Xiangjunzhi 湘軍志

Xiangjunzhi 湘軍志 "A treatise on the Hunan Army" is a description of the Hunan Army built up to fight the Taiping rebels 太平. It was written by the Qing period 清 (1644-1911) scholar Wang Kaiyun 王闓運 (1833-1916), courtesy name Renqiu 壬秋, style Xiangqi 湘綺.

Wang Kaiyun hailed from Xiangtan 湘潭, Hunan, and was a young official in the staff of Zeng Guofan 曾國藩 (1811-1872), who built up the Hunan Army. After the war he was a teacher in various academies, in Chengdu 成都, Sichuan, Changsha 長沙, Hunan, and Hengzhou 衡州 (modern Hengyang 衡陽). At the end of the Qing period he was examining editor of the Hanlin Academy (Hanlinyuan jiantao 翰林院檢討), with the brevet title of Reader-in-waiting (shidu 侍讀). During the early years of the Republic (1912-1949), Wang Kaiyun was director of the Institute of the History of the Qing (Qingshiguan 清史館). Apart form the Xiangjunzhi, he wrote a diary called Xiangqilou riji 湘綺樓日記, and various poems and prose writings, published a selection of poems, the Badai shixuan 八代詩選, and was interested in the Confucian Classic Gongyangzhuan 公羊傳.

The 16-juan and chapters long book Xiangjunzhi was written on demand by Zeng Jize 曾紀澤 (1839-1890), a son of Zeng Guofan, and is highly critical particularly towards the military style of Zeng Guoquan 曾國荃 (1824-1890), the youngest brother of Zeng Guofan. The book is written from the perspective of an eye-witness and is therefore of great value for the study of the history of the suppression of the rebellions of the Taiping and the Nian 捻. The Xiangjunzhi is highly selective and does not provide a comprehensive overview of the war and the history of the Hunan Army.

The book was first printed in Chengdu by the Zunjing Academy 尊經書院, 1885 in Changsha by the Jiaowei Studio 斠微齋 and in 1886 in Chengdu by the Moxiang Studio 墨香書屋. In 1983 the Yuelu Press 岳麓書社 in Changsha published a series called Xiangjunshi zhuankan 湘軍史專刊 containing a facsimile of the 1885 edition of the Xiangjunzhi that was critically compared with the Zunjing edition and an edition from Shanghai in the collection Xiangjun shuilu zhanji 湘軍水陸戰紀.

Xiangjunzhi pingyi 湘軍志評議

After the publication of the Xiangjunzhi, Zeng Guoquan and Guo Songtao 郭嵩燾 (1818-1891) heavily protested because they were not content with many statements in the book. Guo and his younger brother Guo Kuntao 郭崑燾 (1823-1882) therefore wrote down their comments on the text. Kuntao's grandson Guo Zhenyong 郭振墉 published these critical comments together with the official text, with the title Xiangjunzhi pingyi 湘軍志評議. It was printed in 1916 by Guo's Qingwenshan Studio 清聞山館. It is included in the series Xiangjun shi zhuankan 湘軍史專刊 from 1983.

Xu Xiangjunzhi 續湘軍志

The Xiangjunzhi is not a full history of the Hunan Army, but only describes its origins and the supression of the Taiping and Nian rebellions. The achievements of the Hunan Army in Zuo Zongtang's 左宗棠 (1812-1885) western campaign against the Muslim insurgencies in Xinjiang are not described. Zhu Dechang 朱德裳 (1874-1936), courtesy name Shihui 師晦, from Xiangtan 湘潭, wrote a 4-juan long continuation of the book called Xu Xiangjunzhi 續湘軍志. It is divided into the chapters Pacification of the Muslims I and II (Ping Hui qianbian, houbian 平回前篇、后篇), Military Supply (Bingxiang 兵餉篇), the Liberation of Ili (Huan Yili 還伊犁篇), Overview Table of Events (Dashi biao 大事表), Persons (Renwu biao 人物表), Commanders (Jiangling biao 將領表), Killed Officers (Xunnan biao 殉難表), Muslim Commanders (Huishou biao 回首表), Foreign Commanders (Yiqiu biao 夷酋表), and Surrendering Muslim Commanders (Jianghui biao 降回表). The book is also included in the series Xiangjun shi zhuankan.

Xiangjunbing zhi 湘軍兵志

Xiangjunbing zhi 湘軍兵志, also called Xiangjun xinzhi 湘軍新志, is a modern book on the Hunan Army published by Luo Ergang 羅爾綱 in 1939 (Shangwu Yinshuguan 商務印書館). Luo is also author of Lüyingbing zhi 綠營兵志, a treatise on the Green Standard Armies (lüyingbing 綠營兵). The book has 13 chapters reporting on the background, the creation of the Hunan Army, its leaders, the military system, garrisons, supply, recruitment and dismissal, promotion, training and tactics. The text is mainly based on documents of Zeng Guofan and Hu Linyi 胡林翼 (1812-1861) or other commanders. The author stresses the importance of this novel army as a replacement of the traditional Green Standard troops.

The book was republished in modern typesetting in 1984 by the Zhonghua Shuju 中華書局.