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Chinese Historiography in the Last Fifty Years

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2011

S. Y. Teng
S. Y. Teng
Affiliation:
University of Chicago
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Extract

Chinese Historiography has a brilliant past. Both in quantity and in quality, only modern European historiography can be compared with it, while that of other old countries, such as India, is far inferior. Other peoples may boast of their philosophy, science, and art, but in the field of historiography no country can claim such a long and glorious tradition as can China.

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Articles
Information
The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 8 , Issue 2 , February 1949 , pp. 131 - 156
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 1949

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References

1 Prof. Latourette, K. S. says, “As late as the close of the eighteenth century, the [Chinese] Empire possibly contained more printed books than all the rest of the world put together” (The Chinese, their history and culture [3rd rev. ed., New York, 1946], 213)Google Scholar. Take the “Twenty-five dynastic histories” as an example – if this series were translated with appropriate notes, there would be about “450 volumes of 500 pages each” (Dubs, Homer H., “The reliability of Chinese histories,” Far Eastern quarterly, 6 [Nov. 1946], 23–25).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

2 A work of 130 chüan or chapters, 47 of which have been translated by Chavannes, Edouard (1865–1918) under the title Mémoires historiques, 5 vols., Paris, 1895–1905.Google Scholar

3 For those who would like to know more about the past of Chinese historiography, Gardner's, Charles S.Chinese traditional historiography (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1938), though not without shortcomings, is highly recommended.Google Scholar

4 A good treatise on this subject was done by Goodrich, L. C., The literary inquisition of Ch'ien-lung (Baltimore, 1935).Google Scholar

5 The Modern Text School is to be distinguished from the Old Text School. After Emperor Ch'in Shih Huang burned many books in 213 B.C., it was claimed that many Confucian classics were handed down orally by old scholars and transcribed in the modern script, thus giving rise to the name “Modern Text School.” Later on it was claimed that some old books in archaic scripts were discovered in the double walls of Confucian temples and other places, and so the term “Old Text School” was derived. Each school claimed superiority and condemned the texts of the other school as unreliable. The two schools have been fighting each other for about 2000 years.Google Scholar

6 Chou Yü-t'ung , an expert on the problem of the Old and New Text Schools of the classics has a long discussion on this point. See his article, “Wu-shih nien lai Chung-kuo chih hsin-shih-hsüeh” Hsūeh lin Qft, no. 4 (Feb. 1941), 1-36. See also The autobiography of a Chinese historian, being a preface to a symposium on ancient Chinese history, translated and annotated by Hummel, Arthur W. (Leyden, 1931), Introduction and p. 41.Google Scholar

7 Yin-ping-shih ho-chi (Shanghai: Chung-hua Book Co., 1986), ts'e. 4: 1–11.Google Scholar

8 See Shih's, Hu introduction to his Chung-kuo che-hsüeh-shih ta-kang (15th print., Commercial Press, 1936), 3–5.Google Scholar

9 Shih, Huwen-ts'un (first collection, 18th print., Shanghai, 1938): “Research methods of the Ch'ing Scholars,” ch. 2: 539-79; “A critical study of the Shui-hu ch'uan,” ch. 3:703–805; and “A critical study of the Hung-lou-tneng,” ch. 3:807-70.Google Scholar

10 In Studies presented to Ts'ai Yuan-p'ei on his sixty-fifth birthday, part A () (Peiping: Academia Sinica, 1933), 323–424.Google Scholar

11 Prof. Wen-chung, P'ei, who personally picked up the bones of Peking man from a cave, told the writer that Japanese soldiers took the fossils away in boxes. When American planes bombed their trucks, they threw everything into the water near Tientsin, and the Peking men could never be found.Google Scholar

12 See Teilhard, Pére de Chardin, and Boule, Marcellin, Le paleolithique de la Chine (Paris, 1928).Google Scholar

13 Photo-lithograph, Peiping, 1930, of original compilations made by imperial auspices and presented to the emperor, 80 chüan for the period 1836-50, in 1856; 80 chüan for the period 1851-61, in 1867; and 100 chüan for the period 1862-74, in 1880.Google Scholar

14 Published in 1947 by the Nanking Victory Publication Company (142 pages). This booklet gives a general review of Chinese historiography in the last century; a big order masterfully handled by Professor Ku but not without prejudice. He praises the works of his friends and favorite students and omits entirely the works done by his opponents regardless of thencontribution.Google Scholar

15 Ibid., 127-29.

16 Ssu-nien, Fu, I hsia tung-hsi shuo, in Studies presented to Ts'ai Yüan-p'ei on his sixty fifth birthday, part B: 1093-1135.Google Scholar

17 In Ku-shih pien, vol. 7, part A: 65-404. Hereafter when Chung-kuo, meaning China or Chinese, appears at the beginning of a title it has been omitted from the character group following.Google Scholar

18 “The Hsia people originate from the east,” Yü-kung, 7, nos. 6-7 (June 1937) 61–79.Google Scholar

19 The second character should be kung, Giles no. 6574.Google Scholar

20 See Ch'i Ssu-ho, “Hsien-tai Chung-kuo shih-hsiieh p'ing-lun” (Review of modern Chinese historiography), Ta-chung , 1, no. 1 (Jan. 1946), 33–38.Google Scholar