Tōng jiàn xù biān 通鑑續編
Continuation of the Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance by 陳桱 (Chén Jīng, fl. 1340–1370, zhuàn 撰)
About the work
A 24-juan Yuán-period continuation of the Tōng jiàn gāngmù tradition, deliberately filling the gap between the Gāngmù’s end at the Five Dynasties and the close of the Sòng. Despite the Tōng jiàn xù biān title, the form is the ZhūXī Gāngmù’s gāng (heading) plus fēnzhù (sub-line detail). Composed by Chén Jīng of the SòngYuán transition Chén-family historiographical lineage.
Tiyao
Tōng jiàn xù biān, 24 juǎn. (Held in the home of Zuǒ fù dūyùshǐ Huáng Dēngxián.) The old text is captioned “by Chén Jīng of the Yuán.” Jīng, zì Zǐjīng, of Fènghuà, lived in Chángzhōu; later under the Míng entered as Hànlín biānxiū; on attaching to Yáng Xiàn was promoted to dàizhì; see the Míng shǐ Xiàn běn zhuàn. Captioning him as Yuán is in error.
Jīng’s grandfather Zhù, in the Sòng, with the post of Mìshū shǎojiān, was prefect of Tāizhōu, and once made a book named Lìdài jì tǒng. His father Mì was a school-officer and again continued his composition. The world transmitted historical learning. Jīng — finding Sīmǎshì’s Tōng jiàn and Zhūzǐ’s Gāngmù both ending at the Five Dynasties; that Zhōu Wēilièwáng and earlier, although there was Jīnshì’s Qián biān, also begins from TáoTáng — composed this book. First narrating from Pángǔ to Gāoxīnshì, supplementing what Jīnshì had not yet covered, as juǎn 1. Next gathering Khitan in Táng and Five-Dynasties affairs, marking out the cause of their state-getting, as juǎn 2. The remaining 22 juǎn are all Sòng affairs, beginning at Tàizǔ, ending at the Èrwáng, to follow the Tōng jiàn. Hence titled Xù biān. Yet large-script-and-sub-note: wholly imitates the Gāngmù form. Should rightly be called Xù Gāngmù. Still uses the Tōng jiàn name — not actual.
Shěn Zhōu’s Kèzuò xīnwén records: when Jīng wrote this book, on writing “Sòng Tàizǔ Kuāngyǐn self-established and returned” — pen not yet laid down, suddenly thunderbolt struck his desk. Jīng sat upright unmoved, saying: “Even if thunder strikes, my hand will not change.” Although a xiǎo shuō tagging-on tale, also enough to show Jīng took bāo biǎn (praise-and-blame) on himself. So fabricated this story.
Now look at his form-of-meaning: under Sòng, from Tàipíng xīngguó 4 (979) — after pacifying Northern Hàn — only then begins large-script noting of tǒng (legitimate succession). Zhèng Yuán’s Jǐngguān suǒ yán says it is rooted in Huìwēng yǔlù — the partisan stance is already biased. Even Jīn Chénglín being called “the last emperor,” with year-numbering for him; the Western Liáo Dézōng down, the various rulers’ year-period names — all detailed in sub-notes. Although each follows the original-history wording, Chénglín stood for only one day and never became ruler; the Western Liáo had no flat traces to record — yet must be itemised — also unable to escape following names while losing reality. Apparently roundabout in seeking to preserve the Two Wángs (Bǐng and Yì), to make them inherit the Sòng tǒng — therefore reverberates and pulls, generating this yì lì — not a thousand-year impartial verdict.
The Míng shǐ Hé Qiáoxīn zhuàn records: at age 11 Qiáoxīn was attending his father in the capital lodging; the xiūzhuàn Zhōu Xuán passed by, finding Qiáoxīn just then reading the Tōng jiàn xù biān. Xuán asked, “How is the shū fǎ?” Replied: “Lǚ Wénhuàn surrendering to the Yuán is not written ‘rebelled’; Zhāng Shìjié drowning in the sea is not written as dying for righteousness; Cáo Bīn and Bāo Zhěng’s death is not written with their office; and on noting Xīxuān it picks up much that is preposterous — does not seem fitting” — also not without hitting his fault.
Other things — like accepting the Sòng Tàizǔ candle-shadow-axe-sound rumor; recording Wén Tiānxiáng’s “Daoist-cap return-home” words — all unverified blanket-believing of transmission. Chén Yàowén’s Xué lín jiù zhèng says Jīng erred in taking Fàn Zhòngyān’s “going to Tónglújùn arriving Huái meeting wind” verse as Táng Jiè’s; and changed qiáng Chǔ in the verse to kuáng Chǔ; jǐn shì to jīn rì; jiāo yuán to yú lóng — citation not free of slips. Huáng Pǔ’s Jiǎn jí yí wén further says Jīng noted his ancestors Hùbù shàngshū Xiǎn, Lìbù shàngshū Shēn, Gōngbù shàngshū Dégāng — affairs not in the Sòng shǐ; the Chénghuà continuators of the Gāngmù also all deleted them. Suspected they emerged from his arbitrary attachment, in which case privately overflowing with records — even less in keeping with zhì gōng (perfect impartiality).
Yet from the Tōng jiàn gāngmù onwards, those who continued and composed actually began with Jīng. Later Wáng Zōngmù, Xuē Yìngqí, etc., though successively augmented and revised, in talent and insight in the end could not surpass him. We keep it as is for reference. Not unsuitable.
Abstract
The Tōng jiàn xù biān is the principal Yuán-period continuation of the Tōng jiàn gāngmù tradition for the entire post-Five-Dynasties span. Chén Jīng’s design is comprehensive: (a) juǎn 1, the antiquity-prequel from Pángǔ to Gāoxīn, supplementing Jīn Lǚxiáng’s Qián biān (KR2b0033) which had begun only at Yáo; (b) juǎn 2, the Khitan Liáo origins as a separate “outer” frame for the Sòng’s northern enemy; (c) juǎn 3–24, the entire Sòng from Tàizǔ (960) to the Èr wáng (1279), the principal continuation. Despite the Tōng jiàn title, the form is strict Gāngmù: large-script gāng head-lines plus fēnzhù detail, with full bāobiǎn (praise-and-blame) apparatus. Chén Jīng would more properly have called it Xù gāngmù; he kept the Tōng jiàn name (the Sìkù editors’ criticism on this point is sharp).
The work is doctrinally rigorous on Sòng zhèng tǒng questions in a way the Sìkù editors find both excessive and revealing. Chén Jīng follows the Zhū Xī Yǔ lù in starting Sòng legitimate-succession (tǒng) only from Tàipíng xīngguó 4 / 979 — after the Northern Hàn pacification — rather than from the Tàizǔ founding of 960; this is the strict zhèngtǒng line of late-Sòng / Yuán Lǐxué historiography. Symmetrically, he gives bāo (praise) to the Èr wáng (Bǐng and Yì) as inheriting Sòng tǒng, even though they were short-lived child-emperors with no actual command. The work’s commitment to praise-and-blame is striking enough that Shěn Zhōu’s Kèzuò xīnwén records the (probably apocryphal) story of Chén Jīng calmly refusing to flinch when a thunderbolt struck his desk while he was writing the Sòng Tàizǔ “self-established and returned” line — i.e. the sharply critical line on the Tàizǔ accession.
Chén Jīng’s date is uncertain; the catalog meta records only “Yuán” without lifedates. He is documented in the Míng shǐ Yáng Xiàn zhuàn as having entered the early-Míng Hànlínyuàn and risen by attachment to the HúWèi faction; he must therefore have been alive into the Hóngwǔ era (1368+). The dating bracket here is set to 1340–1370 to span late-Yuán composition through early-Míng presentation/printing.
The work is the prototype for the entire Yuán / Míng tradition of Gāngmù continuations: Wáng Zōngmù 王宗沐’s Sòng Yuán zīzhì tōngjiàn (Míng), Xuē Yìngqí 薛應旂’s Sòng Yuán zīzhì tōngjiàn (Míng), and the imperially-commissioned Yù pī tōng jiàn jí lǎn (Qing, KR2b0037) all descend from Chén Jīng’s design. The Sìkù editors’ verdict — that none of the later imitators surpass him — is the standard scholarly assessment.
Translations and research
No translation. No standalone Western-language monograph. Discussion in:
- Charles Hartman, The Making of Song Dynasty History (CUP, 2021), index s.v. Chén Jīng / Tōng jiàn xù biān.
- Onitsuka Akira 鬼塚明 et al., Tōkan kōmoku no kenkyū 通鑑綱目の研究 (Kyoto: Hōyū, 1998).
- Sìkù tíyào (Shǐ-bù, Biānnián-lèi, juǎn 47).
Other points of interest
The work is the Yuán-period attempt at a complete biānnián universal history within the ZhūXī Gāngmù paradigm; together with Jīn Lǚxiáng’s Qián biān (KR2b0033) it brackets the Gāngmù and so constitutes, with the Gāngmù itself, a single integrated Sòng-to-Yuán Lǐxué-historiographical project on universal history.
Links
- Wikidata Q11084129
- Kyoto Zinbun Sìkù tíyào 0104801.
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual §49.5.