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Kaiguo qunxiong shilüe 開國群雄事略

Feb 29, 2024 © Ulrich Theobald

Guochu qunxiong shilüe 國初群雄事略, also called Kaiguo qunxiong shilüe 開國群雄事略, Guochao qunxiong shilüe 國朝群雄事略 or Mingchu qunxiong zhilüe 明初群雄志略, is a collection of the biographies of a dozen personalities who contributed in the downfall of the Yuan 元 (1279-1368) and the foundation of the Ming dynasty 明 (1368-1644). The collection was compiled by Qian Qianyi 錢謙益 (1582-1664), courtesy name Shouzhi 受之, style Shanghu 尚湖, Muzhai 牧齋, Jiangyunlou Zhuren 絳雲樓主人, Mengsou 蒙叟, Dongjian Laoren 東澗老人, Yushan 虞山, or Zengbo 宗伯. He hailed from Changshu 常熟 in the province of Nan-Zhili 南直隸 (today part of Suzhou 蘇州, Jiangsu). He is known for his literary collections Liechao shiji 列朝詩集, Chuxue ji 初學集, Youxue ji 有學集, Toubi ji 投筆集, Kuhai ji 苦海集 and Jujiu ji 吾炙集, as well as the book catalogue Jiangyunlou shumu 絳雲樓書目.

The biographical collection has a length of 12 juan and was finished in 1626. Each fascicle is dedicated to one person. The book treats the lives and deeds of Han Lin'er 韓林兒 (Song Xiaomingwang 宋小明王), Guo Zixing 郭子興 (Chuyangwang 滁陽王), Xu Shouhui 徐壽輝, Chen Youliang 陳友諒, Ming Yuzhen 明玉珍, Zhang Shicheng 張士誠, Fang Guozhen 方國珍 , Li Siqi 李思齊, Köke Temür 擴廓帖木兒 (Ch. Kuokuo Tiemu'er, d. 1375), Naγaču (Ch. Nahachu 納哈出, d. 1388), Chen Youding 陳友定, and He Zhen 何真.

The book was based on many different sources, from the official dynastic history Yuanshi 元史 to veritable records (shilu 實錄), literary writings, notes and stele inscriptions.

The compilers of the imperial series Siku quanshu rated Qian's book as too lengthy and not consistent enough, particularly because Qian adopted sources without critically elimination their contradictions. The book is found in the series Shiyuan congshu 適園叢書. In 1982, The Zhonghua Shuju Press 中華書局 published a modern, punctuated edition.

Sources:
Li Bingzhong 李秉忠, Wei Canjin 衛燦金, Lin Conglong 林從龍, ed. (1990). Jianming wenshi zhishi cidian 簡明文史知識詞典 (Xi'an: Shaanxi renmin chubanshe), 667.
Li Xueqin 李學勤, Lü Wenyu 呂文鬰, ed. (1996). Siku da cidian 四庫大辭典 (Changchun: Jilin daxue chubanshe), Vol. 1, 1051.
Wu Feng 吳楓, ed. (1987). Jianming Zhongguo guji cidian 簡明中國古籍辭典 (Changchun: Jilin wenshi chubanshe), 516.
Zhang Huanzong 張煥宗 (1997). "Guochu qunxiong shilüe 國初群雄事略", in in Men Kui 門巋, Zhang Yanjin 張燕瑾, eds. Zhongguo guocui da cidian 中華國粹大辭典 (Xianggang: Guoji wenhua chuban gongsi), 746.