Tan Qian

Tan Qian

Tan Qian (1594 - January 14, 1658), a historian, originally named Yixun, was born in Haining, Zhejiang Province. After the death of Ming Dynasty, he changed his name to Qian, named rumu and guanruo. He called himself "adherent of Jiangzuo". He was not an official all his life, and made a living as a servant and an assistant. Tan Qian learned from many books, was good at all schools of thought, studied history, and created the history book Guoyan. His works include Zaolin Zazu, beiyoulu and Zaolin Ji.

It took more than 20 years to compile the Ming Dynasty annals.

In 1647, the manuscript of Guoyan was stolen. After four years of hard work and perseverance, we finally finished the new draft.

In the 10th year of Shunzhi (1653), he went northward with his manuscripts. He spent two and a half years in Beijing, visiting the old ministers of the Ming Dynasty, collecting the remains of the Ming Dynasty, and inspecting the historical sites to supplement and revise them. After the completion of the book, it was signed "Jiangzuo adherents" to express the pain of national subjugation.

In the 14th year of Shunzhi, he went to Pingyang, Shanxi Province to pay homage to his forefather Zhang Shenyan, who died of illness in a hostel.

Guoyan is an important work in the study of Ming history, which is based on Ming Shilu, referring to various historical books, textual research, revision and supplement.

Together with Zhang Dai, Cha jizuo and WAN Sitong, he is known as the "four great historians of eastern Zhejiang"

Life of the characters

essential information

Historians in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties. Its original name is Yixun, its word is Zhongmu, and its name is shefu. After the death of Ming Dynasty, he changed his name to Qian, named rumu and guanruo. He called himself "adherent of Jiangzuo". He is from Haining, Zhejiang Province. He was not an official all his life, and made a living as a servant and an assistant. He is fond of comprehensiveness and devoted to the history of Ming Dynasty. From the first year of Tianqi (1621), based on the actual records of Ming Dynasty, the first draft of Guoyan was completed in six years. In the first year of Hongguang in the Southern Ming Dynasty (1644 in the first year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty), Gao Hongtu, a cabinet associate, was highly valued by Gao Hongtu and Zhang Shenyan. He was recommended as the Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPC, the Minister of rites, and participated in the compilation of history. However, he did not want to "use the misfortune of the country to become an official". In the second year of Shunzhi (1645) of the Qing Dynasty, he returned to his original place and supplemented the historical events of Chongzhen and Hongguang dynasties in Guoyan. Four years later, the whole manuscript was stolen and rewritten angrily. Ten years later, Zhu Zhixi, editor and editor of Hongwen academy, went to Beijing with his manuscripts to explore public and private works. He visited the old people of the Ming Dynasty, especially paid attention to the official documents and other government archives, and revised Guoyan. In the early Qing Dynasty, the system of taxes and servitudes was chaotic and heavy. He wrote to the Ministry of household and suggested "legislation and custom" and "light corvee and light tax". In the summer of the 13th year, he returned to Haining from the south. The next summer, he was hired by Shen Zhenheng and went to Pingyang, Shanxi Province (now Linfen, Shanxi Province), where he died in the winter. Other works include Zaolin Zazu, Zaolin waisuo (six volumes), Zaolin collection (twelve volumes), Zaolin poetry collection (three volumes), beiyoulu (two volumes), xiyoulu (two volumes), Haichang WaiZhi (eight volumes), Shilun (two volumes), etc. At that time, people were in a state of confusion and wanted to recount the reasons for their fate, so as to show the afterlife. However, they were narrow and had no basis. It's a book when I hear about it, but I want to steal it for myself. If you move to a poor family, you will not find anyone you want. At night, you will steal into your room and go to Tibet. Qian kuoran said, "my hand is still here. Would you rather have it then?" From Jiashan Qian's borrowing books. Yangcheng Zhang Shenyan eyes for the wizard, eclectic under. He moved north to Changping and wept for his tomb. He wanted to go to Yangcheng and wept for his death before he arrived. He died in the winter and November of the 12th year of Shunzhi. Huang Zongxi is the tomb of the emperor. As a child, he was diligent and eager to learn, and his family was poor. He made a living by writing, writing on behalf of others or writing in the Office (secretary). He has never been an official in his life, and he lives by copying, writing for others, or writing for a secretary. In my words, people who are really dedicated to learning become talents by self-study and then write history in private. He is a historian who does not care about his salary, does not admire his fame, has a poor life, and lives with backbone, solar terms, sense of mission and responsibility.

A student career in history

Tan Qian was a well read man with a poor family. He was good at many schools of thought and studied history, especially allusions of Ming Dynasty. He is determined to write a full, accurate and credible history of Ming Dynasty. From the first year of Tianqi (1621) at the age of 27, it took more than 20 years to complete this chronicled history of Ming Dynasty. The book is about 4 million words and named Guoyan. In 1647, when the manuscript was stolen, he was 53 years old. He quickly broke away from the pain and worked hard to rewrite it. After four years of hard work, he finished the new manuscript. In the 10th year of Shunzhi, he went north with his manuscripts. He visited the vassals, the royal family, eunuchs and the royal family in Beijing, collected anecdotes of the Ming Dynasty, and inspected the historical sites to supplement and revise them. After the completion of the book, it was signed "Jiangzuo adherents" to express the pain of national subjugation. In the 14th year, he went to Pingyang (now Linfen) of Shanxi Province to pay homage to his forefather Zhang Shenyan and died of illness in a foreign place. Tan Qian's ancestral home is Bianliang (now Kaifeng). He moved southward with Song Shi and settled in Zaolin village, southwest of Yanguan. After the sand of Houjiang River collapsed, he moved to the west of Majing port in Maqiao. His works include Zaolin collection, Zaolin poetry collection, Zaolin Zazu, beiyoulu, xiyoulu, Shilun, Haichang WaiZhi, etc.

Historical allusions

The story of Guoyan

In the first year of Tianqi (1621), Tan Qian was 28 years old. Tan Qian's mother died. He stayed at home and read a lot of Ming Dynasty history books. He felt that there were many mistakes and omissions in them. Therefore, he made a wish to write a full, accurate and reliable Ming history in line with the historical facts of the Ming Dynasty. For the next 26 years, he walked hundreds of miles with his luggage on his back. After five years of hard work, I finished the first draft. After revision, unremitting efforts, six easy its draft, wrote a hundred volumes of more than 4 million words of the masterpiece "Guoyan.". Unexpectedly, before the manuscript was to be printed (August 1647, the fourth year of Shunzhi in Qing Dynasty), it was stolen by a thief. He washed his face with tears every day and didn't think about food and tea, so he couldn't sleep at night. However, he did not give up and decided to rewrite it. At that time, Tan Qian was already a frail and sick old man. After four years of unremitting efforts, day and night rush, finally completed the new draft. The tenth year of Shunzhi (1653).

Guoyan is an important work in the study of Ming history, which is based on Ming Shilu, referring to various historical books, textual research, revision and supplement. There are many derogatory criticisms of the Qing Dynasty in the book, which could not be spread at that time. Until after the founding of the people's Republic of China, Zhang Zongxiang, a native of Li, began to collate and revise it into 108 volumes, which was published by Zhonghua Book Company in 1958. Tan Qian's rewriting of Guoyan was also included in the text of volume 9 (Volume 1, grade 5) of the national standard edition of Jiangsu education, written by Jiang Guangyu, with the title of "belief that can not be broken by bad luck".

The content of the book is as follows:

At the end of Ming Dynasty and the beginning of Qing Dynasty, there was a historian Tan Qian in Zhejiang. Tan Qian studied hard since he was a child, read widely, especially loved history, and was determined to write a full and reliable history of the Ming Dynasty. But because of his poor family, he had to borrow books everywhere to copy. Once, in order to copy some historical materials, he took dry food with him for more than 100 miles. After more than 20 years of struggle and six revisions, Tan Qian finally completed a more than 4 million word chronicle of the Ming Dynasty, Guoyan, in his 50s.

In the face of this masterpiece that can be handed down through the ages, Tan Qian's joy can be imagined. However, just before the manuscript went to press, something unexpected happened. One night, the thief sneaked into his house and saw that there was nothing to steal. He thought that the manuscript of Guoyan locked in the bamboo box was valuable property, so he stole the whole bamboo box. Since then, these precious manuscripts have been missing. More than 20 years of hard work turned into nothing in a flash, which is a fatal blow to anyone. What's more, Tan Qian is already a frail and sick old man. He doesn't think about food and tea, and it's hard to sleep at night. Only two lines of tears are flowing. Many people thought that he would never stand up again, but his bad luck did not defeat Tan Qian. He quickly broke away from his pain and decided to write this history book from the beginning.

After four years of hard work, he finished the first draft of his new book. In order to make the book more complete and accurate, Tan Qian, 59, took the manuscript to the capital Beijing. During his stay in Beijing, he went around, extensively collecting anecdotes of the previous dynasty, and personally went to the suburbs to inspect historical sites. He wears a ragged shirt and runs all day long in the wind and sand. In the face of Gudeng, regardless of his old age and infirmity, he wrote hard. He knew that there was not much time left for himself in his life. After several years of struggle, a new Guoyan was born. The newly written Guoyan, with 104 volumes and 4.284 million words, is a rare masterpiece of Ming history. Tan Qian is also famous in history.

In the long journey of life, it is inevitable that there will be bumps and bumps, but as long as there is a belief that bad luck can not defeat, the light of hope will dispel the cloud of despair.

Conduct

Tan Qian always makes a living by copying for others, which is very hard. Despite the hardships, he never gave up his principles for money and backbone.

In the winter of the 15th year of Chongzhen, a merchant ship smuggled ginseng from Japan, worth 100000 gold. Land in Haining and go to Jiaxing. Liu Xianmo, the local magistrate, arrested the smuggler, but he did not report it to the local government in an attempt to embezzle the ginseng. He asked Tan Qian to write a letter to the governor of Zhejiang Province to bribe him. Tan Qian thought the matter was serious and could not hide it. He refused to write a letter. As expected, the matter came to light and Liu Xianmo was dismissed.

In the 12th year of Shunzhi, Tan moved to Beijing. Yang Yongjian, a fellow scholar of Xinke, asked Tan Qian's old friend Shen Zhongjia to write two letters on his behalf. Tan Qian reluctantly agreed. Later, Yang Yongjian sent for him, and Tan Qian refused. I'm old, he wrote in his diary

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