Special correspondent of this newspaper Hu
Source: newspaper.
Characters and numbers used to specify serial numbers.
The 13 volume General History of chinese administrative division, edited by Mr. Zhou, is expected to be published by the end of this year, which is the first general history of administrative division changes in academic sense since the founding of the People's Republic of China. Among them, The General History of chinese administrative division in Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, published by Fudan University Press in February 20 14, is the latest achievement of this general history. Based on relevant handed down and archaeological data, this volume comprehensively and systematically restores the political power of the Central Plains during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (907-959), namely, the later Tang Dynasty, the later Jin Dynasty, the later Han Dynasty and the later Friday Dynasty, as well as the ten regions that appeared in the north and south during this period, namely, Houshu, Nanping, Chu, Wu, Nantang, wuyue, Fujian, Southern Han Dynasty and Northern Han Dynasty. At the same time, it also discusses the changes in the jurisdiction of different separatist regimes (forces) such as Qi Wang, Lu Long, Dingnan and Guiyi. So far, many complicated and unresolved issues related to administrative geography in this period have been revealed and clarified in the most detailed and complete way. The newspaper (www.thepaper.cn) interviewed Professor Li Xiaojie, the author of this volume.
Xiaojie Li
Li Xiaojie entered the Palace Museum on 1988 after graduating from Fudan History Department. Because of my personal interest in literature, I have not found a suitable research method to combine literature with cultural relics in my work. I only wrote one article "Western Music in Qing Dynasty" (Forbidden City 199 1 No.4) in three years. 199 1 returned to Fudan, entered the institute of historical geography, followed Mr. Zhou as a graduate student,196 stayed on as a teacher after his Ph.D. graduation.
Speaking of engaging in administrative geography research, Mr. Li said it was accidental. At that time, the Institute of History and Geography was compiling the National Historical Atlas, and the administrative map group needed someone to compile the map of the Eastern Han Dynasty, so Mr. Zhou gave him the task. Later, Mr. Zhou suggested that he continue to study the administrative geography of the Eastern Han Dynasty. After completing his doctoral thesis "Geography of Administrative Divisions in the Eastern Han Dynasty", he published "chinese administrative division General History Pre-Qin Volume".
When talking about the reasons for the shift from the pre-Qin and Eastern Han Dynasties to the geographical study of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, Mr. Li said with a smile that his research period was originally in the pre-Qin and Han Dynasties, and the writing of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms was completely accidental. It turns out that the General History of chinese administrative division combined the administrative divisions of the Tang and Five Dynasties into one volume, which was written by Professor Guo Shengbo of Jinan University. Later, because of the heavy research on the administrative districts of the Tang Dynasty, Mr. Guo suggested that Mr. Zhou find someone else to be the administrative district of the Five Dynasties. Teacher Zhou found Miss Li and asked him if he could do some experiments first to guide students to do some research in the Five Dynasties and Ten Countries. Therefore, he guided graduate students to make administrative geography of some areas in the Five Dynasties according to this idea, which laid a good foundation for the later writing of manuscripts on administrative divisions in the Five Dynasties. Part of the History of Ten Kingdoms was originally planned to be completed by Zhou Qingzhang, a master student under his guidance, and then studied PhD with Mr. Zhou. However, because his doctoral thesis did not involve the problems of our province's jurisdiction (this is the most critical issue in the textual research of Geography of Ten Countries), and the writing style was completely different from that of the Five Dynasties, Geography of Ten Countries was also completed by him himself, from the article layout to the specific textual research.
Full map of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (Volume V of Atlas of Chinese History, edited by Tan Qixiang)
Paper: As we all know, the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms are troubled times, and there are not many historical materials. So how did you collect and sort out the materials before writing the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms volume?
Li Xiaojie: I didn't know much about the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. Although it is usually talked about in lectures, it is mainly in the form of introduction, and there is no special research. Even the jurisdiction of our time is vague. Therefore, some students asked me, if I did the geography research of five dynasties and ten countries as soon as I graduated from my doctor's degree, can I still do this now? I said I couldn't do it because it needed a gradual accumulation process. Although the pre-Qin period was divided, it was actually different from the separatist regime after the reunification of later generations and handled in different ways. The Five Dynasties were sandwiched between the Tang and Song Dynasties, and the historical materials were limited. We are not very clear about many institutional things in the other five generations. The part about Five Dynasties and Ten Countries in the Atlas of Chinese History edited by Mr. Tan Qixiang is also very simple. So at the beginning of writing the manuscript, I didn't know what form to use to reflect the geography of the Five Dynasties and Ten Countries.
At that time, I just felt that I had a lesson from the geographical study of administrative divisions in the pre-Qin and Eastern Han Dynasties. After hard work, I should be able to research our jurisdiction one by one during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, so I helped three students who were later instructed to draw up the five dynasties administrative framework for their master's thesis. The research on this part of the problem can be subdivided into two levels, one is the jurisdiction of our province, and the other is the jurisdiction of our state. This is different from the Eastern Han Dynasty, which only needs to consider county-level jurisdiction. At that time, students will bring materials to discuss with me, and I am familiar with many historical materials in the process. In addition, I remember calling them on the spot to help them revise their papers, asking them what you want to say in this paragraph, and then I will tell you how to write it. In the process of guiding them, I gradually improved my own ideas and framework, and I am also very familiar with the collection and processing of historical materials of the Five Dynasties and Ten Countries. By the time I officially took over writing, the problem was not too big, which is why I dared to write five dynasties and ten countries. Otherwise, it will be difficult to jump directly from the pre-Qin and Han Dynasties to the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, and so many specific issues will be involved.
The geographical study of the five dynasties and ten countries mainly involves the identification of historical materials and data comparison. Through analysis, we can basically sort out the contradictions in the records, unlike many places in the Eastern Han Dynasty that need reasoning and examination to solve them, so the difficulty coefficient is not too high in specific textual research. If I have to give an example of administrative research, I would rather give an example of the Han Dynasty than the Five Dynasties and Ten Countries. However, the difficulty of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms lies in the comprehensive and overall revelation. That is to say, although the specific problems are not as difficult as in the Eastern Han Dynasty, it is a difficult problem to put them together and show them in what form. Because there are five regimes in the north and many regimes in different periods in the south, and you should consider the situation in the north and the south comprehensively. You should have multiple lines in your mind, unlike the Eastern Han Dynasty, which only needed one line. Five Dynasties, Ten Countries and One Region will involve multiple regimes. Of course, the local ownership in the pre-Qin period will also change, but it is relatively simple, unlike the Five Dynasties. In the Five Dynasties, when the same envoy changed political power, he should consider his title and other issues. There are few historical materials in the pre-Qin period, so a rough study is enough. But by the time of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, although the materials were limited, it was already after the Tang Dynasty. If you write them roughly, others will think that your research is not deep enough. So how to be as accurate as possible is also a problem that needs to be considered.
Thesis: The History of Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms can be said to be the most changed volume in this general history. Can you tell us the reason?
Li Xiaojie: Yes! The style of this book is very complicated. In addition, in terms of details, it may be more detailed. Not counting the overview, charts and other parts, the preliminary research part has 400 thousand words. In the words of Teacher Zhou, in the five generations and fifty years, you wrote almost 10,000 words a year. At present, the total number of words in book typesetting is nearly1200,000 words, but there are actually more than 20,000 words a year. This level of detail is not available in the published volume "General History of Administrative Regions", so I try to give you a sample reference in style. As far as the geography of dating administrative regions is concerned, how to do it in the stable period of the dynasty is relatively mature, and the separatist period is still in the exploration stage. It happened that I presided over a national key social science project on the geographical study of administrative regions during the separatist period, and this manuscript was also the phased achievement of that project. My request for this volume is that my research should be of reference to other researchers in the future. Although it may not be completely this model, it is at least a sample that is different from other dating administrative regions.
As for the style of this volume, I think the most important factor is the influence of political power. The separatist regime of the Five Dynasties and Ten Countries is also a challenge to the existing research model of administrative regions, because how to fully and clearly reveal the vertical time changes and horizontal space changes is also a problem in itself. Mr. Zhou read the first draft of my textual research and suggested adding a general statement, otherwise it would be difficult for ordinary readers to sort out the situation in the textual research of the Five Dynasties and Ten Countries. Through the abstract, readers can know which regime they want. After that, if you need to know more, then go to the corresponding part for textual research. The table attached at the back of the book is also helpful for readers to find and understand, because I think administrative geography needs readability and usability. In other words, you should consider the readers, and you can't say that everything will be fine after you finish the relevant examination questions.
In addition, I also have some reference to the specific style of the previous volumes of this general history. Teacher Guo Shengbo will display the administrative period of the standard year in bold in the Volume of the Tang Dynasty, which I learned from in style. Then, like Li Changxian's Song Xixia Volume, the existing time of counties under the jurisdiction of the state is enclosed, and I also learn from this practice in our province and counties under the jurisdiction of the state. As for some specific terms in the catalogue, such as "Cheng" and "cum", they are unique to my volume. In compilation and textual research compilation, the meaning of regime name is different. To sum up, the compilation of political names actually covers the situation of political districts, but the textual research of political names has no political district meaning, so "Cheng" or "cum" will be used between political powers, which is also called "the evolution of political districts under the jurisdiction of a certain (political power)".
Paper: One of the most important issues in chronological geography of administrative divisions is the choice of base year. Why did the first draft of this book choose Liang Liunian (920) as the standard year for textual research?
Li Xiaojie: There is little difference between the names of the base year and the standard year in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. Generally, when we enter the administrative region for geographical research, we will choose a standard year to study, that is, a standard year, as a narrative catalogue, and the changes before and after are reflected in this catalogue. But why did the reference year appear in the book? This is because in the summary compilation, the standard year is also needed to describe each regime. I am afraid that readers will confuse it with the standard year in the compilation of textual research, so I have changed a word, and in the compilation of summary, the base year is regarded as the standard year in the narrative catalogue of various regimes and administrative regions. There is a base year *** 15 for each regime in the general compilation of this book, while there is only one standard year in the textual research compilation, mainly for the convenience of narration.
As for why 920 was chosen as the standard year for textual research compilation, it was indeed considered. The premise of this consideration is the convenience of narration. At that time, we held a compilation meeting for the compilers of this set of general history. At the meeting, a teacher suggested that the standard year was 925 years after the destruction of Shu in the Tang Dynasty, because the regime at that time contained the widest area, and it might be more convenient to draw up the project. But why don't I take this advice and use the year of 920 in Hou Liang? My consideration is that it may be better to use the original regime of the Five Dynasties, so as not to disturb the order of Liang, Tang, Jin, Han and Zhou in the catalogue. Secondly, in 1920, we can give consideration to the political forces of the north and the south. If it is too early, there will still be many small separatist regimes in the north and south, but by 920, the number of separatist regimes will be relatively small. There are only,,, Dingnan and Guiyi in the north, and there are, Jingnan,, Wu, wuyue and Nanhan in the south, depending on whether they were kings or emperors at that time. Considering these factors comprehensively, I think 920 is more suitable, because after that, the back beam will soon disappear.
Anyway, I'd like to start with the Houliang period. Secondly, I want to have the least number of political power in the period of Houliang, and then consider that the south has basically become the king and the emperor. In this case, from the perspective of quasi-term, the catalogue will be more regular and the number of regimes will not be so much.
Thesis: For people who are not majoring in administrative geography, how to use this book if they want to refer to the research results of this book?
Li Xiaojie: I think it is enough for ordinary history and geography lovers to read the summaries and charts at the back. I have also received letters from some readers in China, and no one complained that I couldn't understand this book, but I just found it a bit difficult to read. In fact, I think it is difficult for ordinary people to read this book systematically. If you want to consult it, you should look at the summary compilation and want to know the specific textual research process before turning it over. The attached table, in which the evolution table of our time (the evolution table of the establishment of towns in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms) is only a timetable, and there is no jurisdiction, but the numbers of towns are the same as those in the outline, so it is easy to find. The evolution table of our jurisdiction (evolution table of five dynasties and ten countries) has not only time changes, but also regional changes. You can quickly know what you want to know by looking at your watch. It stands to reason that it may be more convenient to have a place name index, but considering the printing cost, this set of books is not available, so it is suggested that a general index can be considered after the publication of the complete works of general history.
Schematic diagram of the rise and fall of administrative regions and separatist forces in the North and South during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (attached figure at the beginning of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms volume)
Paper: During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, there were many other types of administrative divisions besides the three basic administrative divisions: governor (Fangzhen), state and county, among which "military" was a special administrative division. Can you give us a detailed introduction?
Li Xiaojie: The "army" in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period should have been inherited from the Tang Dynasty, but some changes have taken place in its nature. From the perspective of political districts, there is actually a gradual transformation process from military "army" to administrative "army". The "army" in the Five Dynasties was more complicated, and there were three levels of "army" transformed into administration: directly under the Beijing Army, the paramilitary army and the county-level army. This is the characteristic of the Five Dynasties, and the situation of the "army" began to simplify in the Song Dynasty.
How do we judge the ranks of the "military" in the Five Dynasties? In fact, it is mainly judged by governance relations. Those who are promoted from a county (or county-level administrative region) generally still lead the original county and are directly under the jurisdiction of a political power are called directly under the Beijing Army; When a part of a county is promoted (not leading the county) or reduced (leading the county) to a state and is commanded by an envoy, it is called a quasi-state-level army; We upgrade a county, a town, a prison and other military and economic places or downgrade a state to an army, which is called the county-level army. There is no one leading the county, only one state leader.
Paper: What do you think are the characteristics of administrative divisions in three different periods (pre-Qin, Eastern Han, Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms)? From this, what do you think is the most important feature of the administrative geography age?
Li Xiaojie: In the pre-Qin period, administrative divisions were still in the stage of gradual improvement, which was the embryonic stage. The real establishment of administrative divisions should be after the reunification of Qin. I think the former administrative districts were relatively simple, like counties and counties. The hierarchical system is also gradually formed. From the Spring and Autumn Period to the Warring States Period, it is not necessary to set up all administrative regions within the jurisdiction of a certain regime.
Generally speaking, the pre-Qin administrative region is in its infancy, and we don't know much about its internal operation mechanism, while the Han administrative region is relatively mature. Although the Eastern Han Dynasty was still at the county (national) level, the changes in the border administrative areas in the Eastern Han Dynasty were obvious. For example, Jincheng County in the northwest often moved inward, and the administrative areas in the southwest were often influenced by the surrounding ethnic tribes. The change of the border counties in the Eastern Han Dynasty was obvious, which was closely related to the change of the ruling power in the Eastern Han Dynasty at that time, so the problem of "overseas Chinese setting up counties" appeared.
In addition, the "state" of the county in the Eastern Han Dynasty was imaginary, and it was no different from the nature of the county, but it still retained its name, not to mention the fear of kingdom rebellion as in the Western Han Dynasty. During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, with the frequent change of political power, the ownership of administrative regions also changed frequently. In addition, the emergence of some new administrative regions is also obvious. For example, some regimes in the south have further reduced the scale of their internal affairs. The new administrative regions in the north are not as frequent as those in the south, but the bugle of our time changes more with the change of political power. In addition, during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, the types of basic administrative divisions increased significantly.
The biggest difference between administrative geography and evolutionary geography is that evolutionary geography focuses on the establishment and change of vertical administrative divisions, but does not reveal administrative divisions. In fact, while paying attention to the changes of horizontal administrative divisions, administrative geography has not given up its attention to the vertical changes of administrative divisions. In other words, administrative geography pays attention to and reveals the changes of horizontal administrative divisions while developing along the vertical changes of administrative divisions, while evolutionary geography does not have such characteristics. It only pays attention to the changes of administrative divisions in vertical time, that is, how administrative divisions change in different periods, and does not involve the situation of different administrative divisions and their jurisdictions in the same year. Evolutionary geography, for example, can tell you what an administrative region looked like in the Tang and Song Dynasties, but it can't tell you what it looked like with other administrative regions in a certain year of the Tang or Song Dynasties. Administrative geography can not only tell you the year-to-year changes of an administrative region (including its jurisdiction), but also reveal the year-to-year changes of different administrative regions and their jurisdiction in the same year.