Chapter 2 Section 2 The second characteristic of local chronicles: comprehensiveness

There are many types of local literature.Most of the local documents other than local chronicles have their own focus: some record history, some record the current situation, some record geography, some record people, some record political economy, some record culture and art, and some record only a moment one thing.Only local chronicles, its description is mainly based on the current situation in the most recent period (usually decades), and at the same time, it must also describe the historical evolution, regardless of astronomy, geography, places of interest, resources and products, ethnic groups, religions, customs, political measures, military affairs, etc. Institutions, laws and regulations, economic conditions, cultural sciences, famous figures, major events, dialects, inscriptions, natural and man-made disasters, stories and legends, etc., as long as they are related to this region, all belong to its scope of description.The "inclusiveness" of local chronicles is a major feature that distinguishes it from other types of local documents.

Try to take "(Guangxu) Shandong Tongzhi" as an example (Figure 1). If you look at its contents, you can have a real understanding of the "all-encompassing" local chronicles. "(Guangxu) Shandong General Annals" is the most detailed one among the Shandong provincial annals compiled in the past dynasties. It has 200 volumes and is divided into 12 parts: Juan 1 and Juan 2 are "maps", which are maps.There is one general map and 120 sub-pictures.Each grid represents 10 miles.Mountains, rivers, roads, ruins of ancient cities, and large villages and towns near post roads or bordering neighboring provinces are all marked on the map.

Volumes 3 to 11 are "Tong Ji", which records major events in Shandong by year and month, such as the harvest of the year, major political measures, floods, droughts, and wars. Volumes 12 to 41 are "Jiangyu Zhi".Firstly, it examines the changes in the administrative regions of the whole province and its subordinate counties and counties, and compiles a "history table" according to the age.Then it is divided into many categories: "City", which records the location and territory of the prefecture, prefecture, and county; "Building" refers to the setting and location of various temples and government offices; "Xingsheng" refers to terrain and passes for reference when using troops to fight.In addition, there are "monuments", "customs" and so on.

Volumes 42 to 77 are "Records of Officials", which record the official positions established by Shandong Province and its subordinate counties and counties in the past dynasties, and compile the "Table of Officials", listing the names and names of those who held these official positions. Working time.There is also the category of "Eunuch Achievements", which selects the achievements of officials in the past dynasties. Volumes seventy-eight to eighty-seven are "Field Fu Zhi", the following categories are: "Field Fu", which records the number of land and land tax in the past dynasties; "Storage" records the locations and reserves of granaries in various places in Shandong; "Famine Policy" records the disaster relief and prevention measures of previous governments; "Salt Law" records the salt tax system; , record the setting time of customs and inland customs, taxation title, taxation amount, etc.

Volumes 88 to 109 are "School Records", which record the location, establishment process, and number of students of schools at all levels.There are also "juren table" and "jinshi table", which list the names of Shandong civil and military imperial examination candidates and Jinshi one by one and the time they were selected. Volumes 110 to 113 are "ceremonial records".Shandong has Mount Tai, the head of the Five Sacred Mountains, and the hometown of Confucius. Feudal dynasties often held grand ceremonies here.Ceremony records record in detail the process and ceremonies of the previous ceremonies, including what utensils and musical instruments were used to hold the ceremonies, and so on.At the same time, various other official and folk etiquettes are also recorded.

Volumes 114 to 117 are "Bingfangzhi". "Bing" refers to the military system, which records the changes of military institutions and military systems in Shandong Province in the past dynasties; "defense" refers to coastal defense and inland garrison, and records in detail the location, number of troops, and the location of post stations in Shandong. Volumes 118 to 126 are "He Fang Zhi", which records the changes of the Yellow River in Shandong, the measures and processes of the Yellow River control in the past dynasties.There is a "Flood Table for Officials of River Workers", which lists the names of the officials who governed the river in the past and the river sections where they assigned their duties.The front of the volume is crowned with "Full Map of the Yellow River in Shandong" (Fig. 2).There is also a special section to record the status of the Xiaoqing River, canals and shipping in Shandong.

Volumes 127 to 152 are "Yiwenzhi", which is divided into two parts: "Classics" and "Jinshi". "Jingji" is a catalog of the writings of Shandong people in the past dynasties, with a brief introduction; "Jinshi" is a catalog of Shandong bronzes and stone carvings, with inscriptions, the date of the inscriptions, authors and writers, and most importantly, inscriptions full text. Volumes 153 to 198 are "Character Chronicles", which record the celebrities of Shandong in the past dynasties, and according to the characteristics of the characters, they are divided into "famous ministers", "Xunli" (officials who obey the law), "scholars" (scholars), " "Wen Yuan" (a scholar), "Loyalty", "Filial Friends", "Lone Walking" (a person with outstanding behavior), "Art" (a person with a skill), "Lienu" (a talented or filial woman) etc.

Volumes 199 to 200 are "magazines", which record things that cannot be classified into the above categories, such as "temple temples", "Xianshi" (famous monks and Taoists), "overseas Chinese residences" (living in other places in Shandong People), there are also various trivial rumors and anecdotes, such as the story about the weaving girl in the sky who married Dong Yong, and the rumored location of Dong Yong's tomb. In addition, before the main text, there are two categories of "List of Hadith" and "Most Holy Century". "Lie Sheng Xun Dian" records the instructions of the emperors of the Qing Dynasty to Shandong; "The Most Holy Century" is the chronology of Confucius.Putting them at the head of each volume is a sign of respect.

Most government, prefecture, and county annals are not huge volumes like "(Guangxu) Shandong Tongzhi".Some annals only have ten or eight volumes or even one or two volumes, but the content is generally similar.For example, "(Jiajing) Taiping County Chronicles" (Wenling, Zhejiang) has only eight volumes, of which "Geographic Records" records geography in two volumes; The two volumes of "People's Chronicles" record celebrities of all dynasties; the "Wai Zhi" and "Zine" volumes record miscellaneous anecdotes."(Zhengde) Chaoyi County Chronicles" (Shaanxi Chaoyi) famous for its "Jane" has only two volumes and seven categories. The second volume is divided into three categories: "famous officials", "characters" and "magazines".

Such a variety of content obviously cannot be expressed in a single form, so the local chronicles also take advantage of the advantages of various writing genres in terms of genre.From the above example of "(Guangxu) Shandong General Annals", we can see that it uses maps to express the location and distance of mountains, rivers, urban and rural areas; it uses chronicles to describe major events and the evolution of various things; it uses tables to list civil and military officials. and the names and resumes of Juren and Jinshi; introduce the works of local people and local cultural relics in the form of catalogues; record the deeds of celebrities in the form of biographies; record anecdotes and miscellaneous events in the form of essays.There are also many local annals in the "art and literature" section, imitating the form of poetry collections to compile poems and articles praising local places of interest or reflecting local customs and customs.The genre of local chronicles also embodies the "comprehensive" style.