98
R. G. IRWIN
of investigation which he and two other Jesuit fathers had made to Formosa in 1714.31
Having carried his record to the close of the K'ang-hsi period, de Mailla ventured no further into contemporary history. Some forty years later the task of recording the subsequent Yung-cheng and Ch'ien-lung periods (to 1780) was assumed by M. le Roux des Hautesrayes32 of the Collège Royal de France. It should be noted that whereas de Mailla had scrupulously confined himself to Chinese (and in one instance Manchu) sources, the contribution of des Hautesrayes, in Vol. XI, pages 369-610, was based, not on Chinese texts at all, but on the writings of Jesuit missionaries, available in the volumes of Lettres édifiantes edited by Père du Halde and in the collection Mémoires concernant les Chinois,33
Vol. XII, containing “a note on the customs, sciences, and arts of the Chinese,” a table of reign titles, a summary of geographical nomenclature, an alphabetical index, etc., is also the work of des Hautesrayes. But the essays on Cochin China and Tongking, said to have been based on Chinese sources, are specifically attributed to P. Gaubil, and taken from Lettres édifiantes, Vol. XXXI.34 By translating the part relating to China in Fischer's Histoire de Sibirie, 1774 (in Russian), Stollenwerck has provided the note concerning the first attempts of the Russians against the Chinese.35
Abbé Grosier, who had been intimately connected with the publication of the earlier volumes, brought out in 1785 a supplement entitled "Description générale de la Chine ou Tableau de l'État Actuel de cet empire.” Individual copies have circulated independently, but it is commonly considered as Vol. XIII of the series, and its author is justifiably included in a review of those who share in the completed work.
The present paper, it will be seen, makes no attempt either to evaluate the sources which have been identified, nor the manner in which de Mailla employed them. Its purpose has been simply to correct a popular misconception with regard to the relation between the T'ung-chien kang-mu and de Mailla's Histoire générale.
98
R. G. IRWIN
of investigation which he and two other Jesuit fathers had made to Formosa in 1714.31
Having carried his record to the close of the K'ang-hsi period, de Mailla ventured no further into contemporary history. Some forty years later the task of recording the subsequent Yung-cheng and Ch'ien-lung periods (to 1780) was assumed by M. le Roux des Hautesrayes32 of the Collège Royal de France. It should be noted that whereas de Mailla had scrupulously confined himself to Chin- ese (and in one instance Manchu) sources, the contribution of des Hautesrayes, in Vol. XI, pages 369-610, was based, not on Chinese texts at all, but on the writings of Jesuit missionaries, available in the volumes of Lettres édifiantes edited by Père du Halde and in the collection Mémoires concernant les Chinois,33
Vol. XII, containing “a note on the customs, sciences, and arts of the Chinese,” a table of reign titles, a summary of geographical nomenclature, an alphabetical index, etc., is also the work of des Hautesrayes. But the essays on Cochin China and Tongking, said to have been based on Chinese sources, are specifically attributed to P. Gaubil, and taken from Lettres édifiantes, Vol. XXXI.34 by translating the part relating to China in Ficher's Histoire de Sibirie, 1774 (in Russian), Stollenwerck has provided the note concerning the first attempts of the Russians against the Chinese,35
Abbé Grosier, who had been intimately connected with the publication of the earlier volumes, brought out in 1785 a supple- ment entitled "Description générale de la Chine ou Tableau de l'État Actuel de cet empire.” Individual copies have circulated in- dependently, but it is commonly considered as Vol. XIII of the series, and its author is justifiably included in a review of those who share in the completed work.
The present paper it will be seen, makes no attempt either to evaluate the sources which have been identified, nor the manner in which de Mailla employed them. Its purpose has been simply to correct a popular misconception with regard to the relation between the T'ung-chien kang-mu and de Mailla's Histoire générale.
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