The ''Ming Shilu'' () contains the imperial annals of the emperors of the
Ming dynasty (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'' by the
Qing dynasty.
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 Class ...
(''shilu'') for each emperor was composed after the emperor's death by a History Office appointed by the
Grand Secretariat 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.
Further reading
* Wade, Geoff. tr. (2005)
''Southeast Asia in the Ming Shi-lu: an open access resource'' Singapore: Asia Research Institute and the Singapore E-Press, National University of Singapore.
External links
*
*
* Interactive scholarly edition, with critical English translation and multimodal resources mashup (publications, images, videos
Engineering Historical Memory
{{Ming dynasty topics
Chinese history texts
Ming dynasty literature
Tai history
History of Laos
History of Myanmar
History of Malaysia
History of Vietnam
History books about the Ming dynasty