Yan Ruogong's Chronology

Author: Zhang Mu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1994-06-01
Features: Yan Ru's chronicle, originally titled "Yan Qianqiu's Chronicle," compiled by Zhang Mu during the Qing Dynasty. Yan Ru, styled Baishi, also known as Qianqiu Jushi, was originally from Taiyuan but later resided in Shanyang (now Huai'an City, Jiangsu Province). He was born on the fourteenth day of the tenth month in the Bingsi year (1636) of the Ming Chongzhen era.
At a young age, Yan Ru was deeply dedicated to learning and reflection. At the age of twenty, while studying the Classical Canon of Shang, he concluded that the Eastern Jin scholar Mei Zai's contribution of the Classical Canon of Shang was a forgery. He then immersed himself in research for nearly three decades, eventually completing the Classical Canon of Shang: Annotations and Proofs in eight volumes. Drawing on classical texts and historical evidence, he meticulously presented contradictions and inconsistencies, listing one hundred twenty-eight pieces of evidence to convincingly prove that the Classical Canon of Shang was a forgery.
Mao Qiling wrote A Plea for the Innocence of the Classical Canon of Shang in rebuttal, but he too "could not overturn the truth with forceful arguments" and acknowledged that "the well-supported arguments had already been established as irrefutable" (from the General Catalogue of the Siku Quanshu, Volume 12, Classical Canon of Shang: Annotations and Proofs).
For this edition, the Daoguang-era publication of the Jia edition was used as the base text, with reference to the Yi edition and the Yueya Tang Series, and Wu Chongyao's preface was also included.