Míng shǐ 明史
The History of the Míng by 張廷玉 (Zhāng Tíngyù, 1672–1755) et al., by imperial commission of Qīng Shèngzǔ (Kāngxī), Shìzōng (Yōngzhèng), and Gāozōng (Qiánlóng); presented in Qiánlóng 4 (1739). Qing collation notes by 嚴福 (Yán Fú) and 方煒 (Fāng Wěi).
About the work
The twenty-fourth and last of the canonical Twenty-Four Histories, in 336 juǎn (24 jì, 75 zhì, 13 biǎo, 220 lièzhuàn, plus 4 juǎn of mùlù — totalling the 336 of the tíyào; the catalog meta gives 332). Covers the Míng dynasty (1368–1644) and continues to record the Southern Míng Hóngguāng, Lóngwǔ, Yǒnglì regimes (1644–1662) — a gesture of imperial-Qing magnanimity. Compiled across 60 years under three Qing emperors: the project was first authorised by Kāngxī in 1679 with 50 bóxué hóngcí 博學鴻詞 candidates (including Pán Lěi 潘耒, Wàn Sītóng 萬斯同, Zhū Yízūn 朱彝尊) opening the office; substantially advanced under Wáng Hóngxù 王鴻緒’s privately-completed Míng shǐ gǎo 明史稿 (310 juǎn, ca. 1714); revised, supplemented, and finalised under Yōngzhèng (1724) and Qiánlóng (1736) commissions with Zhāng Tíngyù as supervising editor; presented in Qiánlóng 4 (1739).
Tiyao
By Bǎohédiàn dàxuéshì Zhāng Tíngyù et al. by imperial commission of the present dynasty. Qiánlóng 4 (1739), 7th month, 25th day, the work was complete and the memorial submitted. Běnjì 24 juǎn, zhì 75 juǎn, biǎo 13 juǎn, lièzhuàn 220 juǎn, mùlù 4 juǎn. The presentation memorial says: “Looking up to the Sage-zǔ Rén Huángdì [Kāngxī], gathering books from gold and stone, gathering elders and worthies from mountain and forest — opening the project of compilation, generous in months and years.” That is, Kāngxī 18 (1679), the first edict to compile the Míng shǐ, with Péng Sūnyù et al. 50 men examined into the historiographical office to compile — but with the records overwhelming and divergences abundant, mutually verified — not yet quickly settled. Again, “Our Shìzōng Xiàn Huángdì [Yōngzhèng], with the spirit of duty and care, again clearly the project of discussion. Your servants serving as supervising editors, leading the compilation officials together, opened the office and arranged the work.” That is, Yōngzhèng 2 (1724), the edict to ministers to continue the project — at this it was complete. Again, “Although the manuscript chests are many, the contradictions remain mutually visible. Only the old minister Wáng Hóngxù’s shǐgǎo, the work of a famous man’s 30-year focus — submitted within the imperial chamber, transmitted to the secret tower-archives — start to finish basically prepared, the affairs and facts much detailed. So we adopt the existing text and use it as the first draft.” That is, in the mid-Kāng-xī era Hùbù shìláng Wáng Hóngxù compiled the Míng shǐ gǎo in 310 juǎn, only the Dìjì unfinished, the rest already fairly complete, more detailed than other compilations — so we use his text and add or subtract to make a complete book.
(The tíyào enumerates the structural innovations: the zhì mostly follow old practice, with two small variations — Lì zhì adds tú (diagrams), since calendar-from-number-from-calculation, and the calculation methods of triangulation and surface-line are now denser than in antiquity; without diagrams the divisions would not be clear. Yìwén zhì lists only Míng works, not works recorded in earlier histories — example begun in Sòng Xiàowáng’s Guānzhōng fēngsú zhuàn, and Liú Zhījī’s Shǐtōng repeatedly affirmed; reasonable in yì; from Tang on, no one used it; we now use it.
The four biǎo follow old practice: Zhū wáng, Gōngchén, Wàiqī, Zǎifǔ; one new precedent: Qī qīng — since Míng abolished the left-right Chéngxiàng and split governance into six departments, with the Dūcháyuàn checking all branches, also a heavy duty — totalling seven.
The lièzhuàn follow old practice in 13 categories; new precedents in 3: Yāndǎng 閹黨 (eunuch faction), Liúzéi 流賊 (roving bandits), Tǔsī 土司. The eunuch evil — though all dynasties from Hàn-Tang on have it — but scholar-officials chasing power and seeking favour was uniquely numerous in Míng; the poison spread All-under-Heaven’s worst. Separately a category, to display the source of disorder and destruction, not just to mark the executioner’s axe. The ChuǎngXiàn two bandits to the destruction of Míng — the failures of suppression-and-pacification serving as bright warning — not to be classed with other small ruffians, nor with separatist warlords. Hence separate establishment. Tǔsī, the ancient jīmí prefectures — neither inside nor outside, easy to ferment — mostly established under Yuán and proliferating under Míng — administration’s way differs from rule-the-people, differs from defence-against-foreign-states. Hence its own category.)
As for after Jiǎshēn [1644 fall of Beijing], continued recording of Fúwáng’s reign-name; after Yǐyǒu [1645], including Tángwáng and Guìwáng’s various ministers — these promulgated after publication, by special imperial command added — the Sage’s great-public great-just heart, above illuminating the Three Lights, below brightening myriad ages. Truly never seen before in the records of historiography.
Abstract
The Míng shǐ is the longest-in-the-making of the Twenty-Four Histories. The compilation history runs across 60 years and three Qing reigns:
(1) Kāngxī 18 (1679): the first imperial commission, with 50 bóxué hóngcí examination candidates opening the historiographical office. Notable participants included Wàn Sītóng 萬斯同 (1638–1702, working as a bùyǐ 布衣 outside the official appointment), Zhū Yízūn 朱彝尊, Wāng Wǎn 汪琬, Pān Lěi 潘耒. Wàn Sītóng’s privately-compiled Míng shǐ 明史 in 416 juǎn (now lost as a complete text, but partly preserved in fragments) was the principal early documentary base.
(2) Wáng Hóngxù’s Míng shǐ gǎo 明史稿, 310 juǎn, completed privately in Kāngxī 53 (1714). Wáng (1645–1723), a former Hùbù shìláng, drew on Wàn Sītóng’s draft and on the materials accumulated at the historiographical office. After Wáng’s death, the Míng shǐ gǎo was submitted to the throne and became the principal working draft for the official Míng shǐ.
(3) Yōngzhèng 2 (1724): the new emperor renewed the imperial commission; Zhāng Tíngyù 張廷玉 as supervising editor with the historiographical-office team revising and supplementing the Wángshǐgǎo.
(4) Qiánlóng 4 (1739), 7th month: the completed Míng shǐ presented to the throne. Total 60 years from initial commission.
Structural innovations: (1) the Lì zhì with diagrams (the first zhèngshǐ to incorporate visual diagrams in the calendar treatise); (2) the Yìwén zhì listing only Míng-period works (an innovation reverting to the medieval principle articulated by Liú Zhījī in the Shǐtōng); (3) the Qī qīng biǎo 七卿表 — a new biǎo category, replacing the Sāngōng / Zǎixiàng system with the seven Míng senior posts (six Shàngshū of the Six Boards plus the Zuǒ Dūyùshǐ) — reflecting Míng abolition of the chief-ministership; (4) three new lièzhuàn categories: Yāndǎng 閹黨 (the eunuch faction), Liúzéi 流賊 (the rebels Lǐ Zìchéng and Zhāng Xiànzhōng), Tǔsī 土司 (the southwestern frontier “native chiefs” institutions).
The work continues to record the Southern Míng Hóngguāng, Lóngwǔ, Yǒnglì regimes (1644–1662) — a Qing court gesture of magnanimous recognition that broke with the customary practice of treating successor regimes as illegitimate. This was added after initial publication, by special imperial command, and is highlighted in the Sìkù tíyào as evidence of the Sage Court’s “great-public great-just heart”.
The Wényuāngé text further carries Qing kǎozhèng by Yán Fú 嚴福 and Fāng Wěi 方煒 (catalog meta gives 145 juǎn of kǎozhèng — second only to the Sòng shǐ kǎozhèng among Sìkù kǎozhèng annexes). The standard modern punctuated edition is the Zhōnghuá Shūjú Míng shǐ (28 vols., 1974, ed. Zhèng Tiānting 鄭天挺 et al.); revised Xiūdìngběn in preparation.
Translations and research
No complete translation. Substantial partial translations and use: L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang (eds.), Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368–1644, 2 vols. (Columbia, 1976) — the standard English-language biographical reference, drawing principally on the Míng shǐ lièzhuàn; Frederick W. Mote and Denis Twitchett (eds.), The Cambridge History of China vols. 7 and 8: The Ming Dynasty 1368–1644 (CUP, 1988 and 1998) — extensive use throughout; Wolfgang Franke, An Introduction to the Sources of Ming History (Kuala Lumpur, 1968) — the foundational source-critical study of the Míng shǐ compilation; Ray Huang, Taxation and Governmental Finance in Sixteenth-Century Ming China (Cambridge, 1974) — uses Shíhuò zhì. Standard Chinese-language scholarship: Huáng Yúnméi 黃雲眉, Míng shǐ kǎo zhèng 明史考證 (Zhōnghuá, 1979–86, 8 vols.) — the most extensive modern critical commentary; Mèng Sēn 孟森, Míng dài shǐ 明代史 (Shanghai Gǔjí, 1957); Wú Hán 吳晗, Dú shǐ zháji 讀史札記 (Shēnghuó Dúshū Xīnzhī Sānlián, 1956). On the compilation history: Lǐ Yúmín 李遇民, Míng shǐ zuǎn xiū kǎo 明史纂修考 (Wǔhàn Dàxué, 1985).
Other points of interest
The 60-year compilation period — under three Qing emperors — gives the Míng shǐ exceptional polish and consistency among the zhèngshǐ. It is generally regarded as the best-organised and most internally coherent of all the Twenty-Four Histories, the product of a long Qing-court historiographical effort that took advantage of the rich Míng documentary heritage (including the Shílù of every Míng emperor, the Huìyào, the Cháo bào, and the literary collections of every prominent Míng official). The decision to extend coverage through the Southern Míng — making the Míng shǐ the only zhèngshǐ to formally recognise the resistance regimes of the dynastic-collapse period — gave the Qing court an unusually graceful face on the politically sensitive question of Míng succession.