Song Lian (; 1310–1381),

courtesy name A courtesy name ( zh, s=字, p=zì, l=character), also known as a style name, is an additional name bestowed upon individuals at adulthood, complementing their given name. This tradition is prevalent in the East Asian cultural sphere, particula ...

Jinglian (), was a Chinese historian and official of the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...

. He was a literary and political advisor to the

Hongwu Emperor The Hongwu Emperor (21 October 1328– 24 June 1398), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Taizu of Ming, personal name Zhu Yuanzhang, courtesy name Guorui, was the List of emperors of the Ming dynasty, founding emperor of the Ming dyna ...

. Before that, he was one of the principal figures in the

Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty ( ; zh, c=元朝, p=Yuáncháo), officially the Great Yuan (; Mongolian language, Mongolian: , , literally 'Great Yuan State'), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after Div ...

's Jinhua school of

Neo-Confucianism Neo-Confucianism (, often shortened to ''lǐxué'' 理學, literally "School of Principle") is a moral, ethical, and metaphysical Chinese philosophy influenced by Confucianism, which originated with Han Yu (768–824) and Li Ao (772–841) i ...

. As a head of the official ''Bureau of History'' of the

, Song Lian directed the compilation of the official dynastic history of the preceding Yuan dynasty. The compilation of the ''

History of Yuan The ''History of Yuan'' (), also known as the ''Yuanshi'', is one of the official Chinese historical works known as the '' Twenty-Four Histories'' of China. Commissioned by the court of the Ming dynasty, in accordance to political tradition, t ...

'', commissioned by the court of the Ming dynasty, was completed in 1370. Under the guidance of Song Lian, the official dynastic history broke with the old Confucian historiographical tradition, and established a new historical paradigm professing that the influence of history was equal in influence to the great Confucian classics in directing the human affairs. In Asian historiography, the ''History of Yuan'' is a major source for the study of the histories of the Han, Tungusic,

Mongol Mongols are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, China (Inner Mongolia and other 11 autonomous territories), as well as the republics of Buryatia and Kalmykia in Russia. The Mongols are the principal member of the large family of M ...

, and Turkic peoples.

References

* Kelly Boyd, ''"Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing"'', Taylor & Francis, 1999, . {{DEFAULTSORT:Song, Lian 1310 births 1381 deaths 14th-century Chinese historians Historians from Zhejiang Ming dynasty historians Ming dynasty government officials Politicians from Jinhua Writers from Jinhua

See also

References