Chapter 23 Chapter 8 People Who Dedicated to the Cause of Local Chronicles

When we are proud of the fruitful achievements of the local chronicles of our motherland, we cannot but think of the countless people who have worked hard to cultivate these fruits throughout the ages.Among them, there are outstanding local chroniclers like Zhang Xuecheng, and more are silent chroniclers all over the land of China. It is not easy to compile a good local chronicle, and it is also not easy to be an excellent compiler of local chronicles.The nature and characteristics of local chronicles put forward high demands on the personnel who compile the local chronicles.Fan Song, a man of the Ming Dynasty, said: "There must be three advantages in compiling history, and the compilation of annals is also indispensable." requirements for historians. "Talent" is the ability to collect, identify, and use historical materials; "learning" is profound knowledge; Make a record of what should be recorded.Li Fu (fu Fu) in the early Qing Dynasty even pointed out that those who cultivate ambitions must not only have the talent to cultivate ambitions, but also have the "will" to cultivate ambitions. Without perseverance, nothing will be achieved.Of course, in the feudal era, it was far from being possible for everyone to have both talents, learning, knowledge, and aspirations.However, there are indeed many people who pursue such an ideal in the practice of Zhixiu, and even devote their whole lives without regret.

To compile a good chronicle, not only must master a large number of historical documents, but also conduct a large number of field investigations.Chronicle editors often go deep into remote areas to inspect mountains and rivers, visit historical sites, and learn about customs.In the ancient times when transportation was inconvenient, it was even more necessary to have the spirit of not being afraid of hard work, hardship and danger, and tenacious perseverance. Zhu Mu of the Southern Song Dynasty determined to compile a general annals of the whole country.He travels between Fujian, Zhejiang, Huaihu, and Guangxi. Everywhere he goes, he must climb mountains and wading, search for sources, find out the geographical situation, and ask everyone about the local customs and customs.At the same time, he extensively collected documents, borrowed pictures and scriptures everywhere, and copied them day and night when he found useful materials, without getting tired.After more than ten years of preparation in this way and several revisions of the draft, the famous general annals "Fang Yu Sheng Lan" in the Southern Song Dynasty was completed.

Yu Qin, the author of the Shandong annals "Qi Cheng" in the Yuan Dynasty, was from Shandong and was an official in Shandong.He saw that after years of war in his hometown, the ancient records had disappeared, so he decided to do it himself.He often said: "I grew up in Qi, how can I not record Qi's mountains, rivers, locations, cities, products, beautiful people and the boundaries of various places?" He traveled all over the fields of his hometown and visited the countryside everywhere Lao, after years of hard work, finally realized this wish.When Yu Qin died, his family was poor, and this chronicle is the only important legacy he left to future generations.Because it is not only based on literature, but also has a lot of personal experience, it has always been highly respected by later generations.

The Dazu Grottoes in Sichuan were excavated from the late Tang Dynasty to the Song Dynasty.It is distributed in more than 20 locations in Dazu County, with a total of more than 50,000 stone statues.This unique treasure house of art has been lost in the grass and smoke for hundreds of years, and it has never been recorded in early chronicles.During the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty, Zhang Shu, the magistrate of Pingshan County, Sichuan Province, once acted as an agent for Dazu's political affairs.Zhang Shu is a scholar who has extensive knowledge of classics and history, and he is not satisfied with copying old annals, let alone perfunctory because he is a temporary agent.Regardless of the steep slopes and slippery roads, he ran around in the mountains and ridges of Dazu, made many inspections of the stone carvings in various places, wrote more than a dozen inspection articles, and recorded the inspection results in "Mountains and Rivers" and " "Historical Sites", which attracted the attention of later generations.Now, the Dazu Grottoes are well-known at home and abroad, and are listed as a national key cultural relics protection unit.Some people call Zhang Shu the first researcher of Dazu, and he is well-deserved.

Some editors of local chronicles are facing adversity or facing all kinds of unimaginable hardships, but they regard the cause of local chronicles as the most important thing and persist in compiling local chronicles. The earliest chronicle in Heilongjiang, "Longsha Jilue", was completed by its author, Shi Ji, during his exile.Shi Ziji passed the Jinshi examination in the forty-eighth year of Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty (1709 A.D.). Two years later, one of the famous literary inquisitions in the Qing Dynasty-Dai Mingshi's "Nanshan Collection" case occurred.Because Dai Mingshi praised and quoted the works of Fang Xiaobiao, Fang Ji's grandfather, Fang Xiaobiao, who had died long ago, was opened up and killed, and the entire Fang family was imprisoned.Shi Ji and his father were exiled to Bukui City (now Qiqihar).It was in such a situation that Shi Ji carefully collected local historical documents, coupled with on-the-spot investigations, and wrote "Longsha Jilue".Because of its detailed records, and there are relatively few records on the frontier areas in ancient Chinese books, this book has become an important classic for future generations to study Heilongjiang.

Yang Du, the actual editor-in-chief of "(Guangxu) Shanxi Tongzhi", has formed an indissoluble bond with the local chronicles throughout his life, and has also formed an indissoluble bond with the tense and hard life.At the age of 36, he was hired to compile "(Tongzhi) Xining County Chronicles" (Yangyuan, Hebei). Because of his good compilation, he became famous all of a sudden. Many people hired him to edit the chronicles, and he actually edited 13 chronicles in 24 years. , an average of less than two years.When compiling "(Guangxu) Weizhou Chronicles", he lived alone in the Town God's Temple in Weizhou, and often worked until dawn when the cock crowed.On New Year's Eve, he wrote a pair of couplets in the Town God's Temple, which is a vivid portrayal of his life in compiling records:

When Yang Du was 45 years old, he was hired to compile "(Guangxu) Shanxi Tongzhi". Since then, several chronicles have been developed side by side.Later, Wang Xuan, the editor-in-chief of "Shanxi Tongzhi", passed away, and he resolutely took on the important task of editor-in-chief, regardless of fatigue and illness, for fear that the annals would not be completed.In winter, with the cold wind, frost and snow accompanied by the cold inkstone and lonely lamp, my fingers were swollen and cracked, and the blood flowed to the nails, but I still refused to stop writing.Relatives are critically ill in their hometown, and they don't care to go home to visit.He said: "The length of one's life span is up to fate. If the records of the Sanjin (Shanxi) are cut off in my hands, wouldn't the crime be greater?" When he was 60 years old, "(Guangxu) Shanxi Tongzhi "Finally finished.In the same year, he himself died from overwork.

Gao Zhao is the editor-in-chief of "(Guangxu) Zhili and Zhou Zhi" (near Xingtai, Hebei).He did not take part in the imperial examination, and made a living by doing business, but he was very talented in literature. He was enthusiastic about collecting Hezhou literature, wrote hundreds of biographies of local people, and wrote tens of thousands of words of textual research and supplementary revisions for Hezhou old chronicles. , Many preparations have been made for the reconstruction and state annals.He said: "Hezhou is my hometown and the place where I live and rest. If the things I have heard and seen in half my life are wiped out, they will be ridiculed by the sages." He suggested to the state officials to revise the will , The state said that there was no money, so he donated his family wealth to set up a journal.After the completion of the annals, he insisted on refusing to delete or modify them according to the will of the state officials, preferring to fund and publish them himself. Although he lost his fortune, he left behind a high-quality annals for future generations.When Gao Zhao was cultivating his will, the Boxer Movement was on the rise, the great powers were clamoring to carve up China, the imperial family of the Qing Dynasty fled Beijing in a hurry, and Hezhou was also "surprised overnight", but he persisted.What several local officials failed to accomplish with official strength, Gao Zhao has achieved with his indomitable determination.

There are also some volunteers who have worked hard all their lives but failed to see their hard work blossom and bear fruit, but their ambition and spirit are also worthy of our commemoration. During the Jiaqing period, Jiang Yuhong, a native of Tianjin, worked hard to interview for decades for the compilation of Tianjin Chronicles.Not only did he try his best to search for the writings of his predecessors, but he also went all over the ancient temples in the wilderness, and when he encountered broken steles, he would pick off the dust and carefully identify the handwriting on them.There are dozens of volumes of materials accumulated throughout my life.The later "(Tongzhi) Continuation of Tianjin County Chronicles" was supplemented based on his materials.His wish was finally realized by future generations.

Xie Maidu, a native of Shulu (now Xinji City) in Hebei Province, was born in the late Qing Dynasty and has been interested in writing Shulu County Chronicles since he was young.For 20 years, he has made a lot of material preparations, and spent a lot of trouble finding five kinds of Shulu old chronicles compiled in the Qing Dynasty for reference. In the spring of 1937, he was employed as the editor-in-chief of Shulu county annals, and opened a library in Beiping (Beijing) to compile the annals.Just when he was about to show his ambitions, the "July 7th Incident" broke out, Hebei fell, the Shulu County Government collapsed, the county magistrate who supported him fled south, and the source of funding for the revision was also cut off.At that time, he himself ran a small cultural bookstore in Beiping, relying on this meager income to continue to sort out old annals and compile new ones.Despite the increasingly difficult family life, his wife and children blamed and complained, he still did not change his original intention.He said to his friend: "I am concentrating on my writings. I don't have time to worry about firewood, rice, oil and salt. There are many literati who die of poverty. I survived in poverty and loneliness for a long time because I was concerned about Xiu Zhi." He finally After collation and publication of all the old annals of Shulu, and the "Shulu County Chronicle Draft" with a million words, but because of poverty and exhaustion, I no longer have the strength to support the publication.After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Xie Maidu still couldn't forget the matter of compiling his hometown annals in Beijing. When he was dying, he asked his daughter to send all his manuscripts and materials back to his hometown and hand them over to the government.With his life's accumulation, he continued to contribute to Shulu's career of compiling records after his death.

There are so many chronicles, and there are so many stories like this.Looking around, we can see that there are more successors walking in the footsteps of the predecessors, including Yan Juqian from Jiaocheng County, Shanxi Province. Yan Juqian is the director of the Office of the County Chronicle Compilation Committee of Jiaocheng County, Shanxi Province.Jiaocheng has not had a record for 100 years.Just when he was struggling with everyone and working hard to start a business, he found out that he was suffering from gastric cancer.After the operation, the doctor ordered him to recuperate for a year, but he did not stop writing for a year. In 1990, his gastric cancer had developed into advanced esophageal cancer.This is the critical moment when the manuscript enters the editor-in-chief. As the chief editor of the editor-in-chief, Yan Juqian faces a severe choice: immediately hospitalized for surgery, there may be a glimmer of hope of being rescued, but at least one or two years will be spent in bed; or It is better to go back to work immediately, and strive to complete the manuscript in my lifetime.He chose the latter without hesitation.He said: "Let me devote the few months of my life to my career completely." happiness.” What he thought was that in his notes and memory, there were still many hard-won materials, some of which were rescued during the last days of the interviewee’s life.These are living histories, how can we let them disappear along with our short life?He said that the editor-in-chief of the manuscript must be completed, "it is also my last gift to my hometown from the son of a Jiaocheng people. At that time, I will die and rest in peace." Regardless of the pleas of relatives and friends and the persuasion of everyone, Yan Juqian finally realized his wish.In order to eliminate all disturbances and maximize time, he lived alone in Wenchang Pavilion, an ancient temple in Tianning.The towering pines and cypresses in front of the temple accompanied him, his strong sense of professionalism supported him, and the deeds of Yang Du, the senior Xiuzhi, inspired him. He was seriously ill, and for three consecutive months, he completed more than 1 million words at a daily rate of 10,000 words. The chief editor of the county annals.After another three months, he calmly stopped breathing. In today's Zhizhi team, there is more than one Yan Juqian! What is mentioned here are just a few representatives among the thousands of local chroniclers compilers from ancient times to the present. Their talents, learning, knowledge, and aspirations are a microcosm of the excellent character of the chroniclers of all dynasties in our country.It is these well-known and unknown stars that converge into the bright starry sky of Chinese local chronicles; it is these well-known and unknown grasses that pave the verdure of local chronicles.What they have left behind is not only the fruitful achievements of the local chronicles, but also another precious spiritual wealth, which is their love for the native land, their high sense of responsibility for history and future generations, their dedication and dedication to the cause of local chronicles, and their unyielding spirit. Mu Rongli, who does not avoid hardships, has a rigorous and assiduous academic spirit.Today, these fine traditions are being carried forward under new historical conditions, which we can comfort our predecessors.