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Mingchao jishi benmo bubian 明朝紀事本末補編

Aug 23, 2011 © Ulrich Theobald

Mingchao jishi benmo bubian 明朝紀事本末補編 "Supplement to the Historical Events from the Ming Dynasty in Their Entirety" is a supplement to the Mingshi jishi benmo 明史紀事本末 of Gu Yingtai 谷應泰 (1620-1690) that was compiled a little time earlier.

The Bubian was written by the early Qing-period 清 (1644-1911) writer and poet Peng Sunyi 彭孫貽 (1615-1673), courtesy name Zhongmou 仲謀 or Yiren 羿仁, style Guange shanren 管葛山人, Guanshanren 管山人 or Mingzhai 茗齋. He hailed from Haiyan 海鹽縣, Zhejiang, and was a stipend academician under the late Ming dynasty 明 (1368-1644). After the downfall of this dynasty, he retired from official life. Peng Zuyi wrote a large amount of historiographical books, like Liukouzhi 流寇志, Jinghaizhi 靖海志, Jiashen houwang chenbiao 甲申後亡臣表, Fangshi waiji 方士外紀, and collections of poems like Shiyu 詩餘, Yuefu 樂府, Baihuashi 百花詩, Wuyan miaojing 五言妙境, Mingzhai shiwen ji 茗齋詩文集, and the essay collection Shanzhong wenjian lu 山中聞見錄.

His supplement to Gu Yingtai's Mingshi jishi benmo is modeled like the original and written in the style of historical events in their entirety (jishi benmo 紀事本末). Each chapter has a four-character headline. The content of Peng Sunyi's book is not coherent and only covers some aspects of Ming history not includes in Gu Yingtai's book, like the examination system, encounters with Westerners, the native tribes in the southwest, and the domination of the court by the eunuchs. The title is called Mingchao instead of Mingshi because the draft to the official dynastic history of the Ming, the Mingshi 明史, was not yet finished at that time.

It was printed in 1918 as part of the series Hanfenlou miji 涵芬樓秘笈. In 1977 the Zhonghua Shuju press 中華書局 published a modern edition as an appendix to the Mingshi jishi benmo.

Sources:
Li Xueqin 李學勤, Lü Wenyu 呂文鬰, eds. (1996). Siku da cidian 四庫大辭典 (Changchun: Jilin daxue chubanshe), Vol. 1, 910.
Wu Feng 吳楓, ed. (1987). Jianming Zhongguo guji cidian 簡明中國古籍辭典 (Changchun: Jilin wenshi chubanshe), 503.