubanshe .
*Meng, Qingxiang . ''Zhan Guo Ce Yi Zhu'' . Heilongjiang Renmin Chubanshe . Tongyi Shuhao 10093·701.
*Qian, Guoqi . Zhan Guo Ce Ping Jie . In Wei Liangtao , ''Shi Zhu Ying Hua '' Vol. 1, pp. 157-239. Zhongguo Qingnian Chubanshe . ISBN 7500637462.
*Wang, Shouqian . ''Zhan Guo Ce Quan Yi'' . Guizhou Renmin Chubanshe . ISBN 7221041326.
*Xiong, Xianguang . ''Zhan Guo Ce Yan Jiu Yu Xian Yi'' . Zhongqing Chubanshe . ISBN 7536600208.
*Zhao, Pijie . ''Zhan Guo Ce Xian Yi'' . Renman Minxue Chubanshe .
*Zhu, Youhua . ''Zhan Guo Ce Xian Yi'' . Shanghai Guji Chubanshe .
Wenxian Tongkao
The Wenxian Tongkao or Tongkao was one of the model works of the ''Tongdian'' compiled by Ma Duanlin in 1317.
Weilue
The Weilüe written by Yu Huan between 239, the end of Emperor Ming’s reign, and 265 CE, the end of the Cao Wei . Although not an "official historian," Yu Huan has always been held in high regard amongst Chinese scholars.
The original text of the Weilüe, or “Brief Account of the Wei Dynasty,” by Yu Huan has been lost. Fortunately, his chapter on the Xirong, or ‘Peoples of the West’, was quoted as an extensive footnote to Chapter 30 of the Sanguozhi by Pei Songzhi, which was first published in CE 429. Wikisource has the original Chinese text of this chapter available at:
Yu Huan does not mention his sources in the text that has survived. Some of this new data presumably came to China via traders from the Roman Empire . Land communications with the West apparently continued relatively uninterrupted to the northern state of Wei after the fall of the Han Dynasty.
Yu Huan apparently never left China, but he collected a large amount of information on the countries to the west of China including Parthia, India, and the Roman Empire, and the various routes to them. Some of this information had reached China well before Yu Huan’s time, and can also be found in the sections dealing with the ‘Western Regions’ of the ''Shiji'', the ''Hanshu'', and the ''Hou Hanshu''. In spite of this repetition of earlier information, the Weilüe contains new, unique, and generally trustworthy material, mostly from the late second and early third centuries CE. It is this new information that makes the Weilüe a valuable source. Most of the new information appears to have come from the , before China was largely cut off from the West by civil wars and unrest along its borders during the late 2nd century CE.
The Weilüe describes the maritime routes to the Roman Empire and it is quite possible that some, or all, of the new information on the Roman Empire and Parthia came from foreign sailors. One such record which may have been available to Yu Huan is detailed in the Liangshu of a merchant from the Roman Empire who in CE 226 arrived in Jiaozhi, near modern Hanoi, and was sent to the court of Sun Quan, the emperor, who asked him for a report on his native country and its people.
The section on Daqin from the Weilüe was translated into English, with excellent notes, by Friedrich Hirth in his pioneering 1885 volume, ''China and the Roman Orient''. Hirth included translations of a wide range of other Chinese texts relating to Daqin and the Chinese text of each is included, making it an essential reference even today. In 1905, ?douard Chavannes translated the remainder of the Weilüe into French under the title of "Les pays d’occident d’après le Wei lio". Chavannes’ translation is accompanied by copious notes in which he clarified numerous obscurities, and convincingly identified many of the countries and towns mentioned in the Weilue, especially along the eastern sections of the overland trade routes.
Recently, a draft annotated English translation of the whole text by John Hill has been made available on the Silk Road Seattle website.
The original text of the Weilüe, or “Brief Account of the Wei Dynasty,” by Yu Huan has been lost. Fortunately, his chapter on the Xirong, or ‘Peoples of the West’, was quoted as an extensive footnote to Chapter 30 of the Sanguozhi by Pei Songzhi, which was first published in CE 429. Wikisource has the original Chinese text of this chapter available at:
Yu Huan does not mention his sources in the text that has survived. Some of this new data presumably came to China via traders from the Roman Empire . Land communications with the West apparently continued relatively uninterrupted to the northern state of Wei after the fall of the Han Dynasty.
Yu Huan apparently never left China, but he collected a large amount of information on the countries to the west of China including Parthia, India, and the Roman Empire, and the various routes to them. Some of this information had reached China well before Yu Huan’s time, and can also be found in the sections dealing with the ‘Western Regions’ of the ''Shiji'', the ''Hanshu'', and the ''Hou Hanshu''. In spite of this repetition of earlier information, the Weilüe contains new, unique, and generally trustworthy material, mostly from the late second and early third centuries CE. It is this new information that makes the Weilüe a valuable source. Most of the new information appears to have come from the , before China was largely cut off from the West by civil wars and unrest along its borders during the late 2nd century CE.
The Weilüe describes the maritime routes to the Roman Empire and it is quite possible that some, or all, of the new information on the Roman Empire and Parthia came from foreign sailors. One such record which may have been available to Yu Huan is detailed in the Liangshu of a merchant from the Roman Empire who in CE 226 arrived in Jiaozhi, near modern Hanoi, and was sent to the court of Sun Quan, the emperor, who asked him for a report on his native country and its people.
The section on Daqin from the Weilüe was translated into English, with excellent notes, by Friedrich Hirth in his pioneering 1885 volume, ''China and the Roman Orient''. Hirth included translations of a wide range of other Chinese texts relating to Daqin and the Chinese text of each is included, making it an essential reference even today. In 1905, ?douard Chavannes translated the remainder of the Weilüe into French under the title of "Les pays d’occident d’après le Wei lio". Chavannes’ translation is accompanied by copious notes in which he clarified numerous obscurities, and convincingly identified many of the countries and towns mentioned in the Weilue, especially along the eastern sections of the overland trade routes.
Recently, a draft annotated English translation of the whole text by John Hill has been made available on the Silk Road Seattle website.
Tongdian
The Tongdian is an important Chinese institutional history and encyclopedia text. It covers a panoply of topics from high antiquity through the year 756, whereas a quarter of the book focuses on the Tang Dynasty. The book was written by Du You from 766 to 801. It contains 200 volumes and about 1.7 million words, and is at times regarded as the most representative contemporary texts of the Tang Dynasty. Du You also incorporated many materials from other sources, including a book written by his nephew, Du Huan, who was taken captive in the famous battle at the between Tang and the Arabs in 751 and did not return to China until ten years later. It became a model for works by scholar Zheng Qiao and Ma Duanlin centuries later.
Robert G. Hoyland relates that the ''Tongdian'' 's first draft was a "history of human institutions from earliest times down to the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang", and was subsequently revised as matters continued to evolve. It incorporates parts of the ''Zhengdian'' of and the ''Great Tang Ritual Regulations of the Kaiyuan Era'' compiled by Xiao Song, and others in 732. The ''Tongdian'' was never included in the canon of the ''Twenty-Four Histories.'' It was however quoted extensively in several books which were, starting with the ''Book of Tang.''
Robert G. Hoyland relates that the ''Tongdian'' 's first draft was a "history of human institutions from earliest times down to the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang", and was subsequently revised as matters continued to evolve. It incorporates parts of the ''Zhengdian'' of and the ''Great Tang Ritual Regulations of the Kaiyuan Era'' compiled by Xiao Song, and others in 732. The ''Tongdian'' was never included in the canon of the ''Twenty-Four Histories.'' It was however quoted extensively in several books which were, starting with the ''Book of Tang.''
The Eastern Origins of Western Civilisation
The Eastern Origins of Western Civilisation, written by John M. Hobson in 2004, is a book that argues against the historical theory of the rise of the West as a "virgin birth" , but rather as a product of Western interactions with more technically and socially advanced .
The text reinterprets potentially Eurocentric ideas of Europe's contributions to world development. For example, it provides evidence that a complex system of global trade existed long before , that social and economic theories in the Enlightenment came from encounters with new cultures rather than with , and that modern European hegemony resulted from situational advantages rather than from inherent superior traits.
* Many inventions critical to European progress were Chinese innovations
* European powers did not create world trade, but rather used American silver to integrate into bustling Indian and Chinese markets
* The belief that European hegemony derived from free trade, reasoned rule, and democracy is a patriotic myth. European powers won trading rights by force, and Britain developed the industrial revolution under harsh regulations.
* Cultural movements and ideas were spurred by contact with the outside world, particularly with the East.
''The Eastern Origins of Western Civilisation'' has been received favorably by anti-Eurocentrists and Orientalists.
A reviewer for the Culture Mandala wrote Hobson's work "complements and builds on the insights of , and others to illustrate in great detail both how substantial China's historical achievement has been and how much the West has distorted history to serve the purpose of its imperial civilizing mission".
The text reinterprets potentially Eurocentric ideas of Europe's contributions to world development. For example, it provides evidence that a complex system of global trade existed long before , that social and economic theories in the Enlightenment came from encounters with new cultures rather than with , and that modern European hegemony resulted from situational advantages rather than from inherent superior traits.
Key Ideas
* Many inventions critical to European progress were Chinese innovations
* European powers did not create world trade, but rather used American silver to integrate into bustling Indian and Chinese markets
* The belief that European hegemony derived from free trade, reasoned rule, and democracy is a patriotic myth. European powers won trading rights by force, and Britain developed the industrial revolution under harsh regulations.
* Cultural movements and ideas were spurred by contact with the outside world, particularly with the East.
Response
''The Eastern Origins of Western Civilisation'' has been received favorably by anti-Eurocentrists and Orientalists.
A reviewer for the Culture Mandala wrote Hobson's work "complements and builds on the insights of , and others to illustrate in great detail both how substantial China's historical achievement has been and how much the West has distorted history to serve the purpose of its imperial civilizing mission".
Tang Huiyao
The Tang Huiyao is an institutional history of Tang Dynasty compiled by Wang Pu and presented it to Emperor Taizu of Song in 961. The book contains 100 volumes and 514 sections, it has an abundant content for the period before 846, and scarce material unobtainable from the ''Tongdian'', ''Book of Tang'', and ''New Book of Tang''.
It combines the earlier ''Huiyao'' compiled by Su Mian, which covers the history of Tang to 779, and the ''Xu Huiyao'' by Yang Shaofu and others, which extended the coverage to 846. The compilation was finished by the early Song Dynasty, with the addition of small amount of material after the reign of Emperor Xuānzong of Tang included by Wang Pu.
It combines the earlier ''Huiyao'' compiled by Su Mian, which covers the history of Tang to 779, and the ''Xu Huiyao'' by Yang Shaofu and others, which extended the coverage to 846. The compilation was finished by the early Song Dynasty, with the addition of small amount of material after the reign of Emperor Xuānzong of Tang included by Wang Pu.
Spring and Autumn Annals
The Spring and Autumn Annals is the official chronicle of the State of Lu covering the period from to 481 BCE. It is the earliest surviving Chinese historical text to be arranged on principles. The text is extremely concise, and if we excluded all of the commentaries is about 16,000 words long, thus its meaning can only be appreciated with the aid of ancient commentaries, especially the traditional ''Commentary of Zuo''.
Because it was traditionally regarded as having been compiled by Confucius , it was included as one of the Five Classics of Chinese literature. However, few modern scholars believe that Confucius had much influence on the formation of the text; this is now assigned to various chroniclers from the State of Lu.
In early China, "spring and autumn" was a commonly used metonymy for the year as a whole, and the phrase was used as a title for the chronicles of several Chinese states during this period. For examples, the chapter of ''Obvious Existence of Ghosts'' in the ''Mozi'' refers to numerous ''Spring and Autumn Annals'' of , , and . All these texts are now lost; only the chronicle of the State of Lu has survived.
The scope of events recorded in the book is quite limited. The focus is on various feudal states' diplomatic relations, alliances and military actions, as well as births and deaths among the ruling families. The chronicle also takes note of natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes, locusts and solar eclipses, since these were seen as reflecting the influence of heaven on the world of humans.
Events are narrated in chronological order, dated by the reign-year of the Duke of Lu, the season, the month and the day according to the Chinese sexagenary cycle. The annalistic structure is followed strictly, to the extent of listing the four seasons of each year even when no events are recorded.
The style is terse and impersonal, and gives no clue as to the actual authorship.
Since the text of this book is terse and its contents limited, a number of commentaries were composed to explain and expand on its meanings. The Book of Han vol. 30 lists five commentaries:
* The ''Commentary of Zou''
* The ''Commentary of Jia''
* The ''Commentary of Gongyang''
* The ''Commentary of Guliang''
* The ''Commentary of Zuo''
No text of the Zou or Jia commentaries has survived. The Gongyang and Guliang commentaries were compiled during the 2nd century BCE, although modern scholars had suggested they probably incorporate earlier written and oral traditions of explanation from the period of Warring States. They are based upon different editions of the Spring and Autumn Annals, and are phrased as questions and answers.
The Commentary of Zuo, composed in the early 4th century BCE, is a general history covering the period from to 468 BCE. Modern scholars disagree about whether it is truly a commentary on the ''Spring and Autumn Annals'' or an independent work. In any case, scholars have found it by far the most useful among the three surviving 'commentaries' both as a historical source for the period and as a guide to interpreting the ''Annals''.
Because it was traditionally regarded as having been compiled by Confucius , it was included as one of the Five Classics of Chinese literature. However, few modern scholars believe that Confucius had much influence on the formation of the text; this is now assigned to various chroniclers from the State of Lu.
Content and organization
In early China, "spring and autumn" was a commonly used metonymy for the year as a whole, and the phrase was used as a title for the chronicles of several Chinese states during this period. For examples, the chapter of ''Obvious Existence of Ghosts'' in the ''Mozi'' refers to numerous ''Spring and Autumn Annals'' of , , and . All these texts are now lost; only the chronicle of the State of Lu has survived.
The scope of events recorded in the book is quite limited. The focus is on various feudal states' diplomatic relations, alliances and military actions, as well as births and deaths among the ruling families. The chronicle also takes note of natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes, locusts and solar eclipses, since these were seen as reflecting the influence of heaven on the world of humans.
Events are narrated in chronological order, dated by the reign-year of the Duke of Lu, the season, the month and the day according to the Chinese sexagenary cycle. The annalistic structure is followed strictly, to the extent of listing the four seasons of each year even when no events are recorded.
The style is terse and impersonal, and gives no clue as to the actual authorship.
Commentaries
Since the text of this book is terse and its contents limited, a number of commentaries were composed to explain and expand on its meanings. The Book of Han vol. 30 lists five commentaries:
* The ''Commentary of Zou''
* The ''Commentary of Jia''
* The ''Commentary of Gongyang''
* The ''Commentary of Guliang''
* The ''Commentary of Zuo''
No text of the Zou or Jia commentaries has survived. The Gongyang and Guliang commentaries were compiled during the 2nd century BCE, although modern scholars had suggested they probably incorporate earlier written and oral traditions of explanation from the period of Warring States. They are based upon different editions of the Spring and Autumn Annals, and are phrased as questions and answers.
The Commentary of Zuo, composed in the early 4th century BCE, is a general history covering the period from to 468 BCE. Modern scholars disagree about whether it is truly a commentary on the ''Spring and Autumn Annals'' or an independent work. In any case, scholars have found it by far the most useful among the three surviving 'commentaries' both as a historical source for the period and as a guide to interpreting the ''Annals''.
Shitong
The Shitong is the first work about historiography compiled by Liu Zhiji between 708 and 710. The book describes the general pattern of the past official dynastic historiography on structure, method, order of arrangement, sequence, caption and commentary back to the pre- era.
It contain about 88,000 words including Liu's commentaries, which divided into 39 inner chapters and 13 outer chapters, 3 of the inner chapters had been lost since the times of Ouyang Xiu, while the rests managed to survive. The inner chapters which is principal part of the book provided information on the types, forms, rules, layout, the collecting of historical materials, outline, and the principle of historiography. The outer chapters describes the official system of the historiographer, origin and development of histories, and the success and failure of past historians.
The copies of Song Dynasty are no longer available, while the reprinted editions of Ming Dynasty can still be seen. The oldest are the 1535 edition by Lu Shen, the most complete version of them being the 1577 edition by Zhang Zhixiang, which was published by Zhonghua Shuju in 1961.
It contain about 88,000 words including Liu's commentaries, which divided into 39 inner chapters and 13 outer chapters, 3 of the inner chapters had been lost since the times of Ouyang Xiu, while the rests managed to survive. The inner chapters which is principal part of the book provided information on the types, forms, rules, layout, the collecting of historical materials, outline, and the principle of historiography. The outer chapters describes the official system of the historiographer, origin and development of histories, and the success and failure of past historians.
The copies of Song Dynasty are no longer available, while the reprinted editions of Ming Dynasty can still be seen. The oldest are the 1535 edition by Lu Shen, the most complete version of them being the 1577 edition by Zhang Zhixiang, which was published by Zhonghua Shuju in 1961.
Shiliuguo Chunqiu
The Shiliuguo Chunqiu is a biographial history work compiled by Cui Hong between 501 to 522. It became one of the chief sources for the compilation of the ''Book of Wei'' and ''Book of Jin'' in the beginning.
The book started to disappear from the early Tang Dynasty and did not survive intact. It originally contained 100 volumes, a preface and a chronological table. By the time of the early Song Dynasty, many of them were lost and only about 20 volumes remained, which were quoted extensively by Sima Guang. There are two extant versions dating from the late Ming Dynasty, the edition by Tu Qiaosun containing 100 volumes, and the one by He Tang containing 16 volumes, reprinted in the ''Hanwei Congshu'', a compilation of histories. Tu's edition was published for the third time in 1781. Also there is a 100 volumes edition together with a chronological table from the later Qing Dynasty by Tang Qiu, taken from the edition by He Tang and from other materials.
The book started to disappear from the early Tang Dynasty and did not survive intact. It originally contained 100 volumes, a preface and a chronological table. By the time of the early Song Dynasty, many of them were lost and only about 20 volumes remained, which were quoted extensively by Sima Guang. There are two extant versions dating from the late Ming Dynasty, the edition by Tu Qiaosun containing 100 volumes, and the one by He Tang containing 16 volumes, reprinted in the ''Hanwei Congshu'', a compilation of histories. Tu's edition was published for the third time in 1781. Also there is a 100 volumes edition together with a chronological table from the later Qing Dynasty by Tang Qiu, taken from the edition by He Tang and from other materials.
Records of the Grand Historian
The Records of the Grand Historian, also known in by the Chinese name 史記 or Shiji, written from 109 BC to 91 BC, was the magnum opus of Sima Qian, in which he recounted history from the time of the Yellow Emperor until his own time. As the first systematic Chinese historical text, the Records profoundly influenced Chinese historiography and prose. In its impact, the work is comparable to Herodotus and his ''''.
The 130 volumes of the text classify information into several categories:
#12 volumes of Benji or "Basic Annals", contain the biographies of all prominent rulers from the Yellow Emperor to Qin Shihuang and the kings of , , and dynasties. The biographies of four emperors and one empress dowager of the Western Han before his age are also included. Besides, though Xiang Yu never actually ruled all the country, his biography was contained in this class.
#30 volumes of Shijia or "Hereditary Clans", contain biographies of notable rulers, nobility and bureaucrats mostly from the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods.
#70 volumes of Liezhuan or "Memoirs", contain biographies of important individual figures including Laozi, Mozi, Sunzi, and .
#8 volumes of Shu or "Essays", treat of economics and other topics of the time.
#10 volumes of Biao or "Chronologies", are s of events.
Unlike subsequent official historical texts that adopted Confucian doctrine, proclaimed the divine rights of the emperors, and degraded any failed claimant to the throne, Sima Qian's more liberal and objective prose has been renowned and followed by poets and novelists. Most volumes of ''Liezhuan'' are vivid descriptions of events and persons. This has been attributed to the fact that the author critically used stories passed on from antiquity as part of his sources, balancing reliability and accuracy of the records. For instance, the material on Jing Ke's attempt at assassinating first emperor of China was an eye-witness story passed on by the great-grandfather of his father's friend, who served as a low-ranking bureaucrat at court of and happened to be attending the diplomatic ceremony for Jing Ke. It has been observed that the diplomatic Sima Qian has a way of accentuating the positive in his treatment of rulers in the Basic Annals, but slipping negative information into other chapters, and so his work must be read as a whole to obtain full information. There are also discrepancies of fact between various portions of the work, probably reflecting Sima Qian's use of different source texts; from these it appears that his great work did not receive a final editorial polish.
Joseph Needham wrote in 1954 that many scholars doubted that Sima's ''Records of the Grand Historian'' had contained accurate information about such distant history, including the thirty kings of the Shang Dynasty . Many scholars argued that Sima couldn't possibly have had access to written materials which detailed history a millennium before his age. However, the discovery of oracle bones at an excavation of the Shang Dynasty capital at Anyang matched twenty-three of the thirty Shang kings that Sima listed. Needham writes that this remarkable archaeological find proves that Sima Qian "did have fairly reliable materials at his disposal—a fact which underlines once more the deep historical-mindedness of the Chinese."
*Hulsewé A.F.P. , “Shih chi”, ''Early Chinese Texts: a bibliographical guide'' p. 405-414 .
* Sima Qian , ''Records of the Grand Historian of China. Qin Dynasty''. Translated by Burton Watson . ISBN 0-231-08168-5 ; ISBN 0-231-08169-3
* Sima Qian , ''Records of the Grand Historian of China. Han Dynasty II''. . Translated by Burton Watson . ISBN 0-231-08168-5 ; ISBN 0-231-08167-7
*Ssu-ma Ch'ien , ''Records of the grand historian of China: Han Dynasty I'', Translated from the Shih chi of Ssu-ma Ch'ien by Burton Watson . Revised Edition : ISBN 0-231-08165-0 , 0-231-08164-2.
*Ssu ma Ch’ien , ''The Grand Scribe’s Records I: the basic annals of pre-Han China'' .
*Ssu ma Ch’ien , ''The Grand Scribe’s Records VII: the memoirs of pre-Han China'' .
Layout
The 130 volumes of the text classify information into several categories:
#12 volumes of Benji or "Basic Annals", contain the biographies of all prominent rulers from the Yellow Emperor to Qin Shihuang and the kings of , , and dynasties. The biographies of four emperors and one empress dowager of the Western Han before his age are also included. Besides, though Xiang Yu never actually ruled all the country, his biography was contained in this class.
#30 volumes of Shijia or "Hereditary Clans", contain biographies of notable rulers, nobility and bureaucrats mostly from the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods.
#70 volumes of Liezhuan or "Memoirs", contain biographies of important individual figures including Laozi, Mozi, Sunzi, and .
#8 volumes of Shu or "Essays", treat of economics and other topics of the time.
#10 volumes of Biao or "Chronologies", are s of events.
Style
Unlike subsequent official historical texts that adopted Confucian doctrine, proclaimed the divine rights of the emperors, and degraded any failed claimant to the throne, Sima Qian's more liberal and objective prose has been renowned and followed by poets and novelists. Most volumes of ''Liezhuan'' are vivid descriptions of events and persons. This has been attributed to the fact that the author critically used stories passed on from antiquity as part of his sources, balancing reliability and accuracy of the records. For instance, the material on Jing Ke's attempt at assassinating first emperor of China was an eye-witness story passed on by the great-grandfather of his father's friend, who served as a low-ranking bureaucrat at court of and happened to be attending the diplomatic ceremony for Jing Ke. It has been observed that the diplomatic Sima Qian has a way of accentuating the positive in his treatment of rulers in the Basic Annals, but slipping negative information into other chapters, and so his work must be read as a whole to obtain full information. There are also discrepancies of fact between various portions of the work, probably reflecting Sima Qian's use of different source texts; from these it appears that his great work did not receive a final editorial polish.
Reliability
Joseph Needham wrote in 1954 that many scholars doubted that Sima's ''Records of the Grand Historian'' had contained accurate information about such distant history, including the thirty kings of the Shang Dynasty . Many scholars argued that Sima couldn't possibly have had access to written materials which detailed history a millennium before his age. However, the discovery of oracle bones at an excavation of the Shang Dynasty capital at Anyang matched twenty-three of the thirty Shang kings that Sima listed. Needham writes that this remarkable archaeological find proves that Sima Qian "did have fairly reliable materials at his disposal—a fact which underlines once more the deep historical-mindedness of the Chinese."
Further reading
*Hulsewé A.F.P. , “Shih chi”, ''Early Chinese Texts: a bibliographical guide'' p. 405-414 .
* Sima Qian , ''Records of the Grand Historian of China. Qin Dynasty''. Translated by Burton Watson . ISBN 0-231-08168-5 ; ISBN 0-231-08169-3
* Sima Qian , ''Records of the Grand Historian of China. Han Dynasty II''. . Translated by Burton Watson . ISBN 0-231-08168-5 ; ISBN 0-231-08167-7
*Ssu-ma Ch'ien , ''Records of the grand historian of China: Han Dynasty I'', Translated from the Shih chi of Ssu-ma Ch'ien by Burton Watson . Revised Edition : ISBN 0-231-08165-0 , 0-231-08164-2.
*Ssu ma Ch’ien , ''The Grand Scribe’s Records I: the basic annals of pre-Han China'' .
*Ssu ma Ch’ien , ''The Grand Scribe’s Records VII: the memoirs of pre-Han China'' .
Records of Three Kingdoms
The Records of Three Kingdoms , is the official and authoritative historical text on the period of Three Kingdoms covering from 189 to 280, that was written by Chen Shou in the 3rd century. The work collects the smaller histories of the rival states Cao Wei , Shu Han and Eastern Wu of the Three Kingdoms into a single text and provided the basis for the later more popular historical novel ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' in the 14th century.
Together with the ''Records of the Grand Historian'', ''Book of Han'' and ''Book of Later Han'', the book is part of the early four historiographies of the Twenty-Four Histories canon. It contains 65 volumes and about 360,000 words which are broken into three books. The ''Book of Wei'' contains 30 volumes, the ''Book of Shu'' contains 15 volumes while the ''Book of Wu'' contains 20 volumes. Each volume is organised in the form of one or more biographies. The amount of space a biography takes up is dictated by the importance of the figure.
The original author was Chen Shou, who was born in present day Nanchong, Sichuan, in Kingdom of Shu. After the fall of in 263, he became the Gentleman of Works, and was assigned to create a history of the Three Kingdoms. After the fall of in 280, his work received the acclaim of senior minister Zhang Hua. Earlier to the period, the state of and Wu both had their own histories and it was with these works as basis that he began his work. But since the state of Shu lacked a history of its own, the data was composed by him according to what he could remember, as well as primary documents, such as the works of Zhuge Liang, which he had collected. The book used the date after the fall of Han Dynasty in 220 as standard for the state of Wei. The ''Book of Wei'' referred the rulers of Wei as emperors, whilst the rulers of Shu were referred to as lords, and rulers of Wu only by their names or with the title 'the Wu ruler'. This is to uphold the legitimacy of the court of Jin as inheritor of the Mandate of Heaven from Wei. The use of title 'lord' for the rulers of Shu shows in part his sympathy towards his native land.
In the 5th century, the work was further annotated by Pei Songzhi , who was born in present day . After leaving his native land, he became the Gentleman of Texts under of Southern Dynasties, and was given the assignment of editing the book, which was completed in 429. This became the official history of the Three Kingdoms period, under the title ''Sanguozhi zhu'' . He went about providing detailed explanations to some of the geography and other elements mentioned in the original. More importantly, he made corrections to the work, in consultation with records he collected of the period. In regard to historical events and figures, as well as Chen Shou's opinions, he added his own commentary. From his broad research, he was able to create a history which was relatively complete, without many of the loose ends of the original. Some of the added material was colorful and of questionable authenticity, possibly fictional. All the additional material made for a book three times the length of the original.
The romantic and historical traditions for the period of Three Kingdoms have been so confused in the centuries that the ''Records of Three Kingdoms'' is often regarded as an invaluable resource. Its information, although full of errors itself, is nevertheless much more accurate than the embellishments of later writers. Many of the political, economic and military figures from the period of Three Kingdoms are included in the work as well as those who contributed to the fields of culture, arts and science. In its nature the work is indeed a chronicle, much like those of early Medieval Europe written much later. The text is bland and little more than a collection of historical facts. A typical extract:
''In 219, the became King of Hanzhong, and made Guan Yu General of the Vanguard. In the same year, Guan Yu attacked Cao Ren at Fan with his followers. sent Yu Jin to aid Cao Ren. In the autumn, great rains caused the Han River to flood, Yu Jin and the seven armies were lost.''
From this we can establish reasonably accurately the flow of events and how history unfolded but almost nothing about society or elements of institutions or policies.
The amount of creative imagination used in ancient Chinese historical narratives - of 'fictionalising', is impossible to estimate precisely; but it is obviously considerable. The great historian Sima Qian employed this device greatly and it can be assumed that Chen Shou also did this in his text. It is highly unlikely that various remarks which leaders or soldiers are supposed to have made in the heat of battle could have been taken down stenographically and thus many of them may be false.
Chen Shou, a former subject of Shu Han, favored state over Eastern Wu in the work, but this preference was subordinate to the viewpoint, which saw Cao Wei as the legitimate successor of the Han. He referred to the Cao Wei emperors as emperors, the Shu Han emperors as lords, and the Eastern Wu emperors by name or as "rulers", and never referred to the Wu wives as empresses, instead referring to them as ladies.
The book is also important to the research of Japan's , for its volume on the is the first historical document to make explicit mention of Japan. It describes the ancient country of Yamataikoku and its queen, Himiko.
Origin and structure
Together with the ''Records of the Grand Historian'', ''Book of Han'' and ''Book of Later Han'', the book is part of the early four historiographies of the Twenty-Four Histories canon. It contains 65 volumes and about 360,000 words which are broken into three books. The ''Book of Wei'' contains 30 volumes, the ''Book of Shu'' contains 15 volumes while the ''Book of Wu'' contains 20 volumes. Each volume is organised in the form of one or more biographies. The amount of space a biography takes up is dictated by the importance of the figure.
The original author was Chen Shou, who was born in present day Nanchong, Sichuan, in Kingdom of Shu. After the fall of in 263, he became the Gentleman of Works, and was assigned to create a history of the Three Kingdoms. After the fall of in 280, his work received the acclaim of senior minister Zhang Hua. Earlier to the period, the state of and Wu both had their own histories and it was with these works as basis that he began his work. But since the state of Shu lacked a history of its own, the data was composed by him according to what he could remember, as well as primary documents, such as the works of Zhuge Liang, which he had collected. The book used the date after the fall of Han Dynasty in 220 as standard for the state of Wei. The ''Book of Wei'' referred the rulers of Wei as emperors, whilst the rulers of Shu were referred to as lords, and rulers of Wu only by their names or with the title 'the Wu ruler'. This is to uphold the legitimacy of the court of Jin as inheritor of the Mandate of Heaven from Wei. The use of title 'lord' for the rulers of Shu shows in part his sympathy towards his native land.
Annotations from Pei Songzhi
In the 5th century, the work was further annotated by Pei Songzhi , who was born in present day . After leaving his native land, he became the Gentleman of Texts under of Southern Dynasties, and was given the assignment of editing the book, which was completed in 429. This became the official history of the Three Kingdoms period, under the title ''Sanguozhi zhu'' . He went about providing detailed explanations to some of the geography and other elements mentioned in the original. More importantly, he made corrections to the work, in consultation with records he collected of the period. In regard to historical events and figures, as well as Chen Shou's opinions, he added his own commentary. From his broad research, he was able to create a history which was relatively complete, without many of the loose ends of the original. Some of the added material was colorful and of questionable authenticity, possibly fictional. All the additional material made for a book three times the length of the original.
Records of Three Kingdoms as historical record
The romantic and historical traditions for the period of Three Kingdoms have been so confused in the centuries that the ''Records of Three Kingdoms'' is often regarded as an invaluable resource. Its information, although full of errors itself, is nevertheless much more accurate than the embellishments of later writers. Many of the political, economic and military figures from the period of Three Kingdoms are included in the work as well as those who contributed to the fields of culture, arts and science. In its nature the work is indeed a chronicle, much like those of early Medieval Europe written much later. The text is bland and little more than a collection of historical facts. A typical extract:
''In 219, the became King of Hanzhong, and made Guan Yu General of the Vanguard. In the same year, Guan Yu attacked Cao Ren at Fan with his followers. sent Yu Jin to aid Cao Ren. In the autumn, great rains caused the Han River to flood, Yu Jin and the seven armies were lost.''
From this we can establish reasonably accurately the flow of events and how history unfolded but almost nothing about society or elements of institutions or policies.
The amount of creative imagination used in ancient Chinese historical narratives - of 'fictionalising', is impossible to estimate precisely; but it is obviously considerable. The great historian Sima Qian employed this device greatly and it can be assumed that Chen Shou also did this in his text. It is highly unlikely that various remarks which leaders or soldiers are supposed to have made in the heat of battle could have been taken down stenographically and thus many of them may be false.
Chen Shou, a former subject of Shu Han, favored state over Eastern Wu in the work, but this preference was subordinate to the viewpoint, which saw Cao Wei as the legitimate successor of the Han. He referred to the Cao Wei emperors as emperors, the Shu Han emperors as lords, and the Eastern Wu emperors by name or as "rulers", and never referred to the Wu wives as empresses, instead referring to them as ladies.
The book is also important to the research of Japan's , for its volume on the is the first historical document to make explicit mention of Japan. It describes the ancient country of Yamataikoku and its queen, Himiko.
New History of the Five Dynasties
The New History of the Five Dynasties is a history of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period of . It was written by the Song Dynasty official Ouyang Xiu and completed in 1053. It is one of the official Twenty-Four Histories of China.
The book is being criticised of almost starting every chapter with the word , literally means 'Oh, No'. Ouyang Xiu is also guilty of attempting to copy the style of writing of Spring and Autumn Annals, making some of his prose confusing and barely understandable.
english translation: historical records of the five dynasties, translated by richard l. davis. columbia university press, 2004.
The book is being criticised of almost starting every chapter with the word , literally means 'Oh, No'. Ouyang Xiu is also guilty of attempting to copy the style of writing of Spring and Autumn Annals, making some of his prose confusing and barely understandable.
english translation: historical records of the five dynasties, translated by richard l. davis. columbia university press, 2004.
New Book of Tang
The New Book of Tang , is a classic work of history about the Tang Dynasty edited by Ouyang Xiu and Song Qi and other official scholars of the Song Dynasty. The emperor called for a revision of the former ''Book of Tang'' in 1044. The New Book was presented to the throne in 1060. It was given its name "Xin" to distinguish it from its predecessor. It has been canonised as among the ''Twenty-Four Histories''.
Ouyang Xiu frequently invokes the principle of reason in evaluating historical accounts, and purges all accounts containing elements of myth or superstition.
Ouyang Xiu and Song Qi both disliked the Tang Dynasty's style of flowery prose. They changed the original wordings in the documents that they quoted in the book. However, some of the changes they made were more harm than good as they made some of the sentences difficult to understand.
Four biographies of women appear in this new book that were not present in the first Book of Tang. The women kill or maim themselves in horrible ways, and represent examples of Tang Dynasty women that were intended to deter contemporary readers from extreme behavior. For example, Woman Lu gouges her own eye out to assure her ailing husband that there will be no second man after him. Biographies of 35 overly filial and fraternal men are also included in the work, though these men do not resort to the extremes of female mutilation found in the female biographies.
Contents
Ouyang Xiu frequently invokes the principle of reason in evaluating historical accounts, and purges all accounts containing elements of myth or superstition.
Ouyang Xiu and Song Qi both disliked the Tang Dynasty's style of flowery prose. They changed the original wordings in the documents that they quoted in the book. However, some of the changes they made were more harm than good as they made some of the sentences difficult to understand.
Biographies
Four biographies of women appear in this new book that were not present in the first Book of Tang. The women kill or maim themselves in horrible ways, and represent examples of Tang Dynasty women that were intended to deter contemporary readers from extreme behavior. For example, Woman Lu gouges her own eye out to assure her ailing husband that there will be no second man after him. Biographies of 35 overly filial and fraternal men are also included in the work, though these men do not resort to the extremes of female mutilation found in the female biographies.
Ming Shi-lu
The Ming Shi-lu contains the imperial annals of Ming dynasty emperors and is the single largest historical source for the dynasty and "plays an extremely important role in the historical reconstruction of Ming society and politics."
The section for each emperor was composed after the emperor's death by a History Office appointed by the Grand Secretariat using different types of historical sources such as:
1. "The Qi-ju zhu , or 'Diaries of Activity and Repose'. These were daily records
of the actions and words of the Emperor in court."
2. "The 'Daily Records' . These records, established precisely as a source for the
compilation of the shi-lu, were compiled by a committee on the basis of the diaries and
other written sources."
3. Other sources such as materials collected from provincial centres and "culled from other official sources such as memorials, ministerial papers and the Metropolitan Gazette."
All Ming Shi-lu entries that refer to Southeast Asia including references to and other ethnic groups in Yunnan, which borders Southeast Asia, have been translated into English, indexed by date, place name, and personal name, and are available online at .
The section for each emperor was composed after the emperor's death by a History Office appointed by the Grand Secretariat using different types of historical sources such as:
1. "The Qi-ju zhu , or 'Diaries of Activity and Repose'. These were daily records
of the actions and words of the Emperor in court."
2. "The 'Daily Records' . These records, established precisely as a source for the
compilation of the shi-lu, were compiled by a committee on the basis of the diaries and
other written sources."
3. Other sources such as materials collected from provincial centres and "culled from other official sources such as memorials, ministerial papers and the Metropolitan Gazette."
All Ming Shi-lu entries that refer to Southeast Asia including references to and other ethnic groups in Yunnan, which borders Southeast Asia, have been translated into English, indexed by date, place name, and personal name, and are available online at .
Jingxingji
The Jingxingji was a now lost journey book written by Du Huan shortly after he returned to China in 762 from the Abbasid Caliphate. Only about 1,511 words are being preserved under the ''Tongdian''. It recorded about thirteen main countries, and a separated book was later pusblished by Wang Guowei under the title of ''Guxingji Xiaolu'' from this source. Other parallel quotes can also be found from the ''Imperial Readings of the Taiping Era'', ''Taiping Huanyuji'', ''Tongzhi'' and ''Tongkao''.
In 1866, a section with regard to the Byzantine Empire of the texts was being translated into by Henry Yule. Since then, a few of the scholars such as , , Shiratori , Rockhill and carry on the translation and excerpt from the portion of the texts into their works. The texts has overall been held in high regard among the early Chinese scholars such as Zhang Xinglang, Feng Chengjun, Xiang Da and Bai Shouyi.
In 1866, a section with regard to the Byzantine Empire of the texts was being translated into by Henry Yule. Since then, a few of the scholars such as , , Shiratori , Rockhill and carry on the translation and excerpt from the portion of the texts into their works. The texts has overall been held in high regard among the early Chinese scholars such as Zhang Xinglang, Feng Chengjun, Xiang Da and Bai Shouyi.
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