Yuan shi
| History of Yuan | |||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 元史 | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simplified Chinese | 元史 | ||||||||||||
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| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Yuán Shǐ |
| Southern Min | |
| Hokkien POJ | Goân-sú |
| Tâi-lô | Guân-sú |
The History of Yuan (Yuán Shǐ), also known as the Yuanshi, is one of the official Chinese historical works known as the Twenty-Four Histories of China. Commissioned by the court of the Ming dynasty, in accordance to political tradition, the text was composed in 1370 by the official Bureau of History of the Ming dynasty, under direction of Song Lian (1310–1381).
The compilation formalized the official history of the preceding Yuan dynasty. Under the guidance of Song Lian, the official dynastic history broke with the old Confucian historiographical tradition, establishing a new historical framework asserting that the influence of history was equal in influence to the great Confucian classics in determining the course of human affairs.
The historical work consists of 210 chapters chronicling the history of the Genghisid Yuan dynasty from the time of Genghis Khan (1162–1227) to the flight of the last Yuan emperor, Toghon Temür ("Emperor Huizong", 1333–1370) from Khanbaliq in 1368.
The chapters are, in turn, subdivided into the following:
The History of Yuan was first commissioned by the Hongwu Emperor in the second year of his reign (1369), using materials such as the court historical records of the Yuan dynasty, which were stored in Khanbaliq and captured by Xu Da. A team of 16 officials, led by Song Lian and overseen by Li Shanchang, compiled the first draft of the history within months.
Due to the paucity of court records for the last years of the Yuan, however, compilation had to be paused while more historical material was sourced. In 1370, after a second commission, the History of Yuan was completed with new materials. Altogether, the 210-chapter history took a mere 331 days to compile.
The History of Yuan is unique among the official histories in that no commentary or evaluation of any biographical subjects was given by the compilers.
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