Chapter 18 The third section set foot on the pinnacle of ancient local chronicles

The Qing Dynasty was the last feudal dynasty in China, and it was also the peak of the development of ancient Chinese local chronicles. It was Jia Hanfu, the governor of Henan in the early Qing Dynasty, who made the first contribution to the cause of compiling official records in the Qing Dynasty.Based on the "(Jiajing) Henan Tongzhi" in the Ming Dynasty, he presided over the compilation of 50 volumes of "(Shunzhi) Henan Tongzhi" in the eighteenth year of Shunzhi (AD 1661), and led the 8 counties, 2 prefectures and 95 counties in Henan to compile successively Zhishu played the prelude to the large-scale compilation of Zhishu in the Qing Dynasty. "(Shunzhi) Henan Tongzhi" was well received by the court.In the first year of Kangxi (AD 1662), Jia Han was reassigned as the governor of Shaanxi, and presided over the revision of the 32-volume "(Kangxi) Shaanxi General Annals".

In the eleventh year of Kangxi (AD 1672), the Qing government decided to start compiling "The Unification of the Qing Dynasty".The first step it took was to order all the provinces in the country to compile and report to the Imperial Academy, and to publish Jia Hanfu's "Henan Tongzhi" and "Shaanxi Tongzhi" as a model.In the 22nd year of Kangxi (1683 A.D.), the Ministry of Rites was ordered to supervise and urge.For a while, all the provinces set up annals one after another. After the efforts of the Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong dynasties, the provinces generally revised the general annals, and some even revised it two or three times, which prepared good conditions for the compilation of "The Unified Annals of the Qing Dynasty".

"The Unification of the Qing Dynasty" has been revised three times before and after, and has gone through the five dynasties of Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong, Jiaqing, and Daoguang, without interruption for 150 years.In March of the twenty-fifth year of Kangxi (AD 1686), the imperial court officially established the Yitongzhi Museum.In the eighth year of Qianlong (1743 A.D.), 342 volumes were completed for the first time; the second time, 500 volumes were completed in the forty-ninth year of Qianlong (1784 A.D.). "Kuquanshu"; the third time was completed in the 22nd year of Daoguang (AD 1842), and it was increased to 560 volumes. Because it recorded the facts until the 25th year of Jiaqing (AD 1820), it was called "Jiaqing Reconstruction Unification" Chronicles. "Jiaqing Zhi" was not published at that time, and it was not published until 1943 by the Commercial Press.

The emperor of the Qing Dynasty not only paid close attention to the organization and progress of the compilation of the annals, but also often personally questioned the content and quality of the annals.For example, Emperor Yongzheng once severely reprimanded Guangxi Governor Li Fu (fu Fu) for "following selfishness" in the "Guangxi Tongzhi" majored in. In a fit of anger, this "Guangxi Tongzhi" was burned and destroyed. The governor must re-edit the provincial general annals, "the research period is detailed, the collection is precise, there is neither omission nor presumption, so as to become a perfect book."If it cannot be completed within one year, it can be extended to two to three years.Sure enough, the repair is fast and good, and the promotion of the governor-general can be considered; if the time is delayed, and the writing is hasty and indiscriminate, he will be "severely punished". (See Volume 75 of "Records of Emperor Shizong of the Qing Dynasty": the edict was issued on November 28, the sixth year of Yongzheng).Emperor Qianlong also personally reviewed the manuscripts.In the twenty-ninth year of Qianlong (1764 A.D.), the imperial edict clearly required that in order to speed up the progress of the unified annals, the annals should be "advanced as they are revised and awaiting my approval."Once, an official from the Yitong Zhiguan submitted the biographies of Qing Dynasty figures in Songjiang Prefecture (Songjiang, Shanghai). After reading it, he found that there was no biography of Zhang Zhao, who had served as Minister of the Ministry of Justice. He has talent and learning, and his calligraphy is exquisite, which is highly respected in the country. If he is not given a biography, "it is not true".If there are similar situations in all provinces, they must also find out and make up for them.Under the supervision of the emperor, all the editors of "One Unified Records" were conscientious, rigorous and down-to-earth.The edited manuscript will be proofread by a special person, the vice president will proofread it secondly, and the president will proofread it thirdly.Therefore, "The Unification of the Qing Dynasty" is the best quality among the general annals of the past dynasties.

In order to cooperate with the compilation of the general annals by the state, the compilation of the general annals by the provinces, and the compilation of the "Great Qing Huidian" during the Guangxu period, the central government of the Qing Dynasty and the governors and governors of the provinces repeatedly urged the states and counties across the country to revise the annals.During the Yongzheng period, it was clearly stipulated that the annals should be revised every 60 years.Therefore, the number of local chronicles in the Qing Dynasty ranks first in all dynasties.Among the more than 8,000 existing local chronicles, there are more than 5,000 Qingzhi.And the category is more abundant, provinces, prefectures, prefectures and counties, banners, Guanzhen, chieftains, salt wells, etc. are all interested.

Township annals appeared in large numbers in the Qing Dynasty.Since the end of Ming Dynasty and the beginning of Qing Dynasty, the local handicraft industry and commerce have developed significantly, and the market town economy has risen rapidly.During the Daoguang period, the township population in Wujiang County, Jiangsu Province accounted for 35% of the county's total population; Foshan Township alone in Guangdong had 50,000 weavers working in 2,500 factories.Especially the Su, Song, Hangzhou, Jia, and Hu areas in the south of the Yangtze River are dotted with famous villages and towns, and they are also places where people from all ages gather together, and the compilation of town chronicles is even more popular.There are about 100 kinds of Qing Dynasty town chronicles in Jiangsu Province, which is the most among all provinces in the country; Zhejiang has 77 kinds, second only to Jiangsu.For example, "(Jiaqing) Li Lizhi" and "(Daoguang) Zhenze Town Chronicles" in Wujiang, Jiangsu, "(Qianlong) Zhenru Lizhi" and "(Jiaqing) Nanxiang Town Chronicles" in Shanghai Jiading, "(Jiaqing) Nanxiang Town Chronicles" in Wuxing, Zhejiang Qianlong) Wuqing Town Chronicle, Ningbo's (Kangxi) Taoyuan Township Chronicle, Foshan, Guangdong's "Loyalty Township Chronicle" during the Qianlong and Daoguang years, and Anhui Guichi's "(Kangxi) Xinghua Village Chronicle", etc. fame.

In recent years, the only street chronicle in Qingzhi——"Okashi" (also known as "Okagami") has been discovered.This is also a unique street chronicle among the old chronicles of our country.It describes the situation of Niujie and 35 Hutongs near it in Xuanwu District, Beijing today.The area centered on Niujie has been the largest Muslim community in Beijing since the early Qing Dynasty. "Gang Zhi" does not have the name of the author. According to research, its author may be Zhao Shiying, a doctor at the Imperial Hospital during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty.Zhao Shiying is from the Hui nationality, so it is the only chronicle written by the Hui people in the Hui residential area.The protagonist of this chronicle is not the dignitaries, but the ordinary people in Niujie and their daily life.In particular, it records the deeds of 70 or 80 Hui people, most of which have never been heard before.It also preserves some precious Islamic historical materials.For example, it records three Chinese translations of Islam, two of which have never been mentioned before.This local chronicle, which is very valuable for the study of Beijing history, Hui history and Islamic history, was circulated among Niujie Muslims during the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty, but it has not been published. It disappeared around the 1920s, and only a few Copies are kept in individual hands.Now the manuscript has been sorted out and annotated by researchers, and it was typesetting and published by Beijing Publishing House in 1991.

In the 20th year of Guangxu (1894 A.D.), China suffered a disastrous defeat in the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1994, and the government and the opposition were shaken.In the face of an unprecedented and serious national crisis, the voices of the whole country demanding reform and strengthening are very loud.In the twenty-fourth year of Guangxu (AD 1898), Emperor Guangxu was determined to reform the law. Within 103 days, he issued dozens of edicts to eliminate the old and establish the new. It was changed to schools at all levels, teaching both middle school and western learning.Afterwards, the Ministry of Education ordered local chronicles to be compiled and used as textbooks in primary schools.In the 31st year of Guangxu (1905 A.D.), a "Regular List of Local Chronicles issued by the Ministry" was issued, which listed "history, political achievements, military affairs, elders, human beings, household registration, ethnicity, religion, industry, geography, etc. , Mountains, Waters, Roads, Products, and Commerce" are a total of 15 categories, which serve as the unified norms for compiling local annals.So local chronicles joined the big family of local chronicles as a new member.There are more than 500 local annals in existence, most of which were compiled between the 31st year of Guangxu period and the 3rd year period of Xuantong period (1905-1911 AD).Many compilers of local chronicles, with a strong desire to revitalize China, take it as their duty to cultivate children's patriotism.For example, Wang Yongjiang said in "Liaoyang Township Chronicles": "People have a heart to love their hometown, and then they have a heart to love their country....If they don't love their hometown, what is there for the country?" Editor's Inscription", explaining the purpose of the editor: "The earth is an ellipse, and all nations are listed. The great powers rule the roost, and the weak will be defeated...China's reform, revitalizing schools, the purpose is to teach people, and patriotism is the key. Patriotism starts from one side, please share with us. Young students, say that I praise the emperor." All of them show the editor's deep heart and high hopes.The local chronicles are simple, concise and popular, generally not long in length, but they also contain a lot of useful information, and its enlightenment effect on children is irreplaceable by other books.

With the progress of the great cause of unification in the Qing Dynasty, the local chronicles of the Qing Dynasty really traveled all over the country. In the 22nd year of Kangxi (AD 1683), Zheng Keshuang (Shuang Shuang), a descendant of Zheng Chenggong, belonged to the Qing Dynasty.Emperor Kangxi unified Taiwan and immediately set up the Taiwan government.During his term of office, the first Taiwan prefect Jiang Yuying, together with Zhu Luo, Fengshan county magistrate Ji Qiguang, and Yang Fangsheng, compiled "(Kangxi) Taiwan Prefecture Chronicles", which is the first chronicle in Taiwan Province.In the following 90 years, "Taiwan Fuzhi" was renewed five times.After that, at the end of the Qing Dynasty, there was another "(Guangxu) Taiwan General Annals" published.

During the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, Western missionaries were sent to survey and map all over the country with Western methods, but they did not go deep into Xinjiang at that time, and only measured Hami.During the reign of Emperor Qianlong, the long-term separatism and turmoil in Xinjiang ended. The Qing government immediately sent He Guozong, the censor of Zuodu, to lead surveying and mapping personnel to Xinjiang with instruments. Under the protection of the army, they surveyed and mapped Xinjiang's mountains, rivers, deserts, Prairie, map.Liu Tongxun, a university scholar, was also sent to accompany him to investigate the ancient and modern evolution of mountain and river geography on the spot.They traveled all over the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, as far as the Kashmir region.In the end, Liu Tongxun compiled the data, wrote the first draft of the chronicle and sent it to Beijing, and after Fu Heng and others processed the final draft, the 48 volumes of "Imperial Imperial Yu Western Regions Illustrated Records" were completed in the forty-seventh year of Qianlong (AD 1782) (Figure 7). .This is the first annals of Xinjiang, and it is also the most important annals about Xinjiang in the Qing Dynasty.

In Tibet, which is far away from the border, a "Tibet Chronicle" also appeared during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. "Tibet Chronicles" is not divided into volumes, nor does it describe the author. According to legend, it was written by Prince Yunli, the seventeenth son of Emperor Kangxi, and was published in the fifty-seventh year of Qianlong (AD 1792).Its content is relatively brief and there are no biographies, but as the first official Tibetan local chronicle, it has irreplaceable data value and is highly valued by those who study Tibetology. With the government's strong advocacy and the atmosphere of competing to compile local records, the governors of all provinces, prefectures and counties tried their best to recruit talents. At the same time, due to the continuous rise of literary inquisitions by the Qing government, compared with the fact that the revision of official records is a relatively safe field with less risk, so, In the Qing Dynasty, many famous scholars joined the ranks of Xiu Zhi.For example, Dai Zhenxiu's "(Qianlong) Fenzhou Prefecture Chronicles" (Fenyang, Shanxi), Qian Daxin (Xin Xin) Xiu's "(Qianlong) Yin County Chronicles" (Ningbo, Zhejiang), "(Jiaqing) Changxing County Chronicles" (Zhejiang Changxing), Zhang Xuecheng's "(Qianlong) Yongqing County Chronicles" (Hebei Yongqing), Hong Liangji's "(Qianlong) Chunhua County Chronicles" (Shaanxi Chunhua), "(Jiaqing) Jing County Chronicles" (Anhui Jingxian County), Miao Quan and Sun Xiu "(Guangxu) Shuntian Fu Zhi" (Beijing) and so on.Scholars are well-trained in learning, and they are very particular about the style, chapter structure, and compilation methods of chronicles. Each book has its own characteristics and has a high academic level. Some knowledgeable scholars became responsible local officials themselves, personally guided the compilation of local chronicles, and were more qualified to put their various insights into local chronicles into practice.For example, Xie Qikun, the governor of Guangxi who majored in "(Jiaqing) Guangxi General Annals", has written a wealth of books and has profound academic attainments.In the second year after he was promoted to governor, he opened a museum to revise the annals, and personally issued an order.He carefully studied the style of the chronicles of the past dynasties, learned from the advantages and discarded the disadvantages, and wrote 23 articles in "Records of Xiuzhi", which put forward very practical and specific requirements for the compilation of general annals. Hu Qian, the editor-in-chief of "(Jiaqing) Guangxi Tongzhi", worked diligently in his studies all his life, and was proficient in textual research. He also participated in the compilation of many local chronicles.For example, Xie Qikun believes that the officials who were relegated to the "distressed area" in the past were often upright people, who were angered by powerful traitors, or were squeezed out by villains.Therefore, "Guangxi Tongzhi" appended "Relegated Official Records" after the "Eunuch Records" that recorded official achievements, which specifically recorded officials who were relegated to Guangxi from the Three Kingdoms to the Ming Dynasty.Xie Qikun believed that the annals should be detailed, but not redundant, so the materials used in this annals were very detailed, and absorbed some of the strengths of Song annals, and indicated the sources of the cited materials one by one.If the information is inaccurate or inconsistent with the current situation, additional notes will be added to make it convenient and reliable for future generations to use.Therefore, "(Jiaqing) Guangxi Tongzhi" is hailed as a famous chronicle of a generation, and is highly respected by the academic circles.Ruan Yuan, who was later than Xie Qikun, was also famous for his erudition.He served successively as the governor of Zhejiang, Jiangxi and other provinces, as well as the governor of Huguang, Guangdong and Guangxi, and Yunnan and Guizhou.The "(Daoguang) Guangdong Tongzhi" he majored in is all based on Xie Qikun's style, which shows Xie Zhi's influence at that time. The vast majority of local chronicles in the Qing Dynasty were compiled by officials, and most of the privately compiled chronicles did not dare to name them with "zhi", carefully expressing that they were different from official local chronicles.For example, Lin Benyu wrote "Liaoning" (Liaoning) during the Kangxi period, which was all in the style of local chronicles, but he stated in the preface of this book that he wrote this book only by referring to historical records for some local trivia and historical stories told by his father Record it down, so that future generations will not forget the ancestors' love for their homeland.As for the magnificence of Shengjing (Shenyang, Liaoning, which was used as the "residence capital" after the Qing Dynasty entered the customs) with the compilation of chronicles, there is a brilliant masterpiece (referring to the official compilation of "Shengjing Tongzhi"). Participate in opinions.Huang Yin (ang ang), a talented scholar in Wuxi, Jiangsu, was dissatisfied with the crudeness of the county annals. He spent 16 years writing 12 volumes, titled "Xijin Zhixiaolu", which means that it can only be counted as supplementary for the county annals.In addition, for example, the Heilongjiang chronicle written by Shi Shiji is called "Longsha Jilue", the Yunnan chronicle written by Shi Fan is called "Dianxi", the Sichuan chronicle written by Zhang Shu is called "Shu Dian", and the Jiangsu Baoying county chronicle written by Liu Baonan It is called "Baoying Tujing" and so on.Many of these private writings are masterpieces in Qing Zhi, and we should not ignore them when we understand the local chronicles of the Qing Dynasty. The feudal government attached great importance to the local chronicles, which not only promoted the prosperity of the local chronicles, but also put a shackle on the local chronicles.The Qing Dynasty had very strict control over Zhi Zhi.The literary inquisition and cultural autocratic policy in the early Qing Dynasty caused the local chronicles to be destroyed on a large scale.Many pre-Ming local chronicles, especially those of the Ming Dynasty, have been tampered with, deleted or even banned.As for the newly compiled annals, the provincial annals must be reviewed by the emperor, and the prefectural and county annals must be reviewed by the governor's yamen before they can be finalized.Due to political taboos, coupled with the perfunctory and corrupt style prevailing in the feudal officialdom, entrusting and accepting bribes, etc., there were many taboos and concealments in the local chronicles of the Qing Dynasty, and there were not a few people who dealt with official affairs and drafted hastily. However, the number of local chronicles written in the Qing Dynasty is larger than that of any previous period, which proves that local chronicles have indeed entered the most prosperous era in history.In addition, the Qing Dynasty, as the pinnacle of the development of ancient local chronicles, has another distinctive symbol, that is, the birth of local chronicles.