The Writing of Official History under the T'ang

This book describes the selection, processing and editing of material for an authorized history of the T'ang.

Denis Twitchett (Author)

9780521522939, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 7 November 2002

308 pages
22.9 x 15.3 x 2.3 cm, 0.46 kg

This book describes how the Chinese government, between about 620 and 850, developed an official organization designed to select, process, and edit material for inclusion in official historical works eventually to be incorporated in an official history of the dynasty. The first part gives a detailed account of the establishment of the official apparatus designed to produce a record of the T'ang dynasty, which would remain standard for more than a millennium, with some analysis of the individuals who served in these offices. The second part gives all available detail about the various works produced by this apparatus, divided among its various genres, and listing all known titles, their authorship, and their relationships to one another. The third part shows the cumulative process by which a dynastic history came into being, and the way in which we can detect various elements in the completed history.

Preface
Conventions
List of abbreviations
Part I. The Bureaucratic Apparatus: 1. Introduction
2. The bureaucratic apparatus
Part II. The Compilation of the Historical Record: 3. Introduction
4. The court diaries (Ch'i-chii chu)
5. The inner palace diaries (Nei Ch'i-chii chu)
6. The record of administrative affairs (Shih-cheng chi)
7. The daily calandar (Jih-li)
8. Biographies
9. Histories of institutions, historical encyclopedias, and collections of documents
10. The veritable records (Shih-lu)
11. The national history (Kuo shih)
Part III. The Chiu T'ang shu: 12. The compilation of the Chiu T'ang shu
13. The Chiu T'ang shu and its sources: the basic annals
14. The Chiu T'ang shu and its sources: the monographs
Appendix
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: General & world history [HBG]