Discussion—Modeling Ming and Qing Lives and Resources for Ming and Qing Biography and Prosopography

Mark Elliott, Martin Heijdra, Michael Szonyi

Part I: What is new about Ming-Qing?

• Quantitative expansion in biographic sources• Qualitative changes/new features to life history as illustrated by exemplary

works on Ming • Qualitative changes/new features to life history as illustrated by exemplary

works on Qing

Part II: How might the CBDB project address these changes?

• What kind of data needs to be collected to produce new and exciting work such as the exemplary works above? What new fields are needed in the CBDB to capture these new features?

• Proposals for most effective systematic harvesting: what sources should be priorities?

Fuzhou Fuzhi 福州府志 1754 edition

juan Subject Tang Song Yuan Ming Qing to QL

46 名宦 9 28 13 117 38

49 人物列传闽县

3 53 2 109 14

58 道学 18 1 1

65 烈女闽县 1 71 236

• Mingshilu 明实录 consists of about 3000 juan

• Taizu shilu 太祖实录 j233 ( 洪武 26/1393) contains 25 names excluding foreign names

• 5 of these names are found in the Index of 89 Ming Biographical Collections

• If j233 is representative, this suggests that there may be biographical data for around (25 x 3000 =) 75 000 individuals, of whom (20 x 3000=) 60 000 do not have biographies in the standard collections

Profile of Qing-era sources of biographical data

書名 人數 備考

Indexes (lists only; no data)

1 清代傳記叢刊 48,000 indexes 167 different sources of biographical data

2 清人室名別稱字號索引 36,000 standard reference

3 三十三種清代傳記總合引得 27,000 standard reference, now superseded by preceding

4 清代碑传文通检 13,000 indexes names in 4 different Beizhuanji collections

Potential sources of elite biographical data

5 宗室玉牒 150,000 90,000 digitized already

6 搢 ( 縉 ) 紳錄 100,000+??

QHP-sponsored publication out this month; 120 vols.

7 同官錄 100,000+??

approx. 300 per province per edition = 5,000 per annum

8 地方志 ?? no estimate

9 中國第一歷史檔案館藏清代官員履歷檔案全編 39,500 estimate of unique entries

10 明清進士題名碑錄所引 27,000 total no. for Ming and Qing = 51,624

11 清代地方人物傳記叢刊 25,000 QHP-sponsored publication

12 八旗通志初集 / 欽定八旗通志 26,700 70% of contents are biographical/genealogical

13 清代檔案人名權威資料查訊 12,100 already online

14 清代職官年表 8,500 estimate from index

15 清代碑傳全集 5,000 estimate of main entries

16 清史列傳 3,800 includes 2,900 main entries and 900 supplemental entries

17 清代閨閣詩人征略 1,100 already online

18 清代名人傳略 (Hummel) 800 main entries only; already online

Nancy Tomasko: Chung Hsing (1574-1625), a literary name in the Wan-li era (1573-1620) of Ming China

• Establishes network around poet Zhong Xing 鍾惺 using titles (and content) of poem dedications

• Found biographies of people not mentioned elsewhere in new genre of diaries (e.g. Yuan Zhongdao 袁中道 ’ s Yuan Xiaoxiu riji 袁小修日記 )

• Other new sources used include anthologies of examination papers (often include important dates with papers not included in the collected works of an individual), temple gazetteers (include visits by famous people, e.g. Jinling fancha zhi 金陵梵刹志 ); Peking Gazette (Wanli di chao 萬曆邸鈔 , has assignment dates etc. not reproduced elsewhere)

• Other data were established from facts and names mentioned in Prefaces, often in only one edition of a work and not in others; do not stop at one edition

Lucille Chia: Wu Mianxue and the Publishing World of Late Ming China / Kathryn Lowry, The tapestry of popular songs in 16th- and 17th-century China : reading, imitation, and desire

• Importance of establishing publication and printing networks, but what we know of commercial printers comes largely from their imprints, not from much else

• Many are “central people” without a “central” biography • “Journeyman-editors” (Lowry) such as Deng Zhimo 鄧志謨 : well-

connected in publishing, but lacking biographies; but Deng actually wrote his own correspondence collection Deyuji 得愚集

• Most famous example is Wu Mianxue 吳勉學 : scholarly editor/ author/ publisher based in Nanjing of more than 60 often voluminous titles; yet he is elusive and not in standard biographies

• Some info on Wu comes from a Qing genealogy; but most data from the publications themselves: where he was active, who were his colleagues, what were his relationships with fellow-Huizhou people etc.

Jennifer Eichman: Spiritual seekers in a fluid landscape: a Chinese Buddhist network in the Wanli period (1573-1620)

• Uses epistolary sources (printed letters in collected works) to establish network of scholars, officials and monks around Zhuhong 袾宏 (ca. 70 people)

• While many individuals had biographies in standard sources, the network is only visible by analyzing names in letters

• New relationships to check in Ming: societal membership (voluntary associations, literary); e.g., through analysis of meeting discussions (huiyu 會語 ), as recorded in works of particular persons

• There are also biographical works written by monks: Zhuhong wrote Wangshengji 往生集 (Rebirth Biographies) on prominent laymen and women

Barbara Volkmar: Die Fallgeschichten des Artzes Wan Quan: medizinisches Denken und Handeln in der Ming-Zeit

• In ’80s Wan Quan 萬全’ s dates in secondary biographies were 200 years apart; estimates of his birthday ranged from late 14th century to 1482, 1488, 1495, 1499, 1567 (Volkmar’s findings: 1500)

• Dates and other biographical details found by reading prefaces, using local gazetteers, and establishing relationships with patients as mentioned in medical case studies

• Genre of medical “case studies” seen by some (Cullen, Furth) as new in 16th century, in fact goes back to 12th century

• Factoid: Wan reverted to publishing his family’s medical knowledge only after an unauthorized rough draft had been plagiarized by Huang Lian 黃廉 . After Wan’s death, Wu Mianxue 吳勉學 republishes in 1601 this unauthorized, superseded version, although he now lists Wan Quan as the author

Ming-Qing jinshi timing beilu「明清進士題名碑錄」

Ming-Qing jinshi timing beilu suoyin「明清進士題名碑錄所引」

Shandong tongguan lu(list of Shandong provincial officials, 1859)

Sample entry 1 from Shandong tongguan lu

Sample entry 2 from Shandong tongguan lu

Priorities

Ming entries

89 zhong Ming dai zhuan ji zong he yin de 89 種明代傳記綜合引得 28200

Di fang zhi ren wu zhuan ji zi liao cong kan: Huabei

地方誌人物傳記資料叢刊 華北11000

Dictionary of Ming biography

4850

Gu jin tu shu ji cheng zhong Ming ren zhuan ji suo yin

古今圖書集成中明人傳記索引33300

(Ming, Ben, Guo) chao fen sheng ren wu kao （明，本，國 ) 朝分省人物考 5100

Ming Qing jin shi ti ming bei lu suo yin 明清進士提名碑錄索引 24100

Ming ren bie ming zi hao suo yin 明人別名字號索引 15900

Ming ren shi ming bie cheng zi hao suo yin 明人室名別稱字號索引 29400

Ming ren zhuan ji cong kan suo yin 明人傳記叢刊索引 27100

Ming ren zhuan ji zi liao suo yin 明人傳記資料索引 10450

Ming ren zi zhuan wen chao 明人自傳文鈔 300

Ming shi lu lei zuan (ren wu zhuan ji) 明實錄類纂（人物傳記） 2050

Ming shi ren ming suo yin 明史人名索引 23750Ming shi ren xiao zhuan gao 明詩人小傳搞 8000

Ming yi min zhuan ji zi liao suo yin 明遺民傳記資料索引 2300

Zhongguo li dai ren wu nian pu kao lu 中國歷代人物年譜考錄 650

Priorities (Qing)

Potential sources of elite biographical data 5 宗室玉牒 150,000 90,000 digitized already

6 搢 (縉) 紳錄 100,000+ ??

QHP-sponsored publication out this month; 120 vols.

7 同官錄 100,000+ ??

approx. 300 per province per edition = 5,000 per annum

8 地方志 ?? no estimate

9 中國第一歷史檔案館藏清代官員履歷檔案全編 39,500 estimate of unique entries

10 明清進士題名碑錄所引 27,000 total no. for Ming and Qing = 51,624

11 清代地方人物傳記叢刊 25,000 QHP-sponsored publication

12 八旗通志初集 / 欽定八旗通志 26,700 70% of contents are biographical/genealogical

13 清代檔案人名權威資料查訊 12,100 already online

14 清代職官年表 8,500 estimate from index

15 清代碑傳全集 5,000 estimate of main entries

16 清史列傳 3,800 includes 2,900 main entries and 900 supplemental entries

17 清代閨閣詩人征略 1,100 already online

18 清代名人傳略 (Hummel) 800 main entries only; already online

For Ming biographies, in addition to standard biographies, local gazetteers, and epigraphical material:

• Essential to encode book relationships:– is published by…/ publisher of…– wrote preface for…– coauthor with…– editor of.../compiler of…/commentator of…– even: carver of…, collector of…, keeper of the blocks of…

• New societal networks (religious, literary): – attended meeting of…/ belonged to…/ opposing…

• Perhaps extended scholarly relationships:– not only follower of…, but also: critic of…/ competitor of…/ plagiarizer of…/ zhuangyuan in year of degree received

was…

• More specialized fields are visible, necessitating more classifications and relationships:– has as medical specialty…; patient of…– in gazetteers, listed in … category

• More and more diverse informational works:– technical and philosophical works such as Mingru xue’an ( 明儒學案 ), Chou ren zhuan ( 疇人傳 ), but also

Wangshengji ( 往生集 )– also genealogies, inscriptions on art objects, medical case studies, meeting discussions, diaries, letter collections,

examination essay anthologies, temple gazetteers, general prefaces, temple gazetteers

• Crucial is analyzing names in Table of Contents in Prose and Poetry Collections (poetry dedications, letters)