Gu Yingtai (1620-1690)'s compilation of Ming history = 谷應泰 (1620-1690) 的明史纂修

Abstract

Despite its early commencement, the compilation of the official Ming History during the Shunzhi period (1644-1661) has been widely considered to be fruitless largely due to the absence of Veritable Records for the last few decades of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). It is generally believed that such a hindrance was overcome only after the non-official scholars from the South were recruited to assume the compilation duty in 1679, contributing their resources in terms of the related materials or connections to people with extensive knowledge of the preceding dynasty. With that understanding, it is easy to overlook the earlier forms of cooperation between the Qing officials and the local intellects in the quest of the writing of a history for the Ming dynasty. Although it is acknowledged that Za Jizhuo (1601-1676), a well-known Ming loyalist and historian in the mid Shunzhi period, was commissioned by Yang Sisheng (1618-1661), a Qing official appointed to compile the official history of Ming, to help gather historical materials in the South, its implications are insufficiently explored. It is worth noting that Gu Yingtai (1620-1690), either a patron or a writer himself of the popular Mingshi Jishibenmo, was after all a Qing official assigned to oversee education and examination matters in Zhejiang. This study attempts to look into Gu’s involvement in the compilation of the Ming History and it is found that no matter what his objectives were, he successfully recruited some local intellects, including those prominent figures like Lu Qi (b. 1614), to work for him, forming an institution which made the publication of the full history of the Ming dynasty possible in just around two years. Gu’s case is examined in detail and it is revealed that his activities in Zhejiang were somehow related to the official compilation of the Ming history. Though he was unlikely to have received any official order to form a history compilation team, his activities could reflect a kind of tacit agreement between the Qing officials and the local intellects on the compilation. In that sense, the local intellects, some of whom were believed to be Ming loyalists, did not change their political attitude suddenly to embrace Manchu emperor or give in to Qing’s authority on historical writing in 1679. Instead, the negotiation started long before that. The uncovered interconnected circles of local intellects also provide promising directions for the future studies on the intellectual history and historiography of the Ming-Qing transition.