Yuanshi 元もと史し

Yuanshi 元もと史し "History of the Yuan" is the first official dynastic history (zhengshi 正史せいし) of the Yuan dynasty 元もと (1279-1368). It was compiled under the supervision of Song Lian 宋そう濂 (1310–1381, courtesy name Jinglian 景けい濂, style Qianxi 潛せん溪けい or Xuanzhenzi 玄げん真子しんじ) and Wang Yi 王おう禕 (1321–1372, courtesy name Zichong 子こ充たかし, style Huachuan 華川はなかわ).

It comprises 210 juan, of which 47 are imperial annals-biographies (benji 本紀ほんぎ), 58 juan treatises (zhi 志こころざし), 8 juan tables (biao 表ひょう), and 97 juan normal and collective biographies (liezhuan 列傳れつでん).

Already in 1368, immediately after the foundation of the Ming dynasty 明あきら (1368-1644), Emperor Taizu 明太めんたい祖そ (r. 1368–1398) decreed the compilation of the official dynastic history of the Mongolian dynasty of the Yuan. The compilation was carried out in the Tianjie Monastery 天界てんかい寺てら in Nanjing, at that time still the capital of the Ming empire, and after less than a year 70 percent of the draft were finished. The other thirty percent could only be finished when a group of officials was dispatched to Dadu 大だい都と (later called Beijing), the former capital of the Yuan dynasty, to collect archival material about the last emperor of the Yuan. The whole book was submitted to the throne in the same year.

The high velocity of the compilation caused many problems. The book had been virtually submitted in the shape of a draft and was never revised. One of the outcomes is that reports are contradicting each other, that one event is reported several times in the imperial annals, or even that the biographies of some persons appear twice. The transcription of Mongolian names and terms is not consistant, so that it is difficult to identify persons. Some translations from sources written in Mongolian are also not very good and sometimes even render the opposite of the original meaning. Not only biographies, but also the treatises and tables suffer from a negligent or even dilettantish treatment of terms and names by the compilers. In the biographies, irrelevant paragraphs are quoted from the sources. In some places the year cycles are confused, with catastrophic results for the dating of the events. Event the temple names of the emperors are rendered wrongly in many places.

At least a part of those errors can be traced back to the fact that the historians were not accustomed to the political system and customs of the Mongols. They were, for instance, not aware of the importance an empress dowager played as a temporary ruler after the death of a khan or emperor. The hatred against the alien rule of the Mongols might also have played a role for the missing diligence with which the Yuanshi was compiled.

The tables include information about empresses (106 Houfei biao 后妃こうひ表ひょう), members of the imperial dynasty (107 Zongshi shixi biao 宗室そうしつ世よ系けい表ひょう), princes (108 Zhuwang biao 諸王しょおう表ひょう), princesses (109 Zhu gongzhu biao 諸しょ公主こうしゅ表ひょう), the holders of the honorary posts of the Three Dukes (110-111 Sangong biao 三さん公表こうひょう), and the Counsellors-in-chief (112-113 Zaixiang nianbiao 宰相さいしょう年表ねんぴょう).

The treatises of the Yuanshu cover the themes astronomy (48-49 Tianwen zhi 天文てんもん志こころざし), the Five Agents (50-51 Wuxing zhi 五ご行ぎょう志こころざし), calendar (52-57 Li zhi 曆こよみ志こころざし), administrative geography (58-63 Dili zhi 地理ちり志こころざし), hydraulic works (64-66 Hequ zhi 河かわ渠みぞ志こころざし), court rituals and music (67-71 Liyue zhi 禮樂れいがく志こころざし), sacrifices (72-77 Jisi zhi 祭祀さいし志こころざし), state coaches and court robes (78-80 Yufu zhi 輿こし服ふく志こころざし), selection and appointment of officials (81-84 Xuanju zhi 選せん舉志), state offices (85-92 Baiguan zhi 百官ひゃっかん志こころざし), food and commodities (93-97 Shihuo zhi 食しょく貨志), military (98-101 兵へい志こころざし), and penal law (102-105 刑法けいほう志こころざし).

The collective biographies encompass imperial consorts (114, 116 Houfei liezhuan 后妃こうひ列傳れつでん), imperial princes (115), Confucian scholars (189-190 Ruxue liezhuan 儒學じゅがく列傳れつでん), good officials (191-192 Liangli liezhuan 良吏りょうり列傳れつでん), persons of loyal conduct (193-196 Zhongyi liezhuan 忠義ちゅうぎ列傳れつでん), persons of filial and brotherly conduct (197-198 Xiaoyou liezhuanYinyi liezhuan 隱逸いんいつ列傳れつでん), outstanding women (200-201 Lienü zhuan 列れつ女おんな傳でん), Buddhists and Daoists (202 Shi-Lao liezhuan 釋しゃく老ろう列傳れつでん), magicians and diviners (203 Fangji liezhuan 方かた技わざ列傳れつでん, app. architects, Gongyi 工藝こうげい), eunuchs (204 Huanzhe liezhuan 宦者列傳れつでん), treacherous officials (205 Jianchen liezhuan 姦臣かんしん列傳れつでん), disloyal officials (206 Panchen liezhuan 叛臣列傳れつでん), rebels (207 Nichen liezhuan 逆臣ぎゃくしん列傳れつでん) and foreign countries (208-210 Waiyi liezhuan 外そと夷えびす列傳れつでん).

The book is nevertheless one of the most important sources for the study of the Yuan period. It preserves a lot of original sources which have been lost, namely the "veritable records" (shilu 實錄じつろく) of the emperors and the institutional treatises of statecraft (Jingshi dadian 經世けいせい大典たいてん). The argument of some scholars that the Yuanshi was written too discursive and should be shortened in many places, is therefore not justified: Without the Yuanshi many sources would not have survived.

The number of biographies of Mongols in high offices, like generals, princes and prime ministers, is not very high. This is not justified regarding the importance of them as actors in history. The reason for this is that the compilers of the Yuanshi lacked sufficient sources from the dynasty's archives (the compilation took place in Nanjing, while the remnants of the Yuan archives were far away in Beijing) but instead made use of easily available sources on Chinese persons, like tomb stone inscriptions found in southern China. A less important point of critique is the overall composition of the book which contradicts long-established principles, for example, the deviating order of the treatises and the collective biographies. At least countless information on the Mongolian customs and habits as well as on the peoples living in the Western Territories and Annam is preserved in the treatises.

The many shortcomings of the Yuanshi inspired a whole wave of rectifying supplements, like Zhu You's 朱しゅ右みぎ (1314–1376) Yuanshi shiyi 元もと史し拾遺しゅうい, or Xie Jin's 解かい縉 (1369–1415) Yuanshi zhengwu 元もと史し正誤せいご, both written during the very early Ming period. The Qing period 清きよし (1644-1911) literature includes Shao Yuanping's 邵遠平ひらめ (jinshi degree 1664) Yuanshi leibian 元もと史し類るい編へん, Wei Yuan's 魏ぎ源げん (1794-1856) Yuanshi xinbian 元もと史し新編しんぺん, Zeng Lian's 曾廉 (1856–1928) Yuanshu 元もと書しょ, Ke Shaomin's 柯紹忞 (1850-1933) Xin Yuanshi 新元しんもと史し, and Tu Ji's 屠ほふ寄よせ (1856–1921) Mengwu'er shiji 蒙こうむ兀兒史記しき.

Yet none of those book is able to replace the Yuanshi as an official history, barring Ke Shaomin's Xin Yuanshi that was incorporated into the canon of the dynastic histories, as the twenty-sixth.

Already in 1370 the Yuanshi was printed in Nanjing and in the mid-16th century a second time. In 1935 the Commercial Press (Shangwu yinshuguan 商務しょうむ印しるし書しょ館かん) published the so-called Bona edition 百ひゃく衲本 that was based on both Ming period prints but suffers from countless printing errors. The Zhonghua Book Company 中華ちゅうか書しょ局きょく published a modern edition in 1976 that took into consideration the older prints, corrected errors and added a critical apparatus.