Historical documents

Author: Pei Yansheng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-06-01
Features: Official documents are records created by national organs, organizations, enterprises, institutions, and individuals in the process of handling government affairs, as well as tools for managing daily tasks. They serve as legal evidence and references, faithfully documenting the history of human social development in all its aspects. Historical documents, in this context, refer to files formed and used in each dynasty before the founding of the People's Republic of China. This book follows the chronological order of historical development and is divided into three parts: Upper, Middle, and Lower.
The Upper Part summarizes the origin and evolutionary process of historical documents in China, dividing them into six chapters: the initial period of documents—Pre-Qin, the establishment period of documents—Qin and Han, the development period of documents—Wei, Jin, and Southern and Northern Dynasties, the maturation period of document work—Sui and Tang, the further development of document work—Song and Yuan, and the complete period of textual work—Ming. It provides a concise and focused overview, vertically showcasing the basic features of historical documents and their administrative systems in each dynasty.
The Middle Part introduces the administrative decision-making systems and document and archival systems of the Qing Dynasty's Grand Council, Military Affairs Office, central and local state organs. It provides detailed explanations of the important tools for handling government affairs in the Qing Dynasty, including specific types and characteristics of documents such as imperial decrees, memorial documents, official correspondence, and contractual certificates.
The Lower Part examines the basic features of Republican-era documents and the development and changes in the Republican-era document system. It is divided into topics such as basic systems and characteristics, types of documents, formats and styles, drafting, document processing, and the improvement and progress of the document system, presenting a comprehensive view of the evolution of feudal document systems in China toward modern document systems.