MORE ON THE YUNG-LO TA-TIEN
L. CARRINGTON GOODRICH
Half a century ago Dr. Lionel Giles wrote an informative article in the New China Review (vol. II, April 1920) on the Yung-lo ta-tien (hereafter abbreviated as YLTT). Others too, both before and since, have contributed something to our knowledge about this great compilation. It appears time, however, for another sketch and assessment, now that the Veritable Records of the Ming dynasty (Ming shih-lu) and other original sources have been made available.
The YLTT was unquestionably the major collective literary enterprise of the Ming period (1368 - 1644). The proposal for the undertaking was officially made by the Grand Secretary Hsieh Chin (1369 - 1415) and others on July 19, 1403. Essentially the purpose was to try to make one complete thesaurus of existing literature. At this point in history the Chinese were just beginning to recover from not one but several devastating conflicts. In the tenth century part of north China had been lost to the Khitan, and both Chinese and non-Chinese peoples had warred over the rest. After the Sung (960+) had come into control of the south and central areas, the Jurchen in the twelfth century drove out the Khitan and bit off part of the Sung domain, to be followed in the thirteenth by the Mongols who conquered all of China in over half a century of campaigning. For seventy years there was peace, and then the Chinese began to throw off the Mongol yoke as well as struggle amongst themselves for mastery. From 1350 to 1380 war raged again, and many a center of culture suffered. It is a wonder that there was anything of value left. But this was not all. The prince of Yen (Chu Ti) at the turn of the century made two attempts to seize the throne from his nephew, and this too resulted in destruction, particularly in the north. He finally achieved success on the second, entering the capital, Nanking, in July 1402, and proclaimed himself emperor, with his reign title as Yung-lo, in January 1403. One may perhaps assign to the invention of printing, both by woodblock and (to a less extent) by movable type, the merit of preserving, through all these centuries from A.D. 900 on, at least part of the literary heritage of the Chinese people.
MORE ON THE YUNG-LO TA-TIEN ✯ #★⭑
L. CARRINGTON GOODRICH
Half a century ago Dr. Lionel Giles wrote an informative article in the New China Review (vol. II, April 1920) on the Yung-lo ta-tien (hereafter abbreviated as YLTT). Others too, both before and since, have contributed something to our knowledge about this great compilation. It appears time, however, for another sketch and assessment, now that the Veritable Records of the Ming dynasty (Ming shih-lu ) and other original sources have been made available.
The YLTT was unquestionably the major collective literary enterprise of the Ming period (1368 - 1644). The proposal for the undertaking was officially made by the Grand Secretary Hsieh Chin #4# (1369 - 1415) and others on July 19, 1403. Essentially the purpose was to try to make one complete thesaurus of existing literature. At this point in history the Chinese were just beginning to recover from not one but several devastating conflicts. In the tenth century part of north China had been lost to the Khitan, and both Chinese and non-Chinese peoples had warred over the rest. After the Sung (960 +) had come into control of the south and central areas, the Jurchen in the twelfth century drove out the Khitan and bit off part of the Sung domain, to be followed in the thirteenth by the Mongols who conquered all of China in over half a century of campaigning. For seventy years there was peace, and then the Chinese began to throw off the Mongol yoke as well as struggle amongst themselves for mastery. From 1350 to 1380 war raged again, and many a center of culture suffered. It is a wonder that there was anything of value left. But this was not all. The prince of Yen (Chu Ti **) at the turn of the century made two attempts to seize the throne from his nephew, and this too resulted in destruction, particularly in the north. He finally achieved success on the second, entering the capital, Nanking, in July 1402, and proclaimed himself emperor, with his reign title as Yung-lo, in January 1403. One may perhaps assign to the invention of printing, both by woodblock and (to a less extent) by movable type, the merit of preserving, through all these centuries from A.D. 900 on, at least part of the literary heritage of the Chinese people.
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