Monographs in Tang Official Historiography: Perspectives from the Technical Treatises of the History of Sui (Sui Shu)

Editors:
Daniel Patrick Morgan, Damien Chaussende

Publication date:
09/09/2019

Publisher:
Springer International Publishing

Abstract:

This book examines the role of medieval authors in writing the history of ancient science. It features essays that explore the content, structure, and ideas behind technical writings on medieval Chinese state history. In particular, it looks at the Ten Treatises of the current History of Sui 隋書, which provide insights into the writing on the history of such fields as astronomy, astrology, omenology, economics, law, geography, metrology, and library science. Three treatises are known to have been written by Li Chunfeng 李淳風, one of the most important mathematicians, astronomers, and astrologers in Chinese history.

The book not only opens a new window on the figure of Li Chunfeng by exploring what his writings as a historian of science tell us about him as a scientist and vice versa, it also discusses how and on what basis the individual treatises were written.

The essays address such themes as (1) the recycling of sources and the question of reliability and objectivity in premodern history-writing; (2) the tug of war between conservatism and innovation; (3) the imposition of the author’s voice, worldview, and personal and professional history in writing a history of a field of technical expertise in a state history; (4) the degree to which modern historians are compelled to speak to their own milieu and ideological beliefs.

Table of Contents:

Chapter 1: Prologue (Daniel P. Morgan and Damien Chaussende)


PART I: THE WORK OF LI CHUNFENG


Chapter 2: The Life and Intellectual Work of Li Chunfeng (602–670) (Howard L. Goodman)


Chapter 3: Numbers with Histories: Li Chunfeng on Harmonics and Astronomy (Daniel P. Morgan and Howard L. Goodman)


Chapter 4: Scholarship and Politics in Seventh Century China from the Viewpoint of Li Chunfeng’s Writing on Histories (Zhu Yiwen)


Chapter 5: The Compilation of the Astronomical Portion of the ‘Treatise on Harmono-Metrology and Mathematical Astronomy’ and its Impact (Li Liang)

Chapter 6: Heavenly Patterns (Daniel P. Morgan)


Chapter 7: The ‘Treatise on the Wuxing’ (Wuxing zhi) (Michael Nylan)


PART II: THE ANONYMOUS TREATISES


Chapter 8: The Treatise on Economics and Its Influences (Béatrice L'Haridon)


Chapter 9: The Treatise on Law (Frédéric Constant)


Chapter 10: Intertextuality, Customs and Regionalism in the ‘Geographical Treatise’ (Alexis Lycas)


Chapter 11: The Art of Producing a Catalogue: the Meaning of ‘Compilations’ for the Organisation of Ancient Knowledge in Tang Times (Pablo Ariel Blitstein)


Chapter 12: Epilogue: Treatises According to Tang Historian Liu Zhiji (Damien Chaussende)