Shíyè Yěwén 十葉野聞
Unofficial Records of the Ten [Qing] Reigns by 許指嚴 (撰)
About the work
Shíyè Yěwén 十葉野聞 is a bǐjì 筆記-style miscellany of unofficial historical anecdotes concerning the Qīng dynasty by 許指嚴 (Xǔ Zhǐyán, 1875–1923). The title “Ten Leaves” (shíyè 十葉) refers to the ten reigns of the Qīng: Shùnzhì 順治, Kāngxī 康熙, Yōngzhèng 雍正, Qiánlóng 乾隆, Jiāqìng 嘉慶, Dàoguāng 道光, Xiánfēng 咸豐, Tóngzhì 同治, Guāngxù 光緒, and Xuāntǒng 宣統. The opening anecdote (headed “Fèng’ān gùshì” 奉安故事) concerns the burial of the Chóngzhēn Emperor 崇禎帝 after the fall of the Míng — drawing on evidence from Dōnghuá Lù 東華錄, Kāiguó Fānglüè 開國方略, Shèng’ān Běnjì 聖安本紀, and Qìxuè Lù 泣血錄 to reconstruct the actual circumstances of the fallen Ming emperor’s burial, arguing that the Qīng official account greatly exaggerated the funeral honors accorded him and that the Chóngzhēn Emperor was in fact given only a rough coffin burial before the Qīng improved the site for propaganda purposes.
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source.
Abstract
許指嚴 (Xǔ Zhǐyán, 1875–1923) was a Shanghai journalist and miscellany writer of the late Qīng and Republican period. CBDB records his birth year as 1875 (= Guāngxù 1) and death year as 1923 (= Republic 12), consistent with other sources. He was a prolific author of historical bǐjì and journalistic prose. Shíyè Yěwén belongs to the genre of unofficial historical bǐjì — anecdote collections drawing on a variety of historical sources to illuminate unofficial or suppressed aspects of dynastic history. The opening anecdote’s use of multiple historical sources (including loyalist Míng sources suppressed by the Qīng) exemplifies the Republican-era practice of critical historical reconstruction freed from Qīng censorship constraints.
The scope of “ten leaves” — ten dynastic reigns — structures the work as a survey of unofficial anecdote covering the entire Qīng. The yěwén 野聞 (“unofficial records”) genre was a common vehicle for historically sensitive material that the official dynastic record had suppressed or distorted.
Translations and research
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Links
- Xǔ Zhǐyán: Wikipedia (Chinese)