Klason 23\06 + S97 (Qatnell Hntttetaitt) Slihrarg 2ltl)aca, S^em ^ark BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE WASON ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF CHARLES W. WASON CORNELL 76 1916 Cornell University Library Z 3106.S97 Chinese historical sources / 3 1924 023 970 738 CHIxNfESE HISTORICAL SOURCES WALTER T. SWINGLE REPRINTED FROM THE Vol. XXVI., NO. 4 JULY, 1921 \A).Ll^3t CHINESE HISTORICAL SOURCES The Qiinese have the longest and most continuous historical records of any existing nation. Possibly the ancient Egyptians might once have rivalled them, but certainly no other people, ancient or modern. From the sixth century before Christ until the present time, historical records of unsurpassed completeness tell the story of the greatest civilization of Asia. Qiina might very properly be called the paradise of the his- torian, since for ages, the leadership of the empire has been in- the hands of men deeply grounded in the history of their country.- Confucius (bom B.C. 551) edited the Book of History {Shic Ching) , one of thf five classics, covering the period from the twenty- fourth to the eighth centuries B.C.^ and himself wrote the Spring and Autumn Annals {Ch'un Ch'iu), another of the five classics, which details the principal events of his native state, Lu, from 722 to 484 B.C. Ssu-ma Ch'ien (born B.C. 145), the father of Chinese history in the modern sense, wrote the Historical Record (Sliih Chi) cov- ering the history of China from the earliest recorded times down to 122 B.C., a period of more than three thousand years. ^ This work has been the model for all subsequent official histories of the Chinese dynasties, of which there are twenty-four, including the Historical Record of Ssu-ma Ch'ien. The Dynastic Histories, properly so called, begin with the Book of the Former Han by 1 The Book of History has been translated into English three times. The first translation, by W. H. Medhurst, was published in Shanghai in 1846; the second, by Dr. James Legge, was published by the Clarendon Press, Oxford, in 1878. These two translations give also the original text in Chinese char- acters. The third translation, by Walter G. Old, was completed in 1878. It was reprinted later by John Lane (New York) and Murray (London). There is also a French translation entitled Le Chou-king, etc., by Father Gaubil, revised and corrected by De Guignes, and published in Paris in 1720. Dr. Legge's translation contains in the prolegomena a translation of the Annals of the Bamboo Books, an ancient record covering the period from the oldest times down to B.C. 299. 2 The Shih Chi of Ssu-ma Ch'ien has been translated by the famous sinol- ogist E. Chavannes, under the title Les Memoires Historiques de Se-ma Ts'ien, traduits et annates par Edouard Chavannes, and published at Paris by Ernest Leroux. Of the one hundred and thirty chapters, vols. I.-V., 1891-1905, with 3052 pages in all, covers chs. L-XLVIL 717 7i8 W. T. Szvingle Pan Ku (completed after his death by his gifted sister, Pan Chao), covering tlie period from B.C. 206 to A.D. 24. The last of the twenty-four official Dynastic Histories to be issued was the Ming History {Ming Shih) by Chang Ting-yii covering the period from 1368 to 1643 A.D., and submitted to the emperor in 1742, just a century after the fall of the Ming dynasty. Five years later, in 1747, the Twenty-Four Dynastic Histories of China were issued in an uniform series of which Professor Herbert Giles in his History of Chinese Literature says they " show a record such as can be produced by no other country in the world ". Several other uniform series of the Dynastic Histories were issued before this. During the Ming dynasty the Twenty-One -Dynastic Fiistories were published and still may be purchased in China. The Twenty-Four Dynastic Histories have been reprinted in photographic facsimile by the Commercial Press, at Shanghai, and so are obtainable without difficulty. This 'reprint is bound in 711 volumes of the Chinese style. The Dynastic Histories are very voluminous and are rather historical material than histories in the Western sense. They con- tain, in addition to a vast number of documents, biographies of iamous men and even notices of famous books published during isach dynasty.' It is a noteworthy proof of the stability of the civilization of the Chinese and their high regard for historical accuracy that official censors have for ages commented freely on every action of the emperor and of the great governing boards of the central government without any fear of punishment. These censors' 3 A good idea of the character and arrangement of the matter contained in a dynastic history is given by Bretschneider's account of the Yuan Shih or oiKcial record of the Mongol dynasty in his Mediaeval Researches. This worl<, like Yule's famous edition of Marco Polo's travels (see full citations at the end of this article), gives a vivid picture of life in China at the end of the thirteenth and beginning of the fourteenth centuries. It should be noted that in many ways the contacts of Europeans with China were closer during the Yiian dynasty than at any time before or since. Regular trade routes existed between Europe and China frequented not only by merchants but by adventurers, missionaries, scholars, r.nd envoys as well. The Mongol empire covered all eastern, central, and northern Aiia and extended far into Europe; the emperors were always ready to take into their service talented Westerners such as Marco Polo. As a result of all this the Great Khans of Cathay loomed large in the minds of contemporary Europeans and their fame persisted long after the downfall of the Yiian dynasty, as witness the efforts of Columbus shortly after reaching the New World to send envoys to the Great Khan a full century and a quarter after the accession of the Ming emperors — in China ! Chinese Historical Sources 719 records furnish a very necessary commentary on the official activi- ties, and are rehgiously preserved for use when the dynastic his- tory is vi^ritten. Still more interesting and significant is the fact that only after a dynasty falls is the official history compiled. Shortly after the fall of the Manchu (Ch'ing) dynasty ten years ago, Chao Erh- hsiin, former viceroy of Manchuria, was appointed official his- toriographer of the Ch'ing dynasty. He is to-day, with a few chief assistants and about sixty good scholars, going over the cen- sors' records and archives as well as the printed reports of the Manchu dynasty in order to prepare the Ch'ing Shih or Alanchu Dynastic History. It was my privilege, by invitation of Chao Erh- hsiin, to see at Peking in October, 1918, the scholars at work on this great history. Hundreds of volumes of the censors' records that formerly at the end of each year were carried off in state to the old Manchu capital at Mukden had been brought back to Peking and were piled on long tables. The volumes when opened often showed strips of paper covering up some or all of the lines or columns of characters. These strips were pasted down at the two ends only and could be lifted up, revealing the characters written underneath. I was told that such discreetly concealed pas- sages contained adverse criticism of the emperor or powerful personages and were in this manner concealed from the chance gaze of any one accidentally seeing an open page of the book. The last great Dynastic History to be finished, the Ming Shih. was ordered compiled in 1679, thirty-six years after the fall of the Aling dynasty. Fifty-eight scholars were appointed to com- pile it. It was not finished and laid before the emperor until sixty- three years later, in 1742. It is probable that the Dynastic History of the j\Ianchu dynasty now being compiled will be finished more promptly. At any rate it is likely to be the last of its kind. It is devoutly to be hoped that the censors' records will be preserved for posterity. The censors have ceased to function under the republic. The fear of the verdict of the censors and of the dynastic hi.story doubtless kept many a Chinese monarch from unjust and ill-considered acts. Even the most cursory perusal of Chinese state documents and imperial edicts will show how powerful the pressure was to force conformity to the supposed lessons of history. The great reformer and innovator, Wang An-shih (1021-1086 A.D.), who lived dur- ing the Sung dynasty, was even accused by his enemies of having 720 ir. T. Szvingle published perverted commentaries on ancient history in order more easily to gain credence for his doctrines. Besides the Dynastic Histories, Chinese bibliographers recog- nize fourteen other main classes and many subclasses of his- torical works. One of the most important of these classes is that of the Annals, of which the Spring and Autumn Classic of Con- fucius is a model. The most comprehensive and best known of these works is the JMirror of History, by Ssu-ma Kuang, who lived from 1019 to 1086 A.D., during the Sung dynasty. He pub- lished five works in all, of a very voluminous character, the main work covering Chinese history from the beginning of the fourth century B.C. to the middle of the tenth century A.D. The great critic and philosopher Chu Hsi and his pupils rearranged and condensed these works to fifty-nine books under the title T'ung Chicn Kang Mn, and published it in 1172 A.D. Many subse- quent editions and supplements of this work, which is still con- sidered the standard history of China, have been published.* Minor historical works are almost innumerable in China and it is no exaggeration to say that a strong historical sense pervades all branches of Chinese literature. As a striking example of this may be taken the official gazetteers that have attained in China a development unknown in other countries. China as a whole, and every province, every prefecture, and almost every dis- trict, has an official gazetteer. There are eighteen provinces in China proper, about 300 prefectures, and some 1700 districts. The provincial and prefectural gazetteers are often very volumin- ous works, and even the smallest official gazetteers, the Hsien Chih, or district annals, often contain ten to twenty or more books, frequently bound in as many volumes. The gazetteers give maps, accounts of the topography, moun- tains, rivers, and other natural features of the region they cover, discuss the products and industries, and then give in much detail the history of the region, with notices of celebrated men and famous * The T'ung Chien Kang Mu of Ssu-ma Kuang as revised by Chu Hsi was translated into French by Father Mailla (Joseph Ann Marie de Moyriac de Mailla), a missionary at Pelting from 1702 to 1748, and published at Paris by the Abbe Grosier, in thirteen quarto volumes, 1777— 1778, under the title Histoire Generate de la Chine ou Annates de cet Empire^ traduits du Tong-Kien-Kang- Mou. The translation of the T'ung Chien Kang M« (a late and supplemented edi- tion running up to the end of the Yiian dynasty) occupies vols. I.-IX., a total of 5276 pages, including 200 pages of preface and introduction. No Chinese characters are given. An Italian translation, made from the French edition and entitled, Storia Generate delta Cina, in 35 octavo volumes, was published at Siena, 1777-1781. Chinese Historical Sources 721 books they have written, and much other information, some of it often fantastic to our ears but very Hke the medieval European chronicles. Such gazetteers are usually rewritten every fifty or one hundred years and some have been revised as many as ten or twelve times. (The gazetteer of ICiangyin district, Kiang Yin Hsien Chih, was first published in 1194 A.D., and the fifteenth revision was issued in 1840. At least one, and possibly more addi- tional revisions have been issued since.) These works, published locally, are of the greatest value in any detailed work on the his- tory of any phase of Chinese civilization. Besides the official gazetteers of administrative regions of various ranks, there are numerous unofficial gazetteers of moun- tains, islands, lakes, etc. I estimate that in all probably about 2500 different regions have been covered by gazetteers and that over 10,000 different revisions have been published during the past five hundred years, probably in at least 100,000 volumes. Few people have any adequate idea of the great volume of Chinese printed books. Printing began in the sixth century A.D., but printed books did not supersede manuscripts until about the middle of the tenth century, about five hundred years before Gutenburg set up his printing-press. For five hundred years all the printed books in the world, and these were many and valu- able, were issued in China. For three centuries, from 1450 A.D. to 1750 A.D., the books printed in China probably exceeded in number those issued by all the rest of the world taken together, and doubtless up to 1850 or even later more books were printed in China than in any other country in the world. Very many works, some of them of the highest value, have been lost in China, and the rapid changes now in progress there make it probable that the next few decades will witness the loss of a large part of these books unless Western scholars awake to a realization of their value and by exhibiting intelligent interest in the great literary monuments of Chinese greatness bring the new leaders of China, the students with Western education, to appreciate more than they now do the priceless heritage of their country's past. The very number, variety, and bulk of the Chinese historical records, as well as their inaccessibility and the difficulties in abstracting or translating them, have operated to prevent up to now the writing of good histories of China in foreign languages. There are three noteworthy collections and several fairly good AM. HIST. REV., VOL. XXVI.— 47. 72 2 JV. T. Szvingle smaller collections of Chinese books available to students in this country. The Newberry Library of Chicago contains a large and well-selected collection of Chinese books on history, religion, belles-lettres, etc. An equally large complementary collection of Chinese books on science, industries, arts, etc., is in the John Crerar Library of the same city. Both collections were purchased in China by Dr. Berthold Laufer, of the Field ]\Iuseum of Chicago. A still larger collection is found in the Library of Congress, where, thanks to generous donations by the Chinese government, and to systematic purchases made by Dr. Herbert Putnam dur- ing the last ten years, the collection is now in many fields the best outside of the Orient and in some few probably better than any outside of China. As a whole the collection is easily one of the two or three best to be found outside of the Orient. His- torical works are richly represented and are being continually added. The collection of Dynastic Histories, of Annals, and of minor histories is very good, and the biographical works are with- out a rival in Western countries. The collection of gazetteers is so large that it would be noteworthy even in China, and probably exceeds any single collection to be found outside of China. The Library of Congress collection is particularly rich in his- torical works and encyclopedias printed during the second half of the Ming dynasty. These are of great interest because they give the Chinese records of the advent of Europeans by the sea route, initiated by the arrival of the Portuguese off the coa.st of South China in 1517. Besides the great collections of Chinese books in the Library of Congress at Washington and in the Newberry and John Crerar libraries of Chicago, there is a large Chinese library in the Univer- sity of California at Berkeley, and a fair-sized one in Columbia Uni- versity, New York City. The New York Public Library has James Legge's Chinese library, and the American Museum of Natural History in the same city has a small but select collection. Yale University has a collection of Chinese works filed with the Far- Eastern books, and the University of Pennsylvania a small col- lection of Chinese works, but not as yet adequately indexed. The Museum of Fine Arts at Boston has a very well-indexed collec- tion of Chinese works on the fine arts. The Chinese civilization is the oldest existing in the world and unlike the European it has had no dark ages. Because of the high emphasis placed on the family institutions by the Chinese law Chinese Historical Sources 723 and custom and because the examination system opened the door to talent wherever found, there being no hereditary aristocracy to monopolize the higher ofiices, the Chinese state was practically permanent. China has been a great experimental laboratory in governmental and sociological methods. Well-read Chinese scholars can usually cite from the rich store of Chinese history the results of carefully conducted and well-recorded trials of most of our modern political and sociological prescriptions. It should be said that the help of the old scholars steeped in the lore of ancient China is indispensable to a correct understand- ing of Chinese literature, which, because of the wealth of historical and mythological allusions, is often difficult for a Western scholar to read. The abolition of the old-style examination system in 1906 cut off the supply of these old scholars, so it is to be hoped that AVestern investigators will, before it is too late, arrange to co-oper- ate with their Chinese colleagues in an attempt to render available to the whole world the vast stores of human experience now locked up in the literature and traditions of China. There can be no doubt that the West has as much to learn from China as it has to give to China. By the accident of position Amer- ica is China's next-door neighbor — the Pacific Ocean is no longer a barrier but rather a gateway to China. All competent observers agree that our relations with the Far East are bound to become increasingly important in the near future. Should not then the scholars of this country instead of being far behind their colleagues of Europe in their knowledge of China and her neighbors, take their proper place as the leaders in the world history of the future, which can no longer ignore any country or any race ? Walter T. Swingle. appendix As a guide to the principal historical works on China, both native and foreign, the following books, in addition to those cited above in foot-notes, will be found useful : Alexander Wylie, Notes on Chinese Literature, second ed. (Shanghai, American Presbyterian Mission Press, 1902, pp. xxxix, 307). Brief notices of some two thousand Chinese books. Titles given also in Chinese characters. Written 1867. In the introduction, pp. 24-37, is an annotated list of 141 trans- lations from Chinese into European languages, up to 1867. William F. Mayers, The Chinese Reader's Manual, reprint from ed. of 1874 (Shanghai, American Presbyterian Mission Press, 1910, pp. xvi, 444). Brief notices of the lives of about 900 of the chief personages of China. Names given in Chinese characters. 724 11'. T. Szvingic Herbert A. Giles, Chinese Biographical Dictionary (London, Quaritch. 1898, pp. xii, 1022), Biographical sketches of 2379 famous Chinese historical or mythological personages. Names given in Chinese characters. Herbert A. Giles, A History of Chinese Literature (New York, D. Apple- ton and Company, 1901, pp. viii, 448). Notes and short translations from a few hundred of the chief Chinese works. No Chinese characters. Friedrich Hirth, The Ancient History of China to the End of the Ch'ou Dynasty (New York, Columbia University Press, 1908, pp. xx, 383), Perhaps the most scholarly history of China yet published. Cites Western authorities but not Chinese. Based largely on the texts reprinted in the Yi SItih by JIa Su, first published in 1670 A.D., covering Chinese history down to B.C. 206. Emil Bretschneider, Mediaeval Researches from Eastern Asiatic Sources, etc. (London, Kegan Paul, Trench, Triibner and Co., Ltd., reprinted, 1910. 2 vols., pp. xii, 334; X, 352). This is a reprint, with some additions, of the three papers following: L "Notes on Chinese Mediaeval Travelers to the West", Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal, vol. V., nos. 3, 4, 5, and 6, and vol. VI , nos. I and 2, August 1874— April 1S75. Also reprinted, without change (Shanghai, American Presbyterian Press, 1875, pp. iii, 130). H. "Notes on the Mediaeval Geography and History of Central and Western Asia, drawn from Chinese and Mongol Writings and compared with Observations of Western Authors in the Middle Ages", Journal of the North China Branch of the Royai Asiatic Society, new series, vol. X., pp. 75-307. IIL " Chinese Intercourse with the Countries of Central and Western Asia during the Fifteenth Century", China Review, Hongkong, vols. IV, and V., loi pages in all. The best account yet pub. lished of the Chinese historical materials relating to the Yiian dynasty. The three original papers give Chinese characters for place and personal names, but these characters are omitted in Mediaeval Researches. Sir Henry Yule, The Book of Marco Polo, the Venetian, concerning the King- doms and Marvels of the East. Third edition, revised throughout in the light of recent discoveries by Henri Cordier (London, John Murray, 1903, -• vols., 1392 pages in all, 164 text cuts. 53 plates and maps). The best book on China yet published in English, replete with illuminating notes on all matters cognate to Marco Polo's journeys. (Marco Polo left Venice in 1271 and returned to Genoa a prisoner in 1298.) Sir Henry Yule, Cathay and the Way Thither, being a Collection of Medieval Notices of China. New edition, revised throughout in the light of recent dis- coveries by Henri Cordier. [Works issued by the Hakluyt Society, series II., nos. 33, 37, 38, 41.] (London, Hakluyt Society, 4 vols., 1379 pages in all, 8 text cuts, 7 plates and maps.) An admirable complement to Yule's magmiin opus on Marco Polo. Henri Cordier, Ser Marco Polo : Notes and Addenda to Sir Henry Yule's Edition, containing the Results of Recent Research and Discovery (New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1920, pp. x, 161). Supplements the_ Book of Marco Polo. Henri Cordier, Bibliotheca Sinica, Dictionnaire Bibliographique des Ouvrages relatifs a I'Empire Chinois, second ed. (Paris, E. Guilmoto, 1904— igo8, 4 vols., with a total of 1654 pp. Cites titles of books and papers about China up to date of publication. Henri Cordier, Histoire Gencrale de la Chine et de ses Relations avec les Pays Strangers depuis les Temps les plus anciens jusqu'a la Chute de la Dynastic Mandchoue (Paris, Paul Geuthner, 1920, vols. I., II., HI., pp. 374, 334, 428; the fourth and last volume is to appear in 1921). The latest and best general history of China. No Chinese characters are used. Chinese Historical Sources 725 Li Ung Bing, Outlines of Chinese History (Shanghai, Commercial Press, 1914, pp. iv, 664, 20). History of China in English written by a Chinese. Gives the modern " Young Chinese " and often prejudiced view of Chinese history. Chinese characters are given for the names of men and places. Many interesting facts given here are found in no other European language history of China. Kenneth S. Latourette, The Development of China (Boston, Houghton MifRin Co., 1917, pp. xii, 274). A select bibliography of works on China, chiefly in English, is given on pp. 261—267. Berthold Laufer, Sino-Iranica: Chinese Contributions to the History of Civilisation in Ancient Iran [Publication no. 201, Field Museum of Natural History (Anthropological Series, vol. XV., no. 3)]. (Chicago, 1919, pp. iv, 446). A critical historical monograph in the best spirit of modern scholarship. The introduction and the copious foot-notes cite most of the historical researches on China that have appeared since the publication of Cordier's Bibliotheca Sinica. Chinese characters used freely. Leon Wieger, La Chine a trovers les Ages, Hommes et Choses (Chihli, China, Sienhsien ; Paris, A Challamel, 1920, pp. 548). An epitome of Chinese history, with many paragraphs translated from Chinese authors of all the dynasties. The learned Jesuit author, a doctor of medicine, has previously published studies on the two great religions of China, taoism and buddhism. The value of this work is greatly enhanced by a biographical index giving very brief notices of about 4500 names and a bibliographical index of about 1000 Chinese works. Chinese characters are used freely.