Ngô Sĩ Liên
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Ngô Sĩ Liên (吳士連) was a Vietnamese historian of the
Lê dynasty The Lê dynasty, also known in historiography as the Later Lê dynasty (, chữ Hán: 朝後黎, chữ Nôm: 茹後黎), officially Đại Việt (; Chữ Hán: 大越), was the longest-ruling List of Vietnamese dynasties, Vietnamese dynasty, h ...
.


Biography

Ngô Sĩ Liên was the main compiler of the '' Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư'', a chronicle of the history of Vietnam and a historical record of an Annamese dynasty. Ngô based information for his historical book from collections of myths and legends such as '' Lĩnh Nam chích quái'' or '' Việt điện u linh tập''. The exact dates of Ngô Sĩ Liên's birth and death are unknown but it was said that he was born in the Đan Sĩ village, Hà Đông, Hanoi. In his youth, Ngô Sĩ Liên participated in the Lam Sơn uprising of
Lê Lợi Lê Lợi (, chữ Hán: 黎利; 10 September 1385 – 5 October 1433), also known by his temple name as Lê Thái Tổ (黎太祖) and by his pre-imperial title Bình Định vương (平定王; "Prince of Pacification"), was a Vietnamese peopl ...
that led to the retreat of the
Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...
and the foundation of the
Lê dynasty The Lê dynasty, also known in historiography as the Later Lê dynasty (, chữ Hán: 朝後黎, chữ Nôm: 茹後黎), officially Đại Việt (; Chữ Hán: 大越), was the longest-ruling List of Vietnamese dynasties, Vietnamese dynasty, h ...
in Vietnam. In the 1442 imperial examination under the rule of Lê Thái Tông, Ngô Sĩ Liên gained the title Doctorate (''Tiến sĩ'') and thus became an official in the royal court of three successive emperors Lê Thái Tông (1434–1442), Lê Nhân Tông (1442–1459) and Lê Thánh Tông (1460–1497), during the latter's reign, Ngô Sĩ Liên was appointed Director of the National Bureau for Historical Record (''Viện Quốc sử'') in 1473. According to some sources, Ngô Sĩ Liên lived up to the age of 99, so he was likely born around 1400 and died during the late period of Lê Thánh Tông's reign. Ngô Sĩ Liên was born around the time of the Trần dynasty, the subsequent Fourth Chinese domination by the
Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...
, the Lam Sơn uprising, the coronation of Lê Lợi and several struggles in the royal family of the Lê dynasty. Besides, Ngô Sĩ Liên also witnessed the gradual predomination of the
Confucianism Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China, and is variously described as a tradition, philosophy, Religious Confucianism, religion, theory of government, or way of li ...
over the
Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
in the royal court, especially during the reign of Lê Thánh Tông, it was the context in which Ngô Sĩ Liên wrote his '' Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư''.


Works

Ngô Sĩ Liên's major work is the historical record '' Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư'', a 15-volume (''quyển'') book that he compiled in revising the '' Đại Việt sử ký'' and ''Đại Việt sử ký tục biên''. During the reign of Lê Thánh Tông, the emperor had commissioned his historians to write an official chronicle for the dynasty in the Quang Thuận period (1460–1469). This work was later lost but after Thánh Tông's order, Ngô Sĩ Liên, a member of the board of compilation, wrote his own version in 1479 which was finally resulted in the ''Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư''. The fact that Ngô Sĩ Liên decided to write his own national history despite the existence of the official records might be explained by Ngô's intention of expressing his opinions in the book just as Lê Văn Hưu did with his ''Đại Việt sử ký'' instead of satisfying with only an objective narration of the official records. Some reasoned that Ngô Sĩ Liên compiled the ''Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư'' because he felt the need to promote Confucian ideology in the Lê dynasty. Ngô Sĩ Liên's style of compilation was influenced by Sima Guang, the author of the ''
Zizhi Tongjian The ''Zizhi Tongjian'' (1084) is a chronicle published during the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127) that provides a record of Chinese history from 403 BC to 959 AD, covering 16 dynasties and spanning almost 1400 years. The main text is ...
''. Ngô Sĩ Liên not only used official historical documents, but also extracted information from '' Việt điện u linh tập'' (''Compilation of the potent spirits in the Realm of Việt'') and '' Lĩnh Nam chính quái'' (''Extraordinary stories of Lĩnh Nam''), which were collections of folk legends and myths but considered by the historian as having some credibility about history. Ngô Sĩ Liên also divided the history of Vietnam into two principal periods. He placed all events that happened before the establishment of the Đinh dynasty in the Peripheral Records (''Ngoại kỷ'') while the independent time from the Đinh dynasty (10th century) to the creation of the Lê dynasty in 1482 was narrated in the Basic Records (''Bản kỷ''). In addition, Ngô Sĩ Liên also compiled another three records for the reigns of Lê Thái Tổ, Lê Thái Tông and Lê Nhân Tông (1428–1459) in a separate volume named ''Tam triều bản kỷ'' (''Records of the Three Reigns''). From his 72 comments in ''Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư'', Ngô Sĩ Liên appeared to be a Neo-Confucian scholar. He often quoted Confucian literature in criticizing an event or a decision of the previous dynasties that he believed did not follow the Confucian codes for an appropriate ruling institution. According to O. W. Wolters, Ngô Sĩ Liên respected the Confucian perspective to the extent that the highest praise he could lavish on a Vietnamese ruler (such as those of the Trần dynasty) was that his achievements could not be bettered by even the most famous Chinese emperors in antiquity. However, Ngô often criticized and made harsh remarks on previous dynasties such as the Lý dynasty. Ngô was concerned about his current dynasty because the Lê dynasty would fall into collapse unless it could avoid the mistakes that were committed by its predecessors like the Lý dynasty. Ngô may have fabricated the existence of the fictional Hồng Bàng dynasty in the Peripheral Records. Ngô Sĩ Liên's introduction of this dynasty was challenged by several historians for the lack of information and the real motive of the historian in writing about Hùng kings. Some remarked that Ngô Sĩ Liên fabricated the existence of the Hồng Bàng dynasty to serve political interests or because he wanted to emphasize the independence of Vietnam from China. Today, ''Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư'' is an official historical record of a Vietnamese dynasty that remains in its original form.


Notes and references


Notes


References

* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ngo, Si Lien Vietnamese Confucianists Vietnamese male writers Lê dynasty officials Lê dynasty writers 15th-century Vietnamese philosophers Writers from Hanoi