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An Encyclopaedia on Chinese History and Literature
Historiography has been regarded as an essential aspect of high literature since ancient times, rather than just a functional form of writing. Consequently, the category of history writing holds the second position in traditional bibliographies (see the literary category of historiography, shibu 史部). This introduction offers an overview of the most important developments, trends, and styles in Chinese historical writing.
The start of "history" essentially marks the time when written records begin to offer documentary evidence of human activities. In many cultures, the oldest written records are either reports on the lives and deeds of rulers or serve as ledgers of granaries and storehouses, such as in Mesopotamia or Crete. They are also frequently religious texts, like the Vedic writings in India.
In China, the script first appeared in inscriptions on sacrificial vessels (jinwen 金文 "bronze inscriptions") during the Bronze Age in the middle Yellow River plain. At the same time, the script was used to record the course and results of prognostications at the court of the Shang dynasty 商 (17th-11th cent. BCE), in the shape of the famous oracle bone inscriptions (jiaguwen 甲骨文) that were re-discovered in the late 19th century.
The oldest term for historiographer was shi 史, with a character depicting a hand holding a bamboo tablet, denoting a person who records events or royal decrees, and is also responsible for certain sacrifices and communication with gods and spirits. "Historiographers" (shi 史) were scribes as well as diviners and astrologers. It is said that there were two specialised scribes during the oldest times, the right one recording the king's words, and the left scribe his "deeds" like hunts, sacrifices or military campaigns (zuo shi ji shi, you shi ji yan 左史記事，右史記言; from Ban Gu 班固, Hanshu 漢書, ch. Yiwen zhi 藝文志).
The oldest practical writing materials used for archival and bureaucratic purposes were bamboo slips (zhujian 竹簡) or wooden tablets (mudu 木牘), and in rare cases, particularly in the southern regions, silk fabric (boshu 帛書). Preeminent texts like the Confucian Classics were incised in stone tablets (beiming 碑銘) erected in central educational institutions. During the Spring and Autumn period 春秋 (770-5th cent. BCE), documents of alliances between noble houses were incised into pieces of stone (e.g., Houma mengshu 侯馬盟書), and buried at the spot where the coalition was effected and accompanied by sacrifice.
The Classic Shangshu 尚書 ("Book of Documents", oldest texts from the 10th cent. BCE) is a collection including royal speeches (the king's "words"), while the "Spring and Autumn Annals" (Chunqiu 春秋) chronologically record political events (the king's "deeds") from 722 to 467 BCEThe annals also include information about natural phenomena like solar eclipses, heavy rain or droughts.
These two texts, as the oldest histories of China, were integrated into the corpus of Confucian Classics and were often commented. The Chunqiu was enriched by a narrative parallel version, the so-called Zuozhuan 左傳 "Commentary by Zuo (Qiuming 左丘明)" and the philosophical commentaries Gongyangzhuan 公羊傳 and Guliangzhuan 谷梁傳. The Chunqiu, as an annalistic text, belongs to a historiographical genre that was later called biannianti 編年體 "annalistic style".
Not considered as "official" historiography are the two texts Guoyu 國語 "Discourses of the states", and Zhanguoce 戰國策 "Stratagems of the Warring States" (written between the 4th and the 2nd cent. BCE), which consist of narrative anecdotes that are loosely grouped according to the regional state in which the story took place, but not strictly chronologically. Even if these two books contribute a certain knowledge about historical events, they are close to the genre of fiction.
The oldest text belonging to the genre of genealogy (pudie 譜牒) is the book Shiben 世本, which describes, among others, the history of the regional rulers of the Zhou period 周 (11th cent.-221 BCE). It focuses on the genealogical sequence of the regional states, including the kings of the three ancient dynasties Xia 夏 (21th-17th cent. BCE), Shang, and Zhou.
In a very broad sense, the geographically arranged book Shanhaijing 山海經 "Classic of the mountains and seas" can also be viewed as a historiographical source, even if most of the stories reported in the book are bizarre. The same is true for the writings of the so-called "Masters and philosophers" of the Warring States period 戰國 (5th cent.-221 BCE), whose texts can serve as valuable sources of historical information. The book Guanzi 管子, for instance, if a valuable source on economic history, while the legalist book Hanfeizi 韓非子 argues with examples from history not found in other sources.
During the Han period 漢 (206 BCE-220 CE), a novel style of historiography was invented, namely the biographical-thematical style (jizhuanti 紀傳體). It began with Sima Qian's 司馬遷 (145–86 BCE) famous universal history (tongshi 通史; called so because it extends from the era of mythology to the early Han period) Shiji 史記 and found its perfection with Ban Gu's 班固 (32–92 CE) Hanshu 漢書, a history of the Former Han dynasty 前漢 (206 BCE-8 CE).
The style of the Hanshu was later perpetuated and became the official pattern of the twenty-six official dynastic histories, Ershiliu shi 二十六史 (zhengshi 正史 "correct or orthodox histories"), but is also used in some non-official histories.
The Shiji consists of five different types of texts, namely royal/imperial annals-biographies (benji 本紀; mixture of narrative parts and annals), tables (biao 表), treatises on statecraft (shu 書, in later histories called zhi 志), chronicles of the regional states (shiji 世家; later used for minor, illegitimate dynasties), and individual and collective biographies (liezhuan 列傳) of eminent and interesting ordinary people.
The development of this variegated style did not halt the further development of the annalistic style. Xun Yue 荀悅 (148–209), for instance, wrote an annalistic history of the Former Han, the Hanji 漢紀, Yuan Hong 袁宏 (328–376) the annals Houhanji 後漢紀, which describe the history of the Later Han dynasty 後漢 (25-220 CE), and Cui Hong 崔鴻 (478–525), who accounted the history of each of the Sixteen States. His Shiliuguo chunqiu 十六國春秋 is written in a mixed biographical-annalistic style.
The Southern and Northern Dynasties period 南北朝 (300~600) witnessed a rich diversification in historiographical texts. The oldest local history is Chang Qu's 常璩 (c. 291–c. 361) Huayang guo zhi 華陽國志 "The lands south of Mt. Huashan" (about Sichuan); the oldest individual book on foreign countries is the monk Faxian's 法顯 (337–422) Foguoji 佛國記 "The lands of the Buddha" (however, information on foreign countries and peoples can be found at the end of the dynastic histories, e.g., descriptions of the Xiongnu 匈奴 or the Western Territories Xiyu 西域 [modern Xinjiang]); the biographical collection Gaosengzhuan 高僧傳 reports the lives of eminent Buddhist monks; a collection with biographical features, Shishuo xinyu 世說新語 "New account of the tales of the world", was written by Liu Yiqing 劉義慶 (403–444); Yan Zhitui 顏之推 (531–591) wrote his "Family instructions" Yanshi jiaxun 顏氏家訓 that also serve as a political advice for rulers, with many examples from history.
The oldest reports of cities are a description of Chang'an 長安 (modern Xi'an 西安, Shaanxi, capital of the Former Han), Huangfu santu 黃輔三圖, and the book Luoyang qielan ji 洛陽伽藍記 by Yang Xianzhi 楊衒之 (mid-6th cent.) that describes more than a hundred Buddhist monasteries in Luoyang 洛陽 (capital of the Later Han, the Western Jin, and the Northern Wei). The oldest of many books on rivers and canal construction is Li Daoyuan's 酈道元 (466 or 472-527) commented "River classic" Shuijing zhu 水經注 from the Northern Wei period 北魏 (386-534).
The oldest Chinese bibliographies, Bielu 別錄 and Qilüe 七略, written by Liu Xiang 劉向 (77–6 BCE) and his son Liu Xin 劉歆 (46 BCE–23 CE), were compiled during the Han period. They are preserved as the treatise Yiwen zhi 藝文志 in the history book Hanshu. Catalogues of the imperial libraries were, therefore, from the beginning an integral part of the genre of historiography. A comparison with the second-oldest surviving catalogue, the treatise Jingji zhi 經籍志 in the history Suishu 隋書 from the early Tang period 唐 (618-907) shows how much the genre of historiography had expanded in the first millennium CE.
The Chunqiu Annals had been interpreted as a book in which distinct words or formulations morally criticised the activities and political decisions of rulers and nobles. Historiography was therefore seen as a means of instructing people of the present by contemplating past events. During the third century CE, China's first literary critique was written by Cao Pi 曹丕 (187–226, ruled 220–226 as Emperor Wen 魏文帝), the Dianlun 典論 "Discussions of the standards (of literature)", of which only the chapter Lunwen 論文 "On literature" has survived. The first completely transmitted literary critique is Liu Xie's 劉勰 (c. 465-?) Wenxin diaolong 文心雕龍 "The mind of literature and the carving of dragons", in which the author explains how history had to be written (ch. Shizhuan pian 史傳篇).
The most famous critique on history writing is Liu Zhiji's 劉知幾 (661-721) Shitong 史通 from the Tang period. The compilation of this book coincided with the creation of the Historiography Institute (shiguan 史館), where first the "veritable records" (shilu 實錄) of each reign were compiled. The veritable records served as the source material for the official "dynastic history" (guoshi 國史), while latter built the basis for the official dynastic histories compiled after the end of each dynasty. The last great historical critique of imperial China was Zhang Xuecheng's 章學誠 (1738–1801) Wenshi tongyi 文史通義.
The historiographers of the Tang era compiled the official histories of the dynasties that had ruled over China after the disintegration of the unified empire in the third century (Jinshu 晉書, Liangshu 梁書, Beiqishu 北齊書, Zhoushu 周書, Nanshi 南史, Beishi 北史). For some dynasties, two alternative official histories were written, namely two for the Tang (Jiutangshu 舊唐書, Xintangshu 新唐書), two for the Five Dynasties 五代 (907-960, Jiu Wudaishi 舊五代史, Xin Wudaishi 新五代史), and two for the Yuan period 元 (1279-1368, Yuanshi 元史, Xin Yuanshi 新元史). The last official dynastic history was written in the early years of the Republic: Qingshi gao 清史稿.
Apart from the (literally) "correct or orthodox histories" (zhengshi), compiled by state officials (guan xiu 官修), numerous non-official "wild histories" (yeshi 野史, i.e., not based on official documents in the archives), "miscellaneous histories" (zashi 雜史) or "alternative histories" (bieshi 別史) were written. The style of them differs widely, and they rely on a vast range of different sources, often stories told by employees in the imperial palace. "Miscellaneous" histories mainly concentrate on one single event, while alternative histories compete against the official ones and are therefore valuable additional sources for historians. The boundaries between facts and fiction are often not discernible in this type of literature.
During the Tang period, a new type of history came into being with Du You's 杜佑 (735–812) Tongdian 通典 "Comprehensive statutes", which is an encyclopaedic book that covers all aspects of statecraft through the ages, namely "food and commodities" (shihuo 食貨), the selection of state officials (xuanju 選舉), the administrative structure of the empire (zhiguan 職官), state rituals (li 禮), ritual music (yue 樂), the military (bing 兵), administrative and penal law (xing 刑) and administrative geography (zhoujun 州郡).
During the Song period 宋 (960-1279), Zheng Qiao 鄭樵 (1104-1162) continued this concept with his universal history Tongzhi 通志, in which the treatises on statecraft cover a fourth of the whole text, which was rarely the case in the official dynastic histories written until that date. Another text of this encyclopaedic genre was Ma Duanlin's 馬端臨 (1254–1323) Wenxian tongkao 文獻通考 "Comprehensive investigations based on literary and documentary sources", which continues Du You's book until the late Song period. These three books on state administration are called the "Three Comprehensives" (santong 三通) and were twice expanded during the Qing period 清 (1644-1911) to the corpus of the so-called "Ten Comprehensives" (shitong 十通). The three archetypes are comprehensive histories, covering many ages and dynastic periods, while the last four of the Ten Comprehensives only deal with administrative matters of the Qing period.
Another type of text on issues of statecraft was begun by Wang Pu 王溥 (922–982) during the early Song period, with the two books Tang huiyao 唐會要 "Institutional history (literally: collection of important matters) of the Tang" and Wudai huiyao 五代會要 "Institutional history of the Five Dynasties", in which all essential matters of administration of the Tang and Five Dynasties 五代 (907-960) periods, respectively, are explained.
Unlike the Tongdian and Wenxian tongkao, the huiyao-type books focus on the administrative system of only one dynasty or era. This type, too, found continuation, for instance, in Xu Tianlin's 徐天麟 (jinshi degree 1205) Xihan huiyao 西漢會要 and Donghan huiyao 東漢會要, Sun Kai's 孫楷 (1871–1907) Qin huiyao dingbu 秦會要訂補, or the massive, reconstructed Song huiyao jigao 宋會要輯稿. These crucial texts made writings on politics and administration (zhengshu 政書) an integral part of the historiographic category.
Yet, in an intellectual sense, the most influential novelty of Song period historiography was Sima Guang's 司馬光 (1019–1086) universal history, Zizhi tongjian 資治通鑑 "Comprehensive mirror to aid in government". With the idea that the classical Chunqiu Annals had set the paradigm for writing history, he compiled a chronicle covering the period from 403 BCE to 959 CE, based on a nearly insurmountable number of sources. With a large team of collaborators, Sima Guang managed to write a history book of high scholarly standing that is still today regarded as one of the most important histories of China. This book was often commented, supplemented and enlarged, for instance, in the Zizhi tongjian waiji 資治銅鑑外記 by Liu Shu 劉恕 (1032–1078), Xu zizhi tongjian changbian 續資治通鑑長編 by Li Tao 李燾 (1115–1184), Xu Song biannian zizhi tongjian 續宋編年資治通鑑 by Li Shiju 劉時舉 (fl. 1244) or Zizhi tongjian qianbian 資治通鑑前編 by Jin Lüxiang 金履祥 (1232–1303). This type of universal history (tongshi) made the minds of historians free from the concept of dynastic cycles and the need to write dynastic histories (duandaishi 斷代史).
A very different approach to history was begun by Yuan Shu 袁樞 (1131–1205), who rearranged the text of the strictly chronological Zizhi tongjian to a history that was centred on coherent themes, describing the latter's origin, development and outcome. This was the Tongjian jishi benmo 通鑑紀事本末 "Historical events of the Comprehensive Mirror in their entirety". The book has the advantage over the Zizhi tongjian that the thicket of chronological data is thinned out to gain an overview of the origin, context, and development of individual historical events. The jishi benmo 紀事本末 "history in its entirety" style was also imitated, and books of this genre were written for particular dynasties, like Tongjian changbian jishi benmo 通鑑長編紀事本末 by Yang Zhongliang 楊仲良 (early 13th cent.), Songshi jishi benmo 宋史紀事本末 by Feng Qi 馮琦 (b. 1558, jinshi degree 1577) or Liaoshi jishi benmo 遼史紀事本末 and Jinshi jishi benmo 金史紀事本末 by Li Youtang 李有棠 (1837–1905).
The great Neo-Confucian philosopher Zhu Xi 朱熹 (1130–1200) interpreted Sima Guang's Zizhi tongjian in a moral sense, like the Gongyang and Guliang commentaries had interpreted the Chunqiu Annals. Zhu Xi wrote the Tongjian gangmu 通鑑綱目 "Outlines and details of the Comprehensive Mirror", in which he pointed out headlines (gang 綱) of events whose significance was explained as "meshes" (mu 目), written in small-character text. The Tongjian gangmu, with its moral undertone, was one of the most influential histories of traditional China. Its style was copied, too, for instance, in the books Xu zizhi tongjian gangmu 續資治通鑑綱目 by Shang Lu 商輅 (1414–1486), Tongjian gangmu qianbian 通鑑綱目前編 by Nan Xuan 南軒 (mid-16th cent.), or Tongjian gangmu sanbian 通鑑綱目三編 by Shen Deqian 沈德潛 (1673–1769).
Quite interesting is the observation that historical romances also became a distinct literary genre. They, too, were based on limited periods of history, like the celebrated Sanguo yanyi 三國演義 "Historical romance of the Three Empires" by Luo Guanzhong 羅貫中 (1330–1400) that served as a model for later stories like Qianhan tongsu yanyi 前漢通俗演義 "Historical romance of the Former Han", Songshi tongsu yanyi 宋史通俗演義 "Historical romance of the Song dynasty", and other historical romances by Cai Dongfan 蔡東藩 (1877–1945), Liang Wudi yanyi 梁武帝演義 "Historical romance about Emperor Wu of the Liang dynasty" by a writer called Tianhuacang Zhuren 天花藏主人 (i.e. Xu Zhen 徐震?) or Hong Xiuquan yanyi 洪秀全演義 "Historical romance about Hong Xiuquan (the founder of the Heavenly Kingdom of the Taiping)" by Huang Xiaopei 黃小配 (Huang Shizhong 黃世仲, 1872–1912).
Less standardised than the "great" history books mentioned above were the imperial geographies. Apart from the official geographies Yuanhe junxian tuzhi 元和郡縣圖志 (Tang), Taiping huanyu ji 太平寰宇記 (Song), Yuanfeng jiuyu zhi 元豐九域志 (Song) and the three vast imperial geographies Da-Yuan da yitong zhi 大元大一統志, Da-Ming yitong zhi 大明一統志 and Da-Qing yitong zhi 大清一統志, there were also privately written geographies of the whole empire, like Tianxia junguo libing shu 天下郡國利病書 "On benefits and defects of the empire's local administration" by Gu Yanwu 顧炎武 (1613–1682) or Gu Zuyu's 顧祖禹 (1631–1692) Dushi fangyu jiyao 讀史方輿紀要 "Important notes on reading the geographic treatises in the (dynastic) histories".
The number of local geographies or descriptions of private travels is incredibly vast. From the Ming period 明 (1368-1644) onwards, the local gazetteer (difangzhi 地方志) with its encyclopaedic character became the official source of information on individual provinces, prefectures, districts or cities. The local gazetteers were arranged in a similar way as the statecraft encyclopaedias, but geared to the local level. They provide information about geography, economy, taxation, administration, culture and local life, as well as on eminent persons hailing from the place.
From the beginning, Chinese writers have been interested in foreign peoples, their organisation, customs, and habits. The curiosity about foreign regions and their products originates in the Yugong 禹貢 chapter of the Classic Shangshu and is also apparent in the pseudo-geography Shanhaijing. The oldest standard history, Sima Qian's Shiji, includes chapters on the Xiongnu (110 Xiongnu liezhuan 匈奴列傳), the Southern (113 Nanyue liezhuan 南越列傳), Eastern (114 Dongyue liezhuan 東越列傳), and Southwestern Barbarians (116 Xinanyi liezhuan 西南夷列傳), as well as Korea (115 Chaoxian liezhuan 朝鮮列傳) and the Ferghana Basin (123 Dayuan liezhuan 大宛列傳). Most other official dynastic histories follow this pattern.
Private reports on foreign lands prospered during the height of travel to India between the 5th and 7th centuries, exemplified by Faxian's 法顯 (d. 422 CE) Foguoji 佛國記 and Xuanzang's 玄奘 (c. 600-664) Da-Tang xiyu ji 大唐西域記. The Song dynasty, which faced restrictions on access to Central Asia, showed increased interest in Southeast Asia, with works such as Zhao Rukuo's 趙汝适 (1170-1228) Zhufanzhi 諸蕃志 and Zhou Daguan's 周達觀 (1266-?) Zhenla fengtu ji 真臘風土記. The Ming dynasty continued research on overseas countries, producing reports like Ma Huan's 馬歡 (1380-1460) Yingya shenglan 瀛涯勝覽. Although the early Qing displayed little interest in Southeast Asia, they studied the ethnic groups within China, exemplified by the officially compiled Huang-Qing zhigong tu 皇清職貢圖, which stands as one of the earliest sources on European peoples. Jesuit missionaries conveyed knowledge about the wider world to China through books and atlases, such as Ferdinand Verbiest's (1623-1688, Chinese name Nan Huairen 南懷仁) Kunyu tushuo 坤輿圖說. Chinese interest in overseas countries waned during the high Qing period and only revived with Wei Yuan's 魏源 (1794-1857) Haiguo tuzhi 海國圖志.
Most of the so-called "miscellaneous histories" (zashi) focus on single periods or event, like Yu Zhigu's 余知古 (early 9th cent.) Zhugong jiushi 渚宮舊事, a report on southern China, Tao Yue's 陶岳 (?-1022) Wudaishi bu 五代史補 on the Five-Dynasties period, or the books Nandulu 南渡錄 and Nanqianlu 南遷錄, which discuss the Song dynasty's flight to the southeast and the founding of the Southern Song. The books Gechu yishi 革除遺事 and Gechu yishi 革除逸史 describe events of the turbulent Jianwen reign-period 建文 (1398-1402) of the early Ming. Other miscellaneous history books discuss the administrative system, like Wu He's 吳兢 Zhenguan zhengyao 貞觀政要 or Wang Yong's 王栐 Yanyi yimou lu 燕翼詒謀錄. Diplomatic missions were documented by reports like Heida shilüe 黑韃事略, Mengda beilu 蒙韃備錄, Shijinlu 使金錄 or Shi Liuqiu lu 使琉球錄.
From the Ming period on, private historiography flourished. Such books are often not considered as texts on history, but belong to the ill-defined genre of "brush notes" (biji 筆記). They nevertheless include valuable information on history and can thus be used as supplementary sources for various research themes. Outstanding examples of “brush-note” books are Gu Yanwu's Rizhilu 日知錄 "Records of daily (gains) in knowledge", or Huang Zongxi's 黃宗羲 (1610–1695) Mingyi daifang lu 明夷待訪錄 "An obscured paragon (of virtue) awaiting a (royal) visit", the former today classified as a "miscellaneous" treatise (zajia 雜家), the latter as a Confucian one (rujia 儒家), both in the category of the "Masters and philosophers" (zibu 子部).
Biographical collections like Huang's Mingru xue'an 明儒學案 "Annals of Ming-period Confucians" are naturally part of the biographies section in the historiographical category. The biographical genre (zhuanji 傳記) usually assembles persons with specific common grounds, like the "competent persons" united in Xin Wenfang's 辛文房 (early 14th cent.) Tang caizi zhuan 唐才子傳, members of the Hanlin Academy (Hanlinyuan 翰林院) in Liao Daonan‘s 廖道南 (1494-1548) Diange cilin ji 殿閣詞林記, eminent females in Xie Jin's 解縉 (1369-1415) Gujin lienü zhuan 古今列女傳 or professionals like the astronomers and mathematicians in Ruan Yuan's 阮元 (1764-1849) Chourenzhuan 疇人傳.
Many writers began freely contemplating about matters of history, like Wang Fuzhi 王夫之 (1619–1692), author of the essays Du Tongjian lun 讀通鑑論 "When reading the Comprehensive Mirror" and Songlun 宋論 "On the Song dynasty", both being texts of historical critique. Many philosophical treatises also include statements about matters of statecraft and base their arguments on examples of history, like Tang Zhen's 唐甄 (1630–1704) Qianshu 潛書 "Book of profundity" or Tan Qian's 談遷 (1593–1657) Guoque 國榷 "Discussions about the state".
During the 18th and the early 19th centuries, a new movement of analysing ancient texts flourished. Members of this so-called "School of Antiquity Studies" (kaogu xuepai 考古學派), inventors of textual criticism (kaozhengxue 考證學), began with philological investigations of the Confucian Classics and discarded the speculations of Neo-Confucianism. They went a step further and examined historiographical works. Some representatives of this school, such as Zhang Xuecheng 章學誠 (1738–1801), even contended that the ancient Classics could be used for historical research, not just for philosophical studies. The fruits of the studies of this school are books like Wang Mingsheng's 王鳴盛 (1722–1797) Shiqishi shangque 十七史商榷 "Debate on the Seventeen Dynastic Histories", Qian Daxin's 錢大昕 (1728–1804) Nian'ershi kaoyi 廿二史考異 "Investigation of variances in the Twenty-Two Dynastic Histories" or Zhao Yi's 趙翼 (1727-1814) Nian'ershi zhaji 廿二史札記 "Notes on the Twenty-Two Dynastic Histories". Their methods included phonology, philology, textual criticism and the collection of fragments supporting, complementing and questioning statements in the transmitted history books.
One of the last great historians of traditional China was Wei Yuan 魏源 (1797–1857), who compiled a military history of the Qing dynasty up to the time, Shengwuji 聖武記, a report on the Opium War (1839-1842), Daoguang yangsou zhengfu ji 道光洋艘征撫記, and an analysis of China’s need for intensified naval defence, Haiguo tuzhi 海國圖志. His works are a testimony to the growing awareness in China that it had missed the early phase of globalisation and industrialisation.
The Qing period produced the new genre of military annals (fanglüe 方略), which can be seen as a sub-genre of the jishi benmo type focusing on particular events. They are, however, not written narratively as the model book Tongjian jishi benmo, but consist of extracts from official sources, mainly imperial edicts, arranged in chronological order, like a diary. Most, but not all books of this sub-genre were compiled on imperial order. The model was the Pingding sanni fanglüe 平定三逆方略 about the war against the Three Feudatories, finished in 1686. Offspring of this paragon, like the Pingding Zhunga'er fanglüe 平定準噶爾方略 about the subjugation of the Dzunghars or the Jiaoping Yuefei fanglüe 剿平粵匪方略 on the Taiping Rebellion, provide invaluable information on command, tactics, and organisation of warfare during the Qing period.
While most historiographical books can easily be found in many editions, it is the case that a large number of texts, especially smaller ones, are only accessible in specific collections. The most important of these are Xiaofanghuzhai yudi congchao 小方壺齋輿地叢鈔, an extensive collection of geographical books of late Qing China, published by Wang Xiqi 王錫祺 (1855–1913); Man-Qing yeshi 滿淸野史 (publ. by Changfu Publishing House in Chengdu 成都昌福公司), a collection of "wild" histories about the Manchu dynasty; Jindai Zhonggo shiliao congkan 近代中國史料叢刊 (publ. by Shen Yunlong 沈雲龍, 1909–1987), a collection of sources mainly from the late Qing period; Zhongguo shixue congshu 中國史學叢書 (publ. by Wu Xiangxiang 吳相湘, 1912–2007), three collections of a vast range of different sources on the late imperial period, including memorials to the throne, diaries, and local gazetteers; Biji xiaoshuo daguan 筆記小説大觀 (publ. by Shanghai jinbu shuju 上海進步書局), a collection of biji-style texts, many of which are of historiographical character; Zhongguo yeshi jicheng 中國野史集成 (publ. by Sichuan daxue tushuguan 四川大學圖書館), a large collection of unofficial histories through the ages; or Qingdai shiliao biji congkan 清代史料筆記叢刊 (publ. by Zhonghua shuju 中華書局). Even the Qing court decided to publish digestible extracts of its official historiography, foremost the series Donghualu 東華錄.
The 1911 Revolution freed historians from the dominance of the ruling dynasty, allowing new approaches to research and interpretation. Scholars began to adopt Western models of historical study and expanded their focus from court-centred historiography and the biographies of prominent figures to include regional, local, cultural and social history. Moreover, the object of research changed, from a focus on a quantity of facts determined by political decisions to the emergence and impact of ideas. The reformer and journalist Liang Qichao 梁啟超 （1873-1929）, for example, stressed the need to view history with its evolutionary potentials.
The discovery of the oracle bone inscriptions by Wang Yirong 王懿榮 (1845-1900) and of the Shang civilisation by Luo Zhenyu 羅振玉 (1866-1940) marked the beginning of archaeology in China, offering entirely new perspectives on early history. Moreover, archaeological finds confirmed the existence of the Shang dynasty and supported some traditional accounts from that era. They also challenged the tendencies of the "Sceptic School" (yigupai 疑古派), with figures like Hu Shi 胡適 (1891-1962) and He Bingsong 何炳松 (1890-1946) aiming to dismiss the collection of semi-mythical reports about early times. This approach was exemplified by Gu Jiegang's 顧頡剛 (1892-1980) series Gushibian 古史辨, which questioned narratives of the Yellow Emperor (Huang Di 黃帝), Yu the Great 大禹, and the existence of the Xia 夏 (21th-17th cent. BCE) and Shang dynasties. With the discovery of Peking Man (Sinanthropus pekinensis) in 1929 in Zhoukoudian 周口店, along with Neolithic sites of Yangshao 仰韶 and Longshan 龍山 in the lower Yellow River region, ancient stories were replaced by scientific evidence. The discovery of Neolithic sites instigated a new debate about the origin of the Chinese people.
Other important discoveries were made in the Buddhist caves of Dunhuang 敦煌, Loulan 樓蘭, Kara Khoto and Kucha. Western researchers like Sir Aurel Stein (1862-1943) and Paul Pelliot (1878-1945), however, took with them many objects out of the country.
The "School of Archaeology" (kaogupai 考古派), led by figures such as Wang Guowei 王國維 (1877-1927), sought archaeological proof to support historiographical narratives. However, with the Sino-Japanese War, archaeology in China faced significant challenges and only advanced slowly. One of the most important researchers in this field was Dong Zuobin 董作賓 (1895-1963). Guo Moruo 郭沫若 (1892-1978) contributed to the study of ancient Chinese history by his research on oracle bone inscriptions. He is most famous for his focus on the social history of China.
Another trend in the historiography of the Republican period was the replacement of the idea of dynastic cycles by an interpretation of history as a path leading to contemporary times and the future, which allowed for the embedding of contemporary issues into the field of historiography. This trend paved the way for Marxist-inspired historiography, which shifted the focus from individuals to classes and the forces of the materialist order. This can be seen in the great interest shown in peasant rebellions, which were interpreted as attempts of the oppressed people to free themselves from the exploitative feudal class of landlords.
With Marxism, the identification of the dynastic period as the era of "feudal societies" (fengjian shehui 封建社會) began in China. The Republican era also interpreted the late Qing dynasty's history as the age of the "Unequal Treaties", which started with the First Opium War. Through this, China was transformed into a semi-feudal, semi-colonised state (ban fengjian, ban zhimin 半封建，半殖民). This model appealed to political parties as well as the entire populace, aiming to eliminate this historic shame and restore China's significance and value. However, the model of the Unequal Treaties also permitted all contemporary problems to be traced back to China's past exploitation by foreign powers.
In 1917, when the deposed emperor Puyi 溥儀 (1906-1967; r. 1908-1912, 1917) was forced to leave the Forbidden City and the Palace Museum was established, the archives of the Grand Secretariat (neige 內閣) and the State Council (junjichu 軍機處) were opened to researchers. Even though many documents were lost after 1911, they remain highly valuable sources for the study of Qing history today. The study of these archives led, for example, to the publication of documents on diplomatic relations, Qingdai chouban yiwu shimo 清代籌辦夷務始末, in 1930.
For the first time, scholars wrote general histories of China, like Lü Simian's 呂思勉 (1884-1957) Baihua Zhongguo shi 白話中國史, Miao Fenglin's 繆鳳林 (1899-1959) Tongshi gangyao 通史綱要, Zhang Yinlin's 張蔭麟 (1905-1942) Shigang 史綱 or Qian Mu's 錢穆 (1895-1990) Guoshi dagang 國史大綱. A leftist approach in interpreting Chinese history have Fan Wenlan's 范文瀾 (1893-1969) Tongshi jianbian 通史簡編, Zhou Gucheng's 周谷城 (1898-1996) Tongshi 通史 and Jian Bozan's 翦伯贊 (1898-1968) Shigang 史綱. Lü Simian also wrote history books on individual ages, like Qin-Han shi 秦漢史 and Liang-Jin Nanbeichao shi 兩晉南北朝史, and authored studies in special aspects in history, such as Songdai wenxue 宋代文學 (literature), Zhongguo minzu shi 中國民族史 ("ethnic minorities"), Zhongguo zhidu shi 中國制度史 (the social, political, economic and cultural system of China) or Zhongguo shehui shi 中國社會史 (society). A popular Republican interpretation of Qing history is Xiao Yishan's 蕭一山 (1902-1978) Qingdai tongshi 清代通史 (1923-1963). Being freed from the dynastic tradition of interpreting rebellions as a "counter-state", studies on the Taiping Kingdom could develop more objective approaches, as seen in Luo Ergang's 羅爾綱 (1901-1997) Taiping tianguo shigang 太平天國史綱.
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Teng, S. Y. 1948. "Chinese Historiography in the Last Fifty Years." Far Eastern Quarterly 8 (2): 131–156.