Inspired and advocated by the almanac school, the study of Book History and reading history from the perspective of social and cultural history has been gradually valued by scholars since the late 1950s; The influence of the new cultural history has undoubtedly renewed the research face. Darnton’s historical analysis of the spread and reading of banned books in France in the 18th century is an example. However, if we look back at China in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, this picture is actually obscure. The catalogue compiled by the scholar bureaucrats who are fond of collecting books may not be enough to represent their daily reading, and the inscriptions and postscripts in the anthology can only reflect their academic orientation. It is necessary to explore the reading world of the elite in the Qing Dynasty. In the following, we will use the list of household records and diaries to get a glimpse of the daily reading of several Qing officials.
Gaopu: a fan of “contemporary” Novels
Gaopu (? -1778) was born in an aristocratic family. His grandfather gaobin (1693-1755) was a famous Minister of river control in the Qianlong Dynasty. He served as the governor of the river for a long time and was an official to the scholar of the Wenyuan Pavilion; His father gaoheng (? -1768) was a minister in charge of the salt administration of the Huaihe and Huaihe rivers. The Gao family was originally a member of the banner of the house of internal affairs. Later, because of the daughter of Gao Bin, Emperor Huixian, the imperial concubine, they were brought to Manchuria with inlaid yellow flags and changed their surname to Gao Jia. According to the brief records in the biography of the National History Museum, Gao Pu was transferred from wailang, a member of the Armed Forces Academy, to the Ministry of officials in the 32nd year of Qianlong (1767). He was highly respected for his diligence. Later, he rose to power and became a minister six years later. However, at a time when his political future was promising, he was executed for colluding with merchants and smuggling jade during the tenure of Yeerqiang’s minister of affairs, and his family property was lost.
The native place of the Qing Dynasty did not violate the official family property, but they all made a detailed list. However, they mainly focused on the land property, utensils and clothes that can be “sold to the official”. Except for a few cases involving the violation of words, the books in the official collection are generally not registered one by one. Even if they are registered, they are only a few books or boxes in general. However, the list of family copying in Gaopu case can be said to be one of the few exceptions, in which Gaopu’s collection is comprehensively recorded. This list was originally attached to a Manchu memorials, and was later included in the Manchu monthly package of the military aircraft department. A photocopy is included in the collection of Manchu archives in Xinjiang in the Qing Dynasty. It is hereby quoted as follows:
Books under Gaopu’s name include: grand ceremony of Xinglu, Taiping Guangji, chibei dutan, Yanyun jiabian, twelve poems of Lianchuan, other records of National Poetry, Yunfu qunyu, records of all countries, strange tales of Liaozhai, Meicun collection, Lu Zi’s excerpts, double immortals collection, ancient affairs garden, a brief history of love, Cunyi garden, CI Shutang collection, rice calligraphy in Qingfen Pavilion, general tips Chen Cang’s poetry collection, chunxingtang poetry collection, biography of passion, Pai Dulu Lu, Xitang Yu Ji, Ji Yuan Ji Suo Ji, Pipa Ji, Li Ting’s poetry Ji, guzai Caotang Ji, primary school Daquan, Pangu Tu, Yuchu Xinzhi, Yanbei duchao, Jianhu Ji, Zizhi Tongjian, Qingwen Jian, miscellaneous poems and miscellaneous books. (collection of Manchu archives in Xinjiang in the Qing Dynasty, Vol. 138, pp. 96-98)
There are many wrong words in the original list, which should be the result of hasty transcription and neglect of verification. However, it can clearly reflect the reading world of an official of the Eight Banners in the middle period of Qianlong. In fact, the study of classics and history, which occupied the mainstream in the academic system in the imperial era, was quite marginalized in Gao Pu’s list. He had only two classics, namely, the complete works of primary school and the Qing literary review. The former was a fairly basic Confucian ethics reader, while the latter was a practical official revised Chinese dictionary; The history department has “Xinglu grand ceremony”, “Tongjian juyao” and “Tongjian”, which are the same pattern of official books and basic classics. It is unknown what the book is, and it is likely to be a concise reading pieced together by the public. At this time, the study of textual research, which was already quite prosperous, could not be found here in Gaopu.
Comparatively speaking, Gao Pu seems to have a stronger interest in sub ministries and collective ministries. It is particularly noteworthy that the number of notes and novels is considerable. Except for Taiping Guangji (original collection by mistake), other works are basically written by modern people. Kuaiyuan and love history are written in the late Ming Dynasty, less than 200 years from the time of Gao PU. Jiyuan Jisuo, the new records of early Yu, the occasional talk in the north of Chi and the collection of Jianhu were all written in the Shun and Kang years. Another example is Liaozhaizhiyi, which is entirely a contemporary work. It is only more than ten years since it was first published, which shows that Gao Pu pays attention to such novels. In fact, it is difficult for popular novels such as the complete annals of various countries, or books that specifically record love affairs in the late Ming Dynasty, such as the synopsis of love history and the biography of passion, to enter the collection catalogue compiled by officials and scholar bureaucrats. However, it cannot be asserted that officials and scholar bureaucrats completely abandon such “unorthodox” books in their daily reading. Looking at the poetry collections in Gao Pu’s collection, most of them are written by people in this dynasty. There is no other collection in previous generations, such as the twelve poems of Lianchuan (collected by Wang Mingsheng), the poetry collection of chunxingtang (collected by Wang Shihan), the collection of zishutang (collected by caoxiuxian), the collection of shiting Poems (original mistakenly written records) (lihuanan). The author or compiler are at the same time as Gao, or even colleagues, and are likely to be paid books.
Nashitong: Manchurians love to read the Three Kingdoms
“Three Britain vs. Lv Bu”
Due to the lack of historical materials, the reading world of the officials of the Eight Banners in the middle of the Qing Dynasty was not easy to explore. Although there were only a few phrases, they were also precious. The author saw another copy of the family copying list to realize Ronald stone (1706-1765). He was born in Manchuria with a blue flag. He was admitted by an official student to write calligraphy. He was an official to serve as a servant. After the 23rd year of Qianlong’s reign (1758), he stayed in Xinjiang for a long time to work. Later, he was convicted and executed for the collapse of the soldiers in the Wushi incident. There are only four books in his “list of official objects”: “the annals of the Three Kingdoms (two sets),” Yin Han Qing Wen Jian “,” Tong Wen Guang Hui “each, and” the gentry “(another ten) (Xinjiang Manchu archives collection in Qing Dynasty, Vol. 75, P. 188) in terms of quantity or not all of his books, he should take them with him to any place in the western regions. Jin Shen Lu, Yin Han Qing Wen Jian and Tong Wen Guang Hui are all practical books, which can be especially proved. The latter two kinds of dictionaries are a combination of Han and man. At the beginning of nashitong’s career, he entered the official position in the form of writing and translation by functional documents, but he still needed to use dictionaries to deal with official business. It can be seen that the Manchu people were gradually infected with Chinese customs and the “Mandarin” declined obviously at this time. The annals of the Three Kingdoms is probably the only book that nashitong carried when he took office, which can be read daily. In the official records of the Qing Dynasty, there is often no distinction between the annals of the Three Kingdoms and the romance of the Three Kingdoms. The so-called annals of the Three Kingdoms, which was favored by Emperor Taizong of the Qing Dynasty, is the romance of the Three Kingdoms. Mr. liguangtao has already elaborated on the relationship between Aixin and politics in the early Qing Dynasty. It is not clear whether nashitong read historical works or novels, but the Manchurian tradition of loving the history of the Three Kingdoms seems to have been preserved more than a hundred years after he entered the customs.
Litangjie: widely read, most practical medical books
In the middle and late period of Daoguang, with the revival of Neo Confucianism, an academic group focusing on Neo Confucianism was gradually formed among scholars in Beijing. Li Tangjie, along with Wuren, shaoyichen, Zeng Guofan, wutingdong, heguizhen, etc., were all active members. Li was a scholar in the second year of Daoguang’s reign (1822). He was appointed to the Imperial Academy for a long time. Later, he was deposed and abandoned for more than ten years. At the beginning of Tongzhi, he was restored to the Ministry of rites and incorporated into the military aircraft on duty. He kept a relatively complete diary. However, it must be noted that the diary is of special significance to the late cleaning up of bachelor doctors. First, it is the basis for private reflection; Secondly, the diary needs to be circulated among teachers and friends for others to criticize. Therefore, it is “institutionalized as a tool for moral transformation” (Wang Fansen: politicization of the private sphere in modern China). Li’s diary was reviewed by his teachers and friends before his death, and was transcribed and published after his death. The authenticity of his diary was naturally impaired. However, at least we can see what the daily world of famous Neo Confucianism officials was like in the contemporary concept.
From the 22nd year of Daoguang’s reign (1842) to the 25th year of Daoguang’s reign (1845), Li Tangjie was appointed as a political scholar in Guangdong. His duties were not complicated. According to the diary of this period, in addition to the examination students, colleagues’ entertainment and reception, Li spent a lot of time reading and classes. The books read generally include Neo Confucianism, classics and history, and administration, with particular emphasis on Neo Confucianism. From July of the 23rd year, Li began to read the collection of Yangming one after another. Most of the important articles about righteousness were carefully read several times. For example, he read the theory of poben Saiyuan on the 19th of January, read it the next day, and then read it again on the 21st night; While memorials and poems are for general reading, and the whole book will be basically read by the end of the month. In October, the school began to read sunqifeng’s biography of Neo Confucianism, which lasted two months. During this period, I also read the book of changes intermittently, and read the book of changes compromise by Chengshi and liguangdi, which lasted until the end of the 24th year. In addition to the classics of Neo Confucianism, Li Tangjie has the habit of punctuating Zuo Zhuan. Each time for one or two years, it is basically carried out after taking a nap or at leisure in the evening. At the same time, he also explains to his young son and writes down brief experiences in his diary. During his four years in Guangdong, Li did not read many historical books. He only read the biography of the Tang Dynasty compiled by LAN Dingyuan and used it as a recreational reading at night. The reason why he chose this book was that Li was very interested in LAN Dingyuan at this time and concentrated on reading his “a brief account of the eastern expedition” and “a brief account of the platform” at the beginning of the 24th year. As for the systematic reading of historical records, it was necessary to wait until the 26th year (1846) when he was released from his leisurely residence. Within three years, Li had read historical records, the book of Han, the book of post Han, the new book of Tang, the biography of famous ministers of Tang, Tang Jian, etc. Of course, I read the books of administrative codes out of my duty. The most commonly used books are the complete book of learning politics, the laws and regulations of the Qing Dynasty and the regulations of imperial examinations. Local chronicles and local documents such as Guangdong miscellaneous affairs are direct materials for understanding local folk customs. Li also occasionally browses and consults them. There are also some administrative manuals, such as the Kangji record, which specializes in famine relief. It is a book that can be read in one day. In addition, Li has a strong interest in the village regulations, family instructions and even medical books, such as the Taiquan village ritual written by Huang Zuo of the Ming Dynasty. After reading it, Li lamented that “there is no serious person who really turns the people into customs” (the diary of Li Wenqing, compiled by Yuelu publishing house, page 503); Li is also well versed in medicine. Sometimes when his family is ill, he will check the medical books to check the medicine properties, and even encounter “the family member will give birth”, “check Fu Qing’s master of women’s Department” and “Da Sheng Bian” (ibid., page 459). Of course, there are not only these old books in Li Tangjie’s reading world. Although he was not an enlightened official in the Qing Dynasty, he was by no means ignorant of new knowledge. Or because of the geographical advantage, he had access to the world map drawn by the West during his term of office in Guangdong. After careful examination, he left a not very accurate note in his diary: “looking at the whole map of the west, the earth is divided into five parts, one Europe, one Asia, one Asia, one Africa, and one Ethiopia, all of which are the same earth; one Asia America (divided into North and South), all of which are the same earth.” (same as page 505 above)