Yuáncháo míngchén shìlüè 元朝名臣事略
A Summary of the Affairs of the Great Ministers of the Yuán Dynasty by 蘇天爵 (撰)
About the work
A fifteen-juàn collective biography of 47 great ministers of the Yuán dynasty (the Sìkù tiyao gives 46; the WYG count is 47), from Mùhuálí 木華黎 (Muqali, the Mongol Tàishī Guówáng and Chinggis Khan’s lieutenant) through Liú Yīn 劉因 (the Jìngxiū recluse, Yuán Lǐxué representative), prepared by Sū Tiānjué 蘇天爵 (zì Bóxiū 伯修, 1294–1352, of Zhēndìng 真定 / modern Héběi). The original title of the work is Guócháo míngchén shìlüè 國朝名臣事略 (so titled in Sū Tiānjué’s lifetime; the Yuáncháo form is from later editions). Sū Tiānjué worked from his youth on the project, drawing on the biéjí (literary collections) of leading Yuán writers (Yú Jí 虞集, Yáo Suì 姚燧, et al.), as well as on tombstone inscriptions, family histories, and private records of conversations with the leading early-Yuán figures. The work is modeled on Zhū Xī’s Sòng míngchén yánxíng lù (KR2g0024) for the form of biography-by-extracts, and on Dù Dàguī’s Míngchén bēizhuàn wǎnyǎn jí (KR2g0025) for the principle of selective use of stelae and biographical sources, but with citations attached after each entry to mark sources — a refinement on both predecessors. The work is the principal Yuán-period source for the careers of the Yuán míngchén and was the working basis for the Yuánshǐ compilers’ lièzhuàn. The catalog meta gives 1294–1352 for Sū’s lifedates; the work was first published with a preface by Ōuyáng Xuán 歐陽玄 dated Tiānlì jǐsì (= 1329) — date bracket here 1329–1335.
Tiyao
Yuán míngchén shìlüè in fifteen juàn, by Sū Tiānjué of the Yuán. Tiānjué, courtesy name Bóxiū, was a man of Zhēndìng. Through the Guózǐxué he placed first in the Imperial College examination, and was appointed Cóngshì láng and Jìzhōu pànguān; he ended as Zhèjiāng xíngshěng cānzhī zhèngshì. His career is given in the Yuánshǐ biography. This book records the deeds of 46 great men of the Yuán, beginning with Muqali and ending with Liú Yīn. It draws principally from the various men’s biéjí — tomb-stelae, zhìmíng, xíngzhuàng, jiāzhuàn; verifiable miscellanies are also drawn upon; each entry is annotated with the source of every detail to mark its evidence. The work follows the model of Zhūzǐ’s Míngchén yánxíng lù but is more detailed on the entire course of each career; it also imitates Dù Dàguī’s Míngchén bēizhuàn wǎnyǎn jí but with selective inclusion rather than reproducing each piece in full. Later, Sū Lín 蘇霖’s Yǒuguān guījiàn drew on this work for affairs of the dynasty; the Yuánshǐ lièzhuàn also corresponds throughout with this work — sufficient demonstration that the work has not lost the standing of a true history. Reverently presented in the eleventh month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781). Chief Editors: Jì Yún 紀昀, Lù Xīxióng 陸錫熊, Sūn Shìyì 孫士毅. Chief Collator: Lù Fèichí 陸費墀.
Abstract
The Yuáncháo míngchén shìlüè is the foundational document for Yuán-period prosopography. Sū Tiānjué (CBDB id, lifedates 1294–1352) was the leading Yuán Hànrén historian of his time and the principal compiler of the Yuán wénlèi 元文類 (an anthology of Yuán literature). The Míngchén shìlüè was completed and presented around Tiānlì 2 (= 1329) — Ōuyáng Xuán’s preface to the work is so dated. The 47 men covered begin with the Mongol founders’ marshals (Muqali, Bao’er-shu 博爾朮, Bao’er-hu 博爾忽), proceed through the Èrwáng (Yēlǚ Chǔcái 耶律楚材, Yáng Wéizhōng 楊惟中), and the great early-Yuán Hànrén ministers (Sòng Zǐzhēn 宋子貞, Shāng Tǐng 商挺, Yáo Shū 姚樞, Zhāng Wénqiān 張文謙), the Bǎodìng / Gǎochéng / Dōngpíng / Gǒngchāng circuit-level commanders, the ÈrWáng (Wáng Xún 王恂, Wáng Pán 王磐) and Yáng Yún 楊允 / Xú Shìlóng 徐世隆 literary men, the SìLiúLǐJiǎZhào (Liú Bǐngzhōng 劉秉忠 et al.) statesmen, and ends with the Sītú Wénzhènggōng Xǔ Héng 許衡 and the recluse Liú Yīn — a comprehensive cross-section of the early-and-middle Yuán political and intellectual elite. The work’s careful citation of sources (each entry has its sources attached, an innovation on Zhū Xī’s and Dù Dàguī’s models) made it usable as a reference for the Yuánshǐ compilers and indeed made it the working foundation of their lièzhuàn — Tu-tu’s 脱脱 (Tuotuo) post-Sū-Tiān-jué Yuánshǐ takes shape on Sū Tiānjué’s prosopographical scaffold.
Translations and research
- Igor de Rachewiltz et al., In the Service of the Khan: Eminent Personalities of the Early Mongol-Yüan Period (1200–1300) (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1993), is largely based on this work and closely related sources.
- John W. Dardess, Conquerors and Confucians: Aspects of Political Change in Late Yüan China (Columbia UP, 1973), draws on the work.
- Hok-lam Chan, ed., China under Mongol Rule (Princeton UP, 1981).
- The Sì-kù tíyào notice is in 史部·傳記類三·總錄之屬.
Other points of interest
The careful citation of sources at the foot of each biography makes the Yuáncháo míngchén shìlüè a zhuànjì with apparatus criticus — a methodological innovation on the late-Sòng zhuànjì tradition. It is the textbook example of post-Zhū-Xī editorial historiography under early-Yuán conditions.
Links
- Wilkinson 2018, Chinese History: A New Manual §49.
- CBDB person id (Sū Tiānjué 蘇天爵).