Qīngcháo Qiánjì 清朝前紀
Records of the Pre-Dynastic Qing by 孟森 (撰)
About the work
Qīngcháo Qiánjì 清朝前紀 is a scholarly historical monograph by 孟森 (Mèng Sēn, 1868–1938), one of the founders of modern academic Qīng history in China. Unlike the other works in the KR4k late batch — which are popular entertainment fiction — Qīngcháo Qiánjì is a work of serious historical scholarship, investigating the pre-dynastic origins of the Qīng royal house in the Jiànzhōu 建州 Jurchen 女真 federation. The work is organized in nine chronicles (jì 紀) tracing the Aisin Gioro lineage back to its earliest traceable ancestors, plus an appendix chronicle on Wáng Gǎo 王杲 (the Jurchen chieftain who raided the Míng frontier before Nǔrhāchì). The section headings include: Nǚzhēn jì 女真紀 (Jurchens), Jiànzhōu jì 建州紀 (Jiànzhōu commandery), Jiànzhōu zuǒwèi qiánjì 建州左衛前紀 (Bùkūlǐ Yōngshùn 布庫裏雍順 — the legendary Aisin Gioro progenitor), and successive generations (Zhào zǔ jì 肇祖紀, Xīng zǔ jì 興祖紀, Jǐng zǔ jì 景祖紀, Xiǎn zǔ jì 顯祖紀).
The opening passage of the Gānglǐng 綱領 (programmatic preface) makes Mèng Sēn’s scholarly agenda explicit: the Qīng court systematically suppressed and burned Míng-era records about the pre-dynastic Jurchens in order to conceal embarrassing facts about their origins. After the 1911 Revolution, Mèng Sēn argues, scholars are now free to investigate what the Qīng tried to hide.
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source.
Abstract
孟森 (Mèng Sēn, courtesy name Mínghū 鳴珂, 1868–1938) was a pioneer of modern Qīng history in China. A Jiāngsū 江蘇 native, he studied traditional learning and later engaged with Western historical methods. After the fall of the Qīng he devoted himself to academic historical research, publishing major studies of Qīng history including Qīngshǐ jiǎng yì 清史講義 (Lectures on Qīng history) and Míng Qīng shǐ lùncóng 明清史論叢 (Collected studies in Míng-Qīng history). He taught at Peking University and was a founder of the discipline of Qīng history in modern Chinese academia. CBDB records his birth year as 1868 and death year as 1938, consistent with other sources. Qīngcháo Qiánjì is an early work in his project of reconstructing the pre-dynastic Jurchen-Aisin Gioro history using sources the Qīng court had tried to suppress.
The work’s genealogical structure — tracing the Aisin Gioro clan generation by generation using the honorific terminology of the posthumously bestowed imperial temple titles (Zhào zǔ 肇祖 = “Founding Ancestor,” Xīng zǔ 興祖 = “Rising Ancestor,” etc.) — reflects the conventions of Qīng imperial genealogy while subjecting the underlying sources to critical scrutiny. The personal names in the section headings (Bùkūlǐ Yōngshùn 布庫裏雍順, Tóng cāng Dǒng shān 童倉董山, Tuō luó 妥羅, Wū shēng hā 兀升哈, Jiào chǎng 叫場) are transliterations of Manchu/Jurchen names, reflecting the pre-Chinese naming conventions of the early Aisin Gioro clan. Mèng Sēn’s patient reconstruction of these names and their historical referents was a foundational contribution to Qīng studies.
Translations and research
- Crossley, Pamela Kyle. 1990. Orphan Warriors: Three Manchu Generations and the End of the Qing World. Princeton University Press.
- Elliott, Mark C. 2001. The Manchu Way: The Eight Banners and Ethnic Identity in Late Imperial China. Stanford University Press.
- Mèng Sēn 孟森. 1934. Qīngshǐ jiǎng yì 清史講義. Peking University lecture notes; later compiled as Qīngdài shǐ 清代史. The principal work from the same scholarly project.
Links
- Mèng Sēn: Wikipedia (Chinese)
- Jiànzhōu Jurchens: Wikipedia