The ''Ming Shilu'' () contains the imperial annals of the emperors of the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

(1368–1644). It is the single largest historical source for the dynasty. According to modern historians, it "plays an extremely important role in the historical reconstruction of Ming society and politics." After the fall of the Ming dynasty, the ''Ming Shilu'' was used as a primary source for the compilation of the ''

History of Ming The ''History of Ming'' or the ''Ming History'' (''Míng Shǐ'') is one of the official Chinese historical works known as the ''Twenty-Four Histories''. It consists of 332 volumes and covers the history of the Ming dynasty from 1368 to 1644. It ...

'' by the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

Historical sources

The

Veritable Records Veritable Records are historical records compiled by government (court) historians of Chinese dynasties since the 6th century, and later in Korea, Japan and Vietnam which adopted the Chinese bureaucratic system and the writing system of Classica ...

(''shilu'') for each emperor was composed after the emperor's death by a History Office appointed by the

Grand Secretariat The Grand Secretariat (; Manchu: ''dorgi yamun'') was nominally a coordinating agency but ''de facto'' the highest institution in the imperial government of the Chinese Ming dynasty. It first took shape after the Hongwu Emperor abolished the off ...

using different types of historical sources such as: # "The Qiju zhu (), or 'Diaries of Activity and Repose'. These were daily records of the actions and words of the Emperor in court." # "The 'Daily Records' (). These records, established precisely as a source for the compilation of the shilu, were compiled by a committee on the basis of the diaries and other written sources." # Other sources such as materials collected from provincial centres and "culled from other official sources such as memorials, ministerial papers and the Metropolitan Gazette."

List of books

References

Citations

Sources

; Works cited * * provides detailed and extensive background information on how the Ming Shi-lu was composed and the rhetoric that it uses.

External links