SOME REMARKS ON THE INTERPRETATION OF CHINESE DYNASTIC HISTORIES

Abstract

It is well known that the official dynastic histories of China are more or less influenced by traditional ways of thought. This calls for some criticism regarding their contents. All the information given by their authors must not be taken at its face value; on the other hand the reader must be careful to avoid a hypercritical attitude towards the texts. On the whole, it is a well established and recognized fact that the official histories, beginning with the Shi-ki, are written for officials by officials. This accounts for the almost uniform neglect of events which did not concern official circles, in particular those of the metropolis. This point needs no further emphasis, nor, equally, the traditional methods of praising or condemning men and manners, paopien S JI. Another factor to which the author should like to draw attention has, however, not always been sufficiently realized by Western historians: the influence of preconceived traditional schemes derived from cosmological speculation 1, even in later dynastic histories. The examples given below are taken from the official dynastic history of the Mongol (Yuan) dynasty, Yiian-shi j l , i.e. a history of comparatively recent date (compiled 1368-1370). For the interpretation of Chinese historical conceptions of the Han and pre-Han period a good deal of work has already been done by Western and Chinese Scholars such as Granet, Maspero and Ku Kie-kang. We know that, for example, dates of solar eclipses have been interpolated for political reasons, as a way of expressing pao-pien. We may therefore presume that the entry of an eclipse in an historical text had generally some meaning and purpose. The same principle applies, a fortiori, to the great number of por-