History of Historiography in the Ming and Qing Dynasties

Author: Fu Yuzhang
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2003-01-01
Features: A History of Ming-Qing Historiography is a specialized monograph on the history of historiography co-authored by Fu Yuzhang, the son of the renowned historian Fu Zhenlun, and Fu Zheng, his granddaughter. The book spans 307 pages and contains 258,000 words. Published by Anhui University Press in January 2003, A History of Ming-Qing Historiography includes Fu Zhenlun's preface, Fu Yuzhang's postscript, and is divided into two parts: the upper part and the lower part. The upper part focuses on Ming Dynasty historiography, consisting of three chapters. Chapter 1: Historiography of the Ming Dynasty, covering: 1. An overview of Ming Dynasty historiography, 2. Compiling the History of Yuan and revising the History of Song, 3. The compilation of annalistic historical works and the continuation of biographical-historical works, 4. Local gazetteer studies and geography, 5. Key works on institutional history and the Ming Veritable Records, 6. Bibliography; Chapter 2: The Ming Dynasty Unofficial Histories, discussing: 1. Wang Shizhen's Collected Works of Mount Yan, 2. Shen Defu's Chronicles of the Wanli Era, 3. Tan Qian's Annals of the State, 4. Li Zhi's historiographical thought, 5. Chen Jian's Records of the Ming Dynasty and Comprehensive Mirror for aid in government and Deng Yuanshi's History of the Ming Dynasty; Chapter 3: The Three Great Historiographical Thinkers of the Ming-Qing Transition, elaborating on the historiographical thought of the three pioneers of early Qing historiography: Huang Zongxi, the founder of early Qing historiography; Gu Yanwu, who pioneered a new school of historiography; and Wang Fuzhi, the master of unique historiographical theory. The lower part focuses on Qing Dynasty historiography, consisting of seven chapters, following the order of the upper part. Chapter 4: Historiography of the Early Qing Dynasty, including an overview and the compilation of the History of Ming and the study of ancient history; Chapter 5: The Development of Annalistic and Biographical-Historical Works, discussing the achievements and contributions of figures such as Xu Qianxue, Bi Yuan, Xia Xie, Chen He, Gu Yingta, Yang Lurong, Li Youzhang, and Wu Weiye in the development of annalistic or biographical-historical historiography; Chapter 6: Textual Criticism in the Qianlong and Jiaqing Periods, analyzing the formation of textual criticism from a macro perspective, summarizing the accomplishments of Qianlong and Jiaqing textual critics in the collation of ancient texts, and then selecting Wang Mingsheng, Qian Daixin, and Zhao Ji as three major textual critics to explain their textual critical thought, methods, achievements, and contributions in detail with their representative works; Chapter 7: Local Gazettes and Historical Geography, covering an overview of the compilation of local gazettes in the Qing Dynasty, schools of gazetteer compilation, and common problems in local gazettes, with Gu Zuyu and his Comprehensive Geographic Treatise for Reading History as a case study to examine the research of Qing scholars in the field of historical geography; Chapter 8: Unofficial Histories of the Early Qing Dynasty, focusing on historians and their representative works to discuss the achievements of Zhang Dai, Cha Jizuo, Ji Liqiu, and Wen Ruilin in compiling unofficial histories, their historical compilation methods, historical thought, and historiographical thought, etc.; Chapter 9: Encyclopedias, Series, Key Works on Institutional History, and Bibliography, examining the Comprehensive Library of the Ages, Complete Collection of the Four Treasuries, Essentials of the Complete Collection of the Four Treasuries, Veritable Records of the Qing Dynasty, Annals of the Eastern Capital, the continuation of the Three Comprehensive Histories, the Three Comprehensive Histories of the Qing Dynasty, Strategies, Records, and official and private bibliographies to study the academic achievements of Qing scholars in the compilation of encyclopedias, series, key works on institutional history, and bibliography; Chapter 10, dedicated to the renowned historiographical theorist, historiographical critic, and local gazetteer scholar Zhang Xuecheng, focusing on his historiographical thought and achievements in local gazetteer studies, including his contributions to historiography, his main insights into local gazetteer studies, his compilation and revision of various gazettes, and his accomplishments in bibliography. Additionally, A History of Ming-Qing Historiography includes two appendices: one by Fu Yuzhang's youngest daughter, Fu Xiang, titled "Ming-Qing Archival Records", and another "Main Bibliography".
In his preface, Fu Zhenlun briefly introduces his son Fu Yuzhang and granddaughter Fu Zheng's academic careers and the distinctive features of the book. The following is a transcript of his introduction:
"My family has been engaged in teaching for four generations, and among my children, only Yuzhang is dedicated to historiography. He studied under me at the History and Geography Department of Changbai Normal College. After the liberation of Beijing, he entered the History Department of Northeast Normal University, graduated in 1953, and then joined the postgraduate program in Chinese History at Renmin University of China, studying under renowned scholars such as Shang You, Zheng Changgan, and Dai Yi. After graduation, he remained at the university to teach. Shang You, who had a deep interest in Ming Dynasty history, advised Yuzhang to delve into Ming Dynasty historical studies and cultivate talent in historiographical history, under the guidance of Professor Zeng Xiankai of Xiangxiang. Over the forty-plus years of his teaching and research career, Yuzhang accumulated a wealth of materials. Since 1980, he began teaching the history of Chinese historiography at Anhui University. He believed that with the introduction of Western learning into China and the cultural exchange between East and West, Ming-Qing historiography had become an important new topic. He first compiled it into over 200,000 words, focusing on the three great historiographical thinkers of the Ming-Qing transition—Huang Zongxi, Gu Yanwu, and Wang Fuzhi—as well as Ming-Qing unofficial histories. The manuscript underwent several revisions. My granddaughter, Zheng, works at the library of Anhui University and has a keen interest in the history of Chinese historiography. She has written several chapters. Upon reviewing her manuscript, it describes the compilation, verification, and study of Ming-Qing historical texts. It begins with the historical context and characteristics of historiography, then discusses the authors, content, features, and evaluations of the texts, followed by a conclusion. While some passages may require refinement, the content and development of historiography can be inferred from this. The Ming-Qing historical texts cited are largely comprehensive, avoiding clichés and offering new insights, making it a specialized work in historiography, suitable for reference and study by university students and scholars. Scholars can further research the texts and delve into Ming-Qing events and figures, gaining historical knowledge and understanding cautionary lessons."
It is evident that A History of Ming-Qing Historiography, though only a modest 200,000 words, is imbued with decades of effort from two generations of scholars. "Avoiding clichés and pursuing new insights," the Fu family's tradition of historiography is particularly us to learn from.