Draft History Of Qing
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The ''Draft History of Qing'' () is a draft of the official history of the
Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...
compiled and written by a team of over 100 historians led by Zhao Erxun who were hired by the
Beiyang government The Beiyang government was the internationally recognized government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China between 1912 and 1928, based in Beijing. It was dominated by the generals of the Beiyang Army, giving it its name. B ...
of the
Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
. The draft was published in 1928, but the
Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led Nationalist government, government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the forces of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Armed conflict continued intermitt ...
caused a lack of funding for the project and it was put to an end in 1930. The two sides of the Chinese civil war, the People's Republic of China and Republic of China have attempted to complete it.


History

The Qing imperial court had previously established a Bureau of State Historiography that pre-compiled its own dynastic history. The massive book was started in 1914, and the rough copy was finished in about 1927. 1,100 copies of the book were published. The Beiyang government moved 400 of the original draft into the northern provinces, where it re-edited the content twice, thus creating three different versions of the book. It was banned by the
Nationalist Government The Nationalist government, officially the National Government of the Republic of China, refers to the government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China from 1 July 1925 to 20 May 1948, led by the nationalist Kuomintang (KMT ...
in 1930. The ban was lifted later, but still no further work was actually done partly due to continued warfare including the
Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part ...
(1937–1945). According to historian Hsi-yuan Chen, further work was discouraged by the obsolescence of the Imperial Chinese conceptions of political legitimacy and historiography, which the making of an "official history" inherently assumed.


Contents

The draft contains 529 volumes. It attempts to follow the form of previous official histories, and is organized into four sections: * Annals (), chronicling the reigns of emperors * Treatises (), detailing specific events * Tables (), containing lists of important people in important posts or royal lineages * Biographies (), written about notable or representative people.


Shortcomings

Because of the lack of funding, the authors were forced to publish quickly, and consequently this project was never finished, remaining in the draft stage. In rushing to publication, the authors were motivated by the political instability of the period. The authors openly acknowledged their rush, and admitted there may have been factual or superficial errors. The draft was later criticized for being biased against the
Xinhai Revolution The 1911 Revolution, also known as the Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution, ended China's last imperial dynasty, the Qing dynasty, and led to the establishment of the Republic of China (ROC). The revolution was the culmination of a decade ...
. Notably, it does not have records of historical figures in the revolution, even those that had been born before the end of the Qing dynasty, although it includes biographies of various others who were born after the collapse of the Qing dynasty. The historians, who were Qing loyalists and/or sympathizers, had a tendency to villainize the revolutionaries. In fact, the draft completely avoided the use of the Republic of China calendar, which was unacceptable for an official history meant to endorse the rise of a new regime.


Modern attempts

In 1961, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the declaration of the Republic of China, the Republic of China government in
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
published its own ''History of Qing'', added 21 supplementary chapters to the ''Draft History of Qing'' and revised many existing chapters to denounce the Communist Party as an illegitimate, impostor regime. It also removed the passages that were derogatory towards the Xinhai Revolution. This edition has not been accepted as the official ''History of Qing'' because it is recognized that it was a rushed job published for political purposes. Nor does it correct most of the many errors known to exist in the ''Draft History of Qing''. An additional project, attempting to actually write a ''New History of Qing'' incorporating new materials and improvements in historiography, lasted from 1988 to 2000 and only published 33 chapters out of the over 500 projected. The ''New History'' was abandoned because of the rise of the Pan-Green Coalition, which saw Taiwan as a separate entity from China and therefore not as the new Chinese regime that would be responsible for writing the official history of the previous dynasty. In 1961, the People's Republic of China also attempted to complete writing the history of the Qing dynasty, but the historians were prevented from doing so by the
Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...
which started in 1966. In 2002, the PRC once again announced that it would complete the ''History of Qing''. The project was approved in 2003, and put under the leadership of historian Dai Yi. Initially planned to be completed in 10 years, the completion of the first draft was later pushed to 2016. ''Chinese Social Sciences Today'' reported in April 2020 that the project's results were being reviewed. The draft was rejected in November 2023, apparently because of official discontent with the narrative it presented and the influence of the so-called New Qing History school.


See also

* '' Twenty-Four Histories'' * History of the Qing dynasty


References


External links


Republic of China ''New History of Qing'' (1994)
on CTEXT (incomplete) {{Authority control Chinese-language books History books about the Qing dynasty 1928 non-fiction books