‘Treasures of the Golden Chest Brought to Light…’: Revisiting the Sources and Purport of the ‘Truthful Record of the Qing Dynasty’

УДК 930+94(510)

DOI 10.28995/2073-0101-2018-1-11-23

Boris V. Bazarov, Ekaterina V. Sundueva, Chingis Ts. Tsyrenov, Evgenii V. Nolev

Institute for Mongolian, Buddhist, and Tibetan Studies, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Ulan-Ude, Russian Federation

‘Treasures of the Golden Chest Brought to Light…’: Revisiting the Sources and Purport of the ‘Truthful Record of the Qing Dynasty’

Abstract

The article analyzes a corpus of sources that formed the basis of the most notable record of the Qing Empire, the ‘Truthful Record of the Qing Dynasty’ (Qingshilu). The analysis is based on a careful study of Russian, Chinese and Mongolian scholarship. A historical treatise ‘Truthful Record of the Mongols under the Qing Dynasty’ based on the Qingshilu and written in the Old Mongolian script was published in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China in 2013. A team of researchers from the Institute of Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan Studies of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAN) has been working on its translation, source studies and historical analysis, as its materials supplement the available data on the purport and sources of the Qingshilu. Review of its sources allows a better assessment of the veracity of the historical data of the ‘Truthful Record of the Qing Dynasty’ and a deeper understanding of its rich historical material on the Manchu dynasty ruling China, as well as Inner Asia during the Qing period. The article reviews the sources of the Qingshilu as listed in the ‘Truthful Record of the Mongols under the Qing Dynasty.’ Information on the Man Wen Lao Dang (‘The Old Archive of the Manchu Language’) is amassed and analyzed. The Man Wen Lao Dang was one of the sources used in compiling of early chronicles of the deeds of the first Manchu rulers into the ‘Truthful Record.’ The official historiographical and record-keeping tradition was then emerging in China under the Manchu dynasty. The authors assess the purport of the ‘Truthful Record of the Qing Dynasty’ throughout the spectrum of historical and political functions of the treatise. Analyzing of the sources of the ‘Truthful Record of the Qing Dynasty,’ including official documents untainted by compilers’ interpretation, and studying the import of the text in the political life allows to contend great value and veracity of the Qingshilu. The authors see new possibilities for studying international relations in the history of Inner Asia.

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Keywords

Historical source, Qingshilu, China, Mongolia, Qing Dynasty (1644–1911), oriental studies, source studies.

References

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About authors

Bazarov Boris Vandanovich, PhD in History, member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAN), professor, Institute for Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan Studies, Siberian branch of Russian Academy of Science (RAN), director, +7-3012-43-35-51, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Sundueva Ekaterina Vladimirovna, PhD in Philology, Institute for Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan studies, Siberian branch of Russian Academy of Science (RAN), chief researcher, +7-3012-43-35-51, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Tsyrenov Chingis Tsybikdorzhievich, PhD in History, Institute for Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan studies, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences (RAN), researcher, +7-3012-43-35-51, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Nolev Evgenii Vladimirovich, PhD in History, Institute for Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan studies, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences (RAN), department of history and culture of Central Asia, researcher, +7-924-658-0665, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Grant information

The study has been supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation (science project no.14.W03.31.0016 ‘Evolution of peoples and empires of Inner Asia’).

Submitted 4.05.2017, published:

BAZAROV, B. V., SUNDUEVA, E. V., TSYRENOV, Ch. Ts., NOLEV, E. V. “Otkrylos' to, chto khranitsya v zolotom sunduke…”: k voprosu ob istochnikakh i naznachenii “Pravdivykh zapisei o dinastii Tsin” [‘Treasures of the Golden Chest Brought to Light…’: Revisiting the Sources and Purport of the ‘Truthful Record of the Qing Dynasty.’ In Russ.]. Vestnik arhivista / Herald of an Archivist, 2018, no. 1, pp. 11-23. doi 10.28995/2073-0101-2018-1-11-23