Wan Sitong

Wan Sitong

Wan Sitong (March 9, 1638 - May 4, 1702), a famous historian in the early Qing Dynasty, was born in Yinxian County, Zhejiang Province (now Yinzhou District, Ningbo City). The eighth son of Wantai.

After learning from Huang Zongxi, my brother's learning has improved. The master of learning is cautious and dedicated to the study of ancient history, especially the history of Ming Dynasty. He inherited the teachings of his father and teacher, advocated integrity, and regarded himself as a adherent of Ming Dynasty. In the 17th year of Kangxi (1678), the governor of Zhejiang Province recommended that he should be knowledgeable about Hongci, but he could not make a speech. The next year, the Qing court ordered the revision of Ming history. Xu Yuanwen, the chief executive officer, recommended him to the history museum. He received seven salaries as the editor of the Imperial Academy, and he resigned. Later, under the orders of his father and teacher, he participated in historical events with cloth clothes, without any title or salary, and went to Beijing to revise Ming history. In Beijing, Xu Yuanwen asked him to go to his home to write about everything. Later, Zhang Yushu, Chen Tingjing and Wang Hongxu succeeded as the president of Ming history, all of them treated each other with courtesy. In the 19th year of the Museum of history, he wrote 300 volumes of Ming History Biographies, 13 volumes of Ming history tables, 8 volumes of zaifukeikao, 12 volumes of Hequ chronicles, and finally 500 volumes of Ming history manuscript.

Together with Zhang Dai, Tan Qian and cha jizuo, he is known as the "four great historians of eastern Zhejiang"

During his stay in Beijing, he often held lectures to enlighten later generations. Scholars respected him as "Mr. Wan", and every time he signed his own "cloth clothes, Wan Sitong". In his later years, he was blind and still gave oral answers and lectures. He died in the Museum of Ming history. In addition, he has written historical tables of the past dynasties, collection of the times, schools of the Confucians, debating doubts among the scholars, and collection of Shiyuan poems and essays, etc.

Overview image source: < / I >

Life of the characters

Wan Sitong was born in Yinxian County, Zhejiang Province on March 9, 1638, the 24th day of the 11th year of Chongzhen in Ming Dynasty. At the age of 8, he was able to recite Yangzi FA Yan in front of his guests without losing a word in the final chapter. At the age of 14 and 15, he read all the books collected by his family. Later, he specialized in twenty-one history, and studied with Huang Zongxi, a famous historian in Eastern Zhejiang Province. Later, he read the books collected by Tianyi Pavilion, and learned a lot about history, especially the anecdotes of Ming Dynasty.

Wan Sitong, like his teacher Huang Zongxi, has a great national integrity. In 1678, the Qing government refused Huang Zongxi's request to revise the history of the Ming Dynasty. The Minister of the central court elected Wan Sitong as a scholar of Ci, and WAN Sitong also refused. Later, Xu Yuanwen, a bachelor, became the president of the Ming history, and recommended him to the Bureau of history. Huang Zongxi felt that the revision of Ming history was related to the judgment of loyalty and traitors and the great cause of future generations. With Wan Sitong's participation, he could rest assured that he would mobilize Wan Sitong to go to Beijing. In his farewell poem, he encouraged him with the saying that "the four sides of the Ming Dynasty are worth Ming Shui, and a generation of traitors and sages are entrusted with cloth". At that time, those who joined the history Bureau were awarded the title of compilation by the Imperial Academy and the seven grade salary.

In accordance with Huang Zongxi's instructions, Wan Sitong preferred to live in Xu Yuan's literary family after he went to Beijing, without any title or salary. He entered the Bureau of history with cloth clothes and revised the history of Ming Dynasty for 19 years. All of these manuscripts were written by the Yangming School under the rule of Huang Zongxi after examination and adjudication. It was extremely hard and set a good example for Chinese historians. He also compiled more than 200 volumes of general examination of reading rites for Xu Qianxue. He himself said: "history is hard to say for a long time! Good and bad will lead to bad reputation. There are three people talking about the affairs of a family, and their biographies are different, not to mention hundreds of years If the record is hard to be detailed, I will prove it by his books. If his books are abusive and false, I will judge it by what I get from the record. Although I dare not believe it all, the wrong ones are rare! In the past, the disease in the history of Song Dynasty was very complicated, but what I said will be more serious. Those who don't know the simplicity are the most valuable, and those who don't take it are not the truth of the matter and the truth of the words. "

He was familiar with the evolution of Han Dynasty and the history of Ming Dynasty. At that time, there were 50 or 60 officials who participated in the compilation. After they finished each draft, they sent it to Vance for review. Wan Sitong read every first draft. Tell the compiler that if you take a book, a volume, a page, something should be added; if you take a book, a volume, a page, something should be verified, and there is no fallacy. After Xu Yuanwen, Zhang Yushu, Chen Tingjing, and Wang Hongxu were the presidents of compiling the history of the Ming Dynasty. They still asked Wan Sitong to continue compiling the history of the Ming Dynasty.

Wan Sitong was responsible for the history of Ming Dynasty. When he was young, he liked ancient prose and poetry, and competed with some famous scholars at that time in the literary world. Later, he thought that history was needed by the country, so he went from classics to history, specializing in history, and aspired to be a historian of a generation. He often lamented that after the Tang Dynasty, the compilation of local chronicles was divided into different departments, which resulted in many errors in historical records. He said: "in the past, Sima Qian and Ban Gu were not only outstanding in compiling history, but also inherited from his father's learning, and the facts were reliable, so they were recorded in historical records. After that, although the experts were not as good at compiling history books as Sima Qian and Ban Gu, they were not as messy as the official compilation. The compilation of history books is like entering a human room. It is always a way to predict the hall, then to know the family's circumstances and customs, and then to know the family's old and young, hard and soft, and to meet the virtuous. We can't grasp the situation of this company until we have a clear understanding of it. The same is true of history books. The history of official cultivation is hastily formed; people have no time to choose the right material or not, and the fact or untrue is like inviting passers-by to discuss things in the room. The reason why I want to be the president is that I am afraid that the people will be separated from each other, so that the traces of the good and the treacherous will not be known His words had a great influence on later historians.

Wan Sitong's attitude to history is very rigorous. He believes that writing history books must be "a matter of letters and a matter of prose". He said, it's hard to build history. The revisioners of history have their own likes and dislikes. The story of one room is often different from that of three people. Besides, it is difficult to distinguish the right from the wrong in the matter of hundreds of years ago, so there are numerous people who have been wronged. He said: "when I was young, I worked as a librarian in a certain family in the east of the city and borrowed the Ming Dynasty's records collected by that family. I recite silently, but I dare not leave a word or a thing behind. When he grew up, he traveled all over the country, asking his parents for a letter, asking about the past and the county annals. All the biographies of miscellaneous families are collected, and the actual records are taken as the guide. The actual record directly records its events, and does not need to be embellished. If there are mistakes in his books, the factual records shall be taken as evidence. In this way, although it can not be said to be completely credible, there will be fewer fallacies. " It was with this serious attitude that he wrote history. Today, Tianyige has more than ten volumes of biographies of Ming Dynasty historical manuscripts compiled by him, which has a considerable position in historiography.

All his life, Wan Sitong did not admire honor and profit. He only studied to encourage fame and integrity. He has a modest attitude and calls himself "the same cloth clothes" when he contacts with people. However, from the princes to the students in Beijing, they all respected him as "Mr. Wan". He lectured many times in Beijing, throughout the ancient and modern historical facts, comments to the point. Li Guangdi, a famous scholar in the early Qing Dynasty, was very strict in appraising talents, but highly praised Wan Sitong. He said that he saw only a few poems in his life, such as Gu Ningren (Yanwu), Wan Jiye and Yan Baishi, "which are really good candidates for Shiqu consultants.".

In his later years, Wan Sitong was blind and could only compile history by dictation. According to his dictation, Wen Ruilin's "anecdotes of Southern Xinjiang" escaped from the literary inquisition during the reign of Yongzheng and Qianlong because it was not printed, leaving a valuable wealth for the historians. On April 8, the 41st year of Kangxi (May 4, 1702), Vance died at the same time as Wang Hongxu's family in the capital. At the age of 64, he was buried on the hillside of the south foot of wuyangguan mountain in Chunhu Town, Fenghua, Zhejiang Province. His collection of books was occupied by Qian Mingshi. Liu Fang wrote "Mr. Wan Jiye's biography". Wan Sitong's death symbolized the end of the first stage of the compilation of Ming history. After several changes of manuscripts, it was officially published in 1739. It has been more than 30 years since his death. Yang Chun, a Confucian classics scholar, believes that "the history of the Ming Dynasty was written by the old people at the beginning of the Republic of China, especially Wan Jiye. Ji and Zhuan are good at expressing annals, but after Wanli, they are good before the middle period. Biographies of yuan Chonghuan, Zuo Liangyu and Li Zicheng are two volumes. In the history of Song Dynasty and Yuan Dynasty, the structure of Song Dynasty and Yuan Dynasty was very popular During the cultural revolution, Wan Sitong's tomb was badly damaged.

Historical records of the Qing Dynasty

Wan Sitong is a native of Yinxian county. Father Tai, born eight sons, Si tongqi also. Elder brother Si Da, there is a biography of the scholars. Xing Qiangji, eight years old, can recite "Yangzi FA Yan" while sitting. Later, when Huang Zongxi traveled, he learned the Liu's theory of Jishan and took Shendu as his religion. We should encourage the famous festival by reading books, and be close to our comrades. We will talk about it every month. He is well versed in various histories, especially the anecdotes of Ming Dynasty. In the 17th year of Emperor Kangxi's reign, Jian Hongbo did not leave.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the history of the Ming Dynasty was revised in the second year of Shunzhi. In the fourth year of the reign of Emperor Kangxi, it was also ordered to be revised. In the 18th year, Xu Yuanwen was appointed to be the supervisor of the compilation. He took 50 officials and scholars including Peng sunhui and 16 others including Lu Junqi as the editor. After Tang Dynasty, Si Tong suffered from the loss of the division of history, which was called the book of experts. Although he did not catch it, it was not as messy as the official practitioners, so he was not selected. In the 32nd year, Wang Hongxu was summoned to his home and appointed Chen Tingjing and Zhang Yushu as the president. Chen renbenji, Zhang Renzhi, and Hongxu are biographies. Naiyans was at home and entrusted with historical events, while Wujin was famous for his money. Every time a biography is reviewed, it is said that a certain book or something should be enrolled in the school. Gu Xiaoshi takes the volume of his book to, and there is no or cool one. The literati went to the door for consultation and argued like a ring.

After tasting the book, a friend said to himself, "there is a record of the dynasty in a certain Shaoguan house. I know how to recite it in secret, but I don't dare to say anything about it. Long travel around, often on the old home for a letter, ask about the past. In addition to the county annals, the city by private writing, not search for, but to the actual record as a guide. Those who record the facts directly record their events and words, but those who can't be added. If we examine his life in order to examine his deeds, examine his words and observe them with an equal mind, we will be able to get his essence. However, there may be a cause for the speech, a beginning for the event, and an exciting flow, which is not what other books can't have. If the record is difficult to be detailed, I will prove it by his documents. If his books are false and abusive, I will judge them according to the actual records. Although they dare not believe it, they are not the ones who have wronged others. In the past, people in the history of the Song Dynasty were already ill with the disease, but what I have said will be even worse. I don't know that Jane is precious, but I'm afraid of it

Chinese PinYin : Wan Si Tong