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5 - The Song History

from Part I - Sources

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 September 2020

Charles Hartman
Affiliation:
University at Albany, State University of New York
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Summary

As one of the so-called “twenty-four dynastic histories,” the Song History (Songshi), compiled by a committee of Yuan dynasty court historians and completed in 1345, was for many centuries, and in many senses remains, the official history of the dynasty. Ming and Qing historians criticized the Song History for its inordinate length and haphazard editing, labeling it the worst of the dynastic histories. This chapter maintains, however, that the work’s elaborate system of editorial comments creates a superstructure of meaning that seeks to transcend the often-conflicting details of the work’s text. The purpose of this superstructure was to utilize Song history to advance the political fortunes of Toghto, the work’s leading court sponsor and the Song History’s official “author.” Toghto led an intellectual and political faction, composed of Chinese and Mongol Confucians, that supported a vision of Song Confucian institutionalism and opposed the patrimonialism of the nativist Mongol party at the Yuan court. Toghto’s editorial committee, Chinese and Mongol adherents of Zhu Xi’s daoxue teachings, utilized thirteenth-century daoxue narratives to advance the superiority of their political vision for the Yuan state. This chapter also examines the intellectual and political background of Ouyang Xuan (1283–1357), the work’s de facto editor in chief who imposed this vision over the documentary legacy of official Song historiography.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Making of Song Dynasty History
Sources and Narratives, 960–1279 CE
, pp. 172 - 220
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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  • The Song History
  • Charles Hartman, University at Albany, State University of New York
  • Book: The Making of Song Dynasty History
  • Online publication: 24 September 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108877176.007
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  • The Song History
  • Charles Hartman, University at Albany, State University of New York
  • Book: The Making of Song Dynasty History
  • Online publication: 24 September 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108877176.007
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The Song History
  • Charles Hartman, University at Albany, State University of New York
  • Book: The Making of Song Dynasty History
  • Online publication: 24 September 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108877176.007
Available formats
×