New Book of Tang
| New Book of Tang | |||||||||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | Tân đường thư | ||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | Tân đường thư | ||||||||||||
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TheNew Book of Tang,generally translated as the "New History of the Tang" or "New Tang History", is a work of official history covering theTang dynastyin ten volumes and 225 chapters. The work was compiled by a team of scholars of theSong dynasty,led byOuyang XiuandSong Qi.
It was originally simply called theTangshu(Book of Tang) until the 18th century.
History
[edit]In Chinese history, it was customary for dynasties to compile histories of their immediate predecessor as a means of cementing their own legitimacy. As a result, during theLater Jindynasty of theFive Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period,a history of the preceding Tang dynasty, theOld Book of Tang(Đường thư) had already been compiled.
In 1044, however,Emperor Renzong of Songordered a new compilation of Tang history, based on his belief that the originalOld Book of Tanglacked organization and clarity. The process took 17 years, being finally completed in 1060.
Contents
[edit]TheNew Book of Tangdiffered dramatically from the older version in its organization and contents, in part due to the literary and philosophical inclinations of its chief compilers.Ouyang Xiufrequently invoked the principle of reason in evaluating historical accounts, and purged all accounts containing elements of myth or superstition, thereby dramatically shortening many of the biographies of emperors and major figures.[1]
In contrast, theNew Book of Tangincluded several new sections of more practical interest to Tang history. These included a much expanded series of Treatises (Chí), including topics on the horse trade withTibetand military affairs, and a table of the bureaucratic hierarchy of the Tang administration which was missing from the oldOld Book of Tang.[2]Another feature which was revived was the use of "tables" (Biểu), annalistic tables of events and successions which included not just the emperors themselves but also chancellors andjiedushi.
The style of prose in theNew Bookalso differed, because Ouyang Xiu and Song Qi were both admirers of the simplified, 'ancient' prose style of Tang scholars such asHan Yu,rather than the flowery prose style found in official Tang documents. This led them to change the original wordings in the documents that they quoted in the book. However, in the reduction, the direct use of Tang court records was lost, some reduced passages were unclear, and many errors were introduced in attempting to find more 'ancient' words to rephrase the Tang originals.[3]
Annals
[edit]The annals of the Tang emperors are covered in volumes 1–10. Wilkinson notes that the annals in the New Book of Tang are considerably shorter than theOld Book of Tang.[4]
Treatises
[edit]The treatises are contained in volumes 11 through 60. As noted above the treatises are greatly expanded compared with theOld Book of Tang.The section on Rites and Music (Lễ nhạc) is the largest occupying 12 volumes (11-22). TheNew Book of Tangwas the first of the standard histories to include a treatise on selecting and appointing officials (Tuyển cử chí). This included a description of the examination system, which had become an increasingly important aspect of recruiting officials in the Tang, especially after 780.[5]
Tables
[edit]The tables are contained in volumes 61–75.
Biographies
[edit]Four biographies of women appear in this new book that were not present in the firstOld Book of Tang.The women kill or maim themselves in horrible ways, and represent examples of Tang dynasty women that were intended to deter contemporary readers from extreme behavior. For example, Woman Lu gouges her own eye out to assure her ailing husband that there will be no second man after him. Biographies of 35 overly filial and fraternal men are also included in the work, though these men do not resort to the extremes of female mutilation found in the female biographies.[1]
See also
[edit]
References
[edit]Citations
[edit]- ^abDavis, Richard L. (2001). "Chaste and Filial Women in Chinese Historical Writings of the Eleventh Century".Journal of the American Oriental Society.121(2): 204–218.doi:10.2307/606561.JSTOR606561.
- ^From a description by Wang Yingling, in hisYuhai(Ngọc hải)
- ^Endymion Wilkinson.Chinese History: A New Manual.(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center, Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph Series New Edition; Second, Revised printing March 2013:ISBN9780674067158), 737.
- ^Wilkinson (2015),p. 737.
- ^Twitchett (2009),pp. 90–91.
Sources
[edit]- Works cited
- Twitchett, Denis (2009).Writing of Official History under the T'ang.Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
- Wilkinson, Endymion Porter (2015).Chinese History: a New Manual.Cambridge and London, England:Harvard University Asia Center.
External links
[edit]
- Chronicles of the Chinese Dynasties[dead link],Twitchett,Official History under the T'ang,pp. 19119–236.
- Xu Elina-Qian,Historical Development of the Pre-Dynastic Khitan,University of Helsinki, 2005. 273 pages.
2.1 Introduction to the Sources on the Pre-dynastic Khitan (pp. 19–23): The Xin Tangshu, pp. 2119–22. - New Book of Tang《 tân đường thư 》Chinese text with matching English vocabulary