Kangxi was born on May 21st in the sixty-first year (1July 4th, 722). He is young and clever. When he was four or five years old, he knew hundreds of words every day. County magistrate Feng Yong regarded him as a child prodigy. Seventeen years old, a supplementary student. The year-old exam has been in the forefront, and after the township exam, it was the deputy list, which became famous in one fell swoop. Fu Su and Chen Da were admitted to the * * * school, and talented people came forth in large numbers in the southeast. In Wumen, he sang with Wang, Chang Defu, Wu Tailai, Qi Jin and Zhao. Shen Shangshu is a fool, thinking that he can't be the "seven sons of Jiajing". He also talked about Confucian classics with Hui, knowing that exegetics must be based on Han and Confucianism. According to the Book of History for a long time, I think that the ancient prose in the Eastern Jin Dynasty is solid and false, and the ancient prose in the real cave wall also has Ma and Zheng notes; The Taishi offered by the Eastern Jin Dynasty is false, but the Taishi dismissed as false by Tang Confucianism is not false. Distinguish the authenticity of ancient prose, but twenty-nine articles in Shangshu suddenly appeared, and what we know is valid.
Qianlong twelve years (1747), 26 years old, took the senior high school entrance examination in Jiangnan.
Ganlong nineteen years (1754), 33 years old, Chinese; Palace examination, as the second person, was the editor of the Hanlin Academy. Jiang, who is in charge of the hospital, cares about his study and extends his stay as a guest. After moving, I will teach undergraduate courses, and I will be a full-time resident official.
Qianlong twenty-four years (1759), 38 years old, official to cabinet bachelor, does assistant minister. Soon after, he passed the provincial examination in Fujian and became the examiner. On the way, he met a woman and became his concubine. The suggested Luodian, taking advantage of the topic, moved to Guanglu Temple on the left.
In the 28th year of Qianlong (1763), he died with his mother at the age of 42. Since then, he has resigned and settled in Suzhou. For thirty years, lay people have been reading and writing behind closed doors, studying the history of the rule of law with Sinology and studying Confucian classics with Huidong and * * *.
The main purpose of writing the 100-volume Discussion on the Seventeenth History is to collate this article and correct mistakes. Investigate the true and false deeds and distinguish the similarities and differences of biographies; In the official land laws and regulations, each article has detailed provisions. The 100-volume Moth Art has ten purposes: speaking, remembering, writing, dealing, making, people, things, gathering, engraving, spreading and making. Gaiyi visited Wang and Gu, and introduced Youjiabo Mountain. Xu Dunhou, an ancient prose writer, used European and Zeng methods to illustrate his research on Xu and Zheng. In his early years, poetry praised "the prosperous Tang Dynasty" and loved Li Yishan alone. His recitation is very rich, and he has collected 40 volumes.
I have never dropped out of school, from my hair tied to my white hair. At the age of 68, my eyes suddenly blinked. At the age of two, I was cured by a medical needle from Xing Wu. While I was writing as usual, I died on December 2nd in the second year of Jiaqing (1798 18) at the age of 76.
Wang Mingsheng's major works are rich. He studied history with the method of sinology textual research, which lasted for more than 20 years, and wrote a total of 100 volume of "17 Historical Discussions". From the historical records to the Five Dynasties, the records, records, tables and biographies in each history confirmed each other, distinguished the similarities and differences, and brought out the best in each other, and consulted other historical masterpieces to correct the fallacies. It has a detailed exposition of geography, official positions and laws, and is one of the historical masterpieces of the Qing Dynasty.
The 30-volume Hou An and 1 volume Hou Bian of Shangshu focus on Zheng Xuanzhi, a Confucian scholar in the Eastern Han Dynasty. This book is also an important work to inherit the tradition of Confucian classics in Han Dynasty.
In his later years, he copied Gu's Record of the Sun and wrote Moth Art 100, which has textual research on China's ancient system, utensils, characters, geography and inscriptions, and has high academic value. The original manuscript of The Art of Moths is about 100 volumes, but it was not finalized before Wang died. According to Yao's Postscript of Moth Art, there are 95 volumes of paper money, but 82 volumes are actually engraved. His "Ordinary Cases" is called "Shuoke", which contains ten volumes of inscriptions of past dynasties in detail. This has been seen in Wang Chang's Discrimination between Jin and Cui Shi, so I don't need to repeat it. Shuo is a three-volume book, which lists the old news of the previous generation and should be included in the Wang family genealogy. Therefore, eighty-two volumes were carved. They are Shuolu Volume 14, Shuozi Volume 22, Shuodi Volume 14, Shuoren Volume 10, Shuowu Volume 2, Shuozhi Volume 1, Shuoji Volume 6 and Shuotong Volume 2. This is a compilation of Wang Pingping's academic works. Pei Heshou participated in proofreading, and checked the original text when proofreading, so as to indicate the source. If you say too much, make a little defense, and Pei's notes are also left in the book. There is a 21-year edition of Daoguang (that is, this edition) and a book "Continued Sikuquanshu".
Continued Song Wenjian 80 volumes, Zhou Lijun Fu 6 volumes.
Wang Mingsheng, a historical thought, emphasized "seeking truth from facts" and took textual research on "the truth of canon system" and "the truth of deeds" as the purpose of historical management. China's historiography developed to the Qing Dynasty, and experienced a heavy accumulation of more than two thousand years. Although its achievements are great, its disadvantages are hard to return. The formation of every historical trend of thought is to sort out and transform the previous generation of books according to its purpose, which certainly promotes the development of historiography, but it also inevitably leads to various man-made disasters.
Wrong, the ancient historical records have been distorted and tampered with. Historians in the period of Ganjia made a comprehensive clean-up of China's ancient history books with unprecedented rational consciousness. The characteristics of Wang Mingsheng's historical research are: first, make a general evaluation of an official history, then make textual research on various specific issues, and finally discuss other historical books related to it. For example, the textual research of Hanshu began with the overall generalization of Hanshu Example, Shangshu and Annoying Bamboo Slips, and the textual research of Hanshu and historical facts was finally accompanied by the textual research of Han Ji. Another example is the textual research of two books in the Tang Dynasty. First of all, it can be summarized as follows: "Song and Europe didn't compile books at the same time" and "both books are good and bad". The following is a textual research on the calligraphy and historical facts of the old and new books in the Tang Dynasty, and finally a textual research on Tang Shi's verdict and Tang Jian. Compared with Notes on Twenty-two Histories and Textual Research on Twenty-two Histories, Wang Mingsheng's On Seventeen Histories has made outstanding achievements in the textual research of history books, historical events, geography, official positions and other laws and regulations, and made contributions to clearing up and summarizing the ancient history of China.
The writing motivation of Wang Mingsheng's On Seventeen Histories shows the historian's profound rational consciousness. Based on the rational spirit of taking care of himself and benefiting from later studies, he devoted himself wholeheartedly to historical textual research. He clarified that the purpose of writing this book is "every reader suffers from the complexity of the official history or the ignorance of the canon. What is his story?" Ge, a geographical official, is narrow-minded, trying to put it next to him as an old bamboo horse to point it out, dredge it and prove it. Don't think that the muscles will turn when they are tied, which will help little or no! The husband let it work and let the offspring escape; It is not good to live in it, but let future generations be happy! "("Preface to the Discussion of the Seventeenth History ") This consciousness of making steps for future generations has driven Wang Mingsheng to make unremitting efforts, make progress despite difficulties, and devote himself to the cause of historical textual research without any regrets, which has achieved fruitful results in historical textual research and can even be repeated for thousands of years on some issues. For example, his textual research on New Tang Shu and Old Tang Shu Cui Shu? The biography is untrue, pointing out that Zhen Wu's Book of the New Tang Dynasty in the Song Dynasty made mistakes because he didn't understand the system of the Tang Dynasty. Zhen Wu, close to the Tang Dynasty, did not solve the problem, which was solved by Wang Mingsheng more than a thousand years later. I'm afraid it's not all about personal ability, but whether he is willing to work hard and benefit from learning. This rational spirit deserves to be admired by future generations.
Rational consciousness of Wang Mingsheng's historiography
The rational consciousness of Wang Mingsheng's historiography is embodied in his masterpiece On Seventeen History. Wang Mingsheng put the textual research on historical laws and regulations and historical events in the position of historians, and opposed the subjective praise and criticism of historians. He said: "Historians have gains and losses in the canon system. Readers of history can learn from the law without giving their opinions." However, when we examine the reality of its code system, we can know the evolution of its organizational system for thousands of years, either adopting laws or abstaining and being at the mercy of others. His deeds are both beautiful and evil. People who read history don't have to insist on grammar and embellish it, thinking it is good or bad. But when the facts of his deeds are tested, the similarities and differences of records and the separation of knowledge and experience are undoubtedly analyzed one by one. If we can praise them, if we can belittle them, we can listen to the public opinion of the world. "("Preface to the Discussion of the Seventeenth History ") It is of positive significance for Wang Mingsheng to record and verify the truth of laws and historical events in past dynasties as the purpose of historical management and the principle of historical textual research. Because the ups and downs of all previous dynasties were reflected by laws and regulations, historians ignored the laws and regulations, and later generations could not examine the advantages and disadvantages of the previous generation of society, so historiography lost its role of learning from and governing the country. The nature of the book "Discussion on the Seventeenth History" is to investigate whether the official historical records of past dynasties are based on facts and restore the truth to the facts caused by various reasons. Wang Mingsheng's attitude of paying attention to textual research and being cautious about praising and belittling reflects the rational spirit of respecting objective facts in historical management. Some articles on the seventeenth history, such as the four fallacies of Xiang, Liu's speaking like a book, his heresy, and his history of punishment, also talk about historical figures and praise and criticize historical sites of past dynasties. But the discussion is based on real historical facts, and it is placed in a specific historical environment, not empty and abstract, which is completely different from the discussion that ignores objective facts. The essence of this historical criticism is the dialectical unity of respecting historical facts and objective evaluation, which is very important for the development of China's ancient historical methodology.
Wang Mingsheng focused on collating ancient books and studying historical events, precisely to shoulder the historical mission entrusted by the times and adapt to the social needs of summing up China's traditional cultural period. In the practice of historical research, he realized: "There are many mistakes in copying and engraving ancient books. Every time they are changed by uneducated people, once they are opened, they will lament that there are few scholars throughout the ages." (Discussion on the Seventeenth History, Volume 42, Li Fei) If you don't make clear the mistakes in the history books first, and write a book based on the wrong historical facts, it will definitely have no academic value. Wang Mingsheng believes that it is imperative to conduct a comprehensive inspection of ancient history books, rather than being busy writing. He said, "It is better to write well than to read more. If you want to study, you must first refine your books. " If the school is not good, it will be too wrong to read; If you don't study hard and don't read lightly, you will be afraid. (preface to the review of the seventeenth history) He advocated combining the mistakes and doubts in the exam with the intention of writing a book, and had a dialectical understanding of writing the review of the seventeenth history: "I don't care about the author, but I will highlight my gains in reading and proofreading books in order to repay future generations. I didn't feel anything new at first, so I wrote a book myself. "Such as the so-called opinions, galloping discussions, warning by law, forcing grammar with my husband, arbitrarily adding praise and derogating, and advocating the right to sharpen the pen are all given to those who don't want to follow suit. However, the cover was not written. Although it was written, it was still the author's. " (Preface to the Discussion of the Seventeenth History) He believes that only historical investigation works with correct historical facts and factual basis are works, and those works that are subjectively discussed without historical facts and have different opinions are not history books. Wang Mingsheng's writing consciousness is the most representative among historians in Ganjia, which reflects the writing values of historians in Qing Dynasty.
When studying history, Wang Mingsheng paid attention to the authenticity of Historical Records.
Wang Mingsheng's research on history is based on "the expected things have actually been realized", so he attaches great importance to the training of methodology. During his life's academic experience, he summed up a set of methods on how to read books, how to proofread books and how to verify the authenticity of historical records. Among them, reading on the premise of being familiar with catalogue research and laying a broad knowledge base are necessary preparations for historical research based on "getting the Tao"; However, in the case that ancient books are not collated and many words are taken away, reading must be combined with proofreading, which are the premise of each other; Textual research on the authenticity of historical records is carried out by proofreading books. Reading, proofreading and textual research are interdependent and inseparable. It seems that his reading method is proofreading calligraphy, and proofreading calligraphy is to identify forgery. Everything revolves around the historical purpose of "being able to get the truth".
How does Wang Mingsheng proofread books? The preface of "Discussion on the Seventeenth History" says: "If you want to correct mistakes, make them up, develop them, quote classic deeds, explain fools, criticize W refutation and write a book, so it is called discussion." Here in Wang Mingsheng, the so-called "proofreading" is not only the commonly understood work of correcting words, but also a scientific research work that includes historical research and restores the true colors of history according to facts. The reason why he named his historical work "17 Historical Discussions" is to "discuss" the truth and falsehood of historical facts with previous historical books, especially the official revised official history. The process of collating is the process of reading carefully: "proofreading and reading at the same time, reading with the school, buying and borrowing rare books, and repeatedly researching." As for the authenticity of historical records, we need to rely on multiple evidences outside the official history.
Among all kinds of historical materials collected by Wang Mingsheng, there are two categories: one is documentary records, including unofficial history's notes, genealogy of local chronicles, schools of thought contend, anthology of poems, Buddhist and Taoist classics, etc. The other is cultural relics, including Zhong Ding's Zun Yi Zhi and Galand's inscription in the tomb temple in the mountains. He believes that these two materials can be checked and verified with each other, which is actually to use these two materials to carry out "intricate participation and analogy" historical research. This method is what Wang Guowei later called "double evidence law".
Wang Mingsheng's historical research emphasizes "related historiography of epigraphy". He believes that ancient epigraphy inscriptions can not only supplement the blank of history books, but also correct the mistakes of history books. Both of them are of great significance to restore the truth of history according to facts. His discovery has important historical research value for using epigraphy to supplement the blank of historical records. For example, neither Old Book of Tang Dynasty nor New Book of Tang Dynasty recorded that Yang and Li colluded to frame the famous Wang Zhongsi, but they had an unusual connection with the major historical events that happened later. "History is missing, but it can be seen through monuments." Based on Yuan Zai's tombstone in Wang Zhongsi, Wang Mingsheng supplemented this important historical fact and explained the process of Wang Zhongsi's being framed, thus providing another evidence that can't be ignored for comprehensively explaining why the Anshi Rebellion happened and why the Tang Dynasty flourished and declined. As Wang Mingsheng said: "The children of loyal ministers are the first of the famous soldiers in the Tang Dynasty, which is especially rare because they are far-sighted and benefit the country and the people. Being wronged, falsely accused, and getting worse. To let loyal heirs use it, not only the two sides are not disturbed, but there is no difficulty in Lushan. Destroying the Great Wall is a great misfortune for the Tang people. " As for correcting the mistakes in Historical Records by stone carving, Wang Mingsheng also made many discoveries. For example, according to Li Bei, Li Bei and Li Bei's rubbings, the mistake that Li Ping's contribution to the Anshi Rebellion was mistaken for his son in Old Tang Shu was corrected. Wait, wait.
Wang Mingsheng attached great importance to unofficial history's notes when studying history.
Like Zhao Yi, a contemporary historian, Wang Mingsheng also thinks that the so-called Historical Records has the disadvantage of "respecting people and keeping secrets", and instead attaches importance to the historical value of unofficial history's notes. According to the real historical data in unofficial history Notes, Zhao Yi corrected the falsehood in the official history books of past dynasties, and put forward the conclusion that "scholars don't dwell on the past, rumors are not necessarily false, and Shi Ce is true". Wang Mingsheng's view is similar. He believes that "those who use novels are not necessarily wrong, and those who use records are not necessarily right." The "novel" mentioned here refers to unofficial history's folk notes; "Record" is the official historical data of each dynasty recorded by court historians, which serves as the basis for official revision of history. Wang Mingsheng thinks that "the ambition must be more empty and beautiful", such as "the history of the Five Dynasties is mostly compiled by the Five Dynasties, and it must be decorated more", and "the history of the Five Dynasties is written by ignorant people, which is taboo not only by venerable people but also by courtiers", while there are many authentic people in unofficial history's notes. Therefore, he fairly pointed out: "A record of a fact and a novel have their own advantages and disadvantages. When you take it, you should carefully examine it and not be paranoid. " This method that unofficial history and the official history learn from each other to seek the historical truth is also in line with the requirements of modern scientific spirit.
Wang Mingsheng's academic thought also has a conservative side. In the study of Confucian classics, he has the so-called "seeking the past is seeking truth", "learning Confucian classics and refusing to refute classics" and "sticking to the family law, being a teacher by example and not daring to emigrate". These statements are all manifestations of the limitations of Wu Pai's Park Studies. However, Wang Mingsheng is an outstanding historian after all. The historical aim of seeking truth as the highest goal advocated by him, the empirical method of verifying the authenticity of Historical Records and his extraordinary historical knowledge are undoubtedly of great significance to promoting the modern transformation of China's historiography.
Wang Mingsheng attached great importance to the collation of Historical Records and made a scientific judgment on the significance and necessary conditions of collation. Make full use of various collating methods to collate history books; At the same time, it also pays attention to discussing the causes of mistakes in history books, and then summarizes the "mistakes". The collating method is comprehensive and fruitful, which has made great contributions to the improvement of textual research in Qing Dynasty and provided great convenience for future generations to sort out and study ancient history books.
In terms of historical purpose, Wang Mingsheng resolutely abandoned Confucius' Spring and Autumn Annals and the Confucian tradition of "galloping for peace and caution by knowing the law", and clearly put forward the historical purpose of seeking truth as the highest goal; In the methodology of historiography, the system theory puts forward the empirical methods of "testing the reality of its canon system" and "testing the reality of its deeds"; In terms of historical theory, it also opposes the traditional Confucianism, and based on historical facts, it shows different theoretical knowledge of secular history by reversing historical figures and events such as, four outstanding figures in the early Tang Dynasty, Yong Zhen's innovation, the change of manna, Wen and Li Shangyin.
The collection of books is frugal, and there is no addiction to lewdness. It only focuses on the left picture and the right history. There are also many collections in the Ming Dynasty Song Dynasty, and Huang Pilie, Mo, Luo Zhenchang and other collectors also have their old collections in their bibliographies. He studied Shangshu for more than 30 years and wrote more than 30 volumes of Shangshu Houan. He is one of the classic works of history, with 100 volume on the seventeenth history. There are also epigraphy and bibliography. Rich collection of books, mostly used to study history. Unofficial history's notes, hundreds of novels and Ding Yi's inscriptions are widely collected. The library is named Geng Yang Zhai and Zhi Yi Tang, which have been sorted out and carefully researched. The collection bears the seals of Doctor, Ugly Flower and Ji, Xizhuang Buddhism, Xibe Buddhism and Guangluqing. His works are very rich, including Zhou Li's On Jun Fu, Xi Jushi Ji, Moshu Bian and so on. He also selected 12 poets who had made friends all their lives, and compiled Tailing Collection, which was engraved as Xi Shi Zhuang's manuscript.