Xinan jishi 西南紀事

Xinan jishi 西南紀事 "The events in the southwest" is a history of the Yongli Emperor 永曆 (r. 1646-1661) of the Southern Ming 南明 (1644-1661), the last of the princes of the Ming dynasty 明 (1368-1644) fighting against the Manchus. The 12-juan long book was written by Shao Tingcai 邵廷釆 (1648-1711), who is also author of the Dongnan jishi 東南紀事, which describes the fates of the first few rulers of the Southern Ming.

The Xinan jishi is decidated to Zhu Youli 朱由棣, the Prince of Gui 桂王, who quite successfully resisted the Manchus in the provinces of Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangdong and Guangxi. When he lost his stronghold in Zhaoqing 肇慶, Guangdong, he withdrew to Guizhou and Sichuan, supported by competent advisors as Li Dingguo 李定國 (1620-1662) and Liu Wenxiu 劉文秀 (1633-1658). The Qing 清 (1644-1911) general Wu Sangui 吳三桂 (1612-1678), who had once helped the Manchus to conquer Beijing, conquered the last territories in southwest China and forced the Yongli Emperor to flee to Myanmar, where he was eventually killed.

The Xinan jishi is a very detailed history on the last decade of the Southern Ming. It is part of the series Zhongguo fanglüe congshu 中國方略叢書, Congshu jicheng chubian 叢書集成續編, Xuxiu siku quanshu 續修四庫全書, Mingdai zhuanji congkan 明代傳記叢刊, Qingdai biji xiaoshuo 淸代筆記小說 (part of Lidai biji xiaoshuo jicheng 歷代筆記小說集成). It is also, like Dongnan jishi, part of the Shaowu Xushi congshu 邵武徐氏叢書, published by Xu Gan 徐榦 in the late 19th cent. There is also an edition from 1972 (Taibei: Guangwen Press 廣文書局).