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The History of a Loyal Heart (Xin shi): a late-Ming forgery

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2014

STEPHEN G. HAW
STEPHEN G. HAW*
Affiliation:
Royal Asiatic Society, s.g.haw@wadh.oxon.org
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Abstract

The History of a Loyal Heart (Xin shi) is allegedly a work by the Song loyalist, Zheng Sixiao, written to bemoan the fate of the Song empire after its conquest by the Mongols. There have always been doubts about its authenticity, however, and many scholars have believed it to be a forgery. The arguments for and against this have remained inconclusive, and the work has been commonly used as a source for the history of the Song–Yuan transition period. This article adduces compelling evidence to show that there can be very little doubt that it is a late-Ming forgery. Some of the implications of this conclusion are briefly addressed.

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Note
Information
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 25 , Issue 2 , April 2015 , pp. 317 - 325
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 2014 

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References

1 guwen 古文.

2 For a recent discussion of the history of the Book of Documents, see Shaughnessy, E. L., “ Shang Shu 尚書 (Shu Jing 書經)”, in Loewe, M. (ed.), Early Chinese Texts: a Bibliographical Guide (Berkeley, Society for the Study of Early China and Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, 1993), pp. 376–389, especially pp. 380–385Google Scholar.

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6 Xin shi 心史. For this translation of the title of the work, see Mittag, A., “Scribe in the Wilderness: The Manchu Conquest and the Loyal-Hearted Historiographer's (Xinshi 心史) Mission”, Oriens Extremus 44 (2003), pp. 30–31 Google Scholar.

7 鄭思肖.

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9 蘇州.

10 Chen, Jingzhong qishu kao, pp. 134–138; Sixiao, Zheng 鄭思肖, Zheng Sixiao ji 鄭思肖集 [Collected Works of Zheng Sixiao], (ed.) Fukang, Chen 陳福康 (Shanghai, Guji chubanshe 古籍出版社, 1991), pp. 297–320 Google Scholar.

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12 A more or less complete collection of all biographical information about Zheng Sixiao, which existed prior to the “discovery” of the History of a Loyal Heart, can be found in Wan Sitong 萬斯同, Songji zhongyi lu 宋季忠義錄, juan 11, in Congshu jicheng xubian 叢書集成續編 (Shanghai: Shanghai shudian 上海書店, 1994), pp. xxviii, pp. 465–467.

13 Zheng Sixiao, Zheng Sixiao ji, pp. 301, 302.

14 Zhong Han 鐘焓, “«Xin shi·Da yi lue xu» cheng shu shidai xin kao” «心史·大義略叙» 成書時代新考 [A New Study of the Date of Completion of the Da yi lue xu in the History of a Loyal Heart], Zhongguo Shi Yanjiu 中國史研究 2007.1, pp. 133–149.

15 Ibid ., p. 136.

16 Ibid ., pp. 136–141; Zheng Sixiao, Zheng Sixiao ji, p. 157.

17 Zhong, “Cheng shu shidai xin kao”, p. 142; Zheng Sixiao, Zheng Sixiao ji, p. 157.

18 John of Plano Carpini, “History of the Mongols”, in C. Dawson (ed.), The Mongol Mission (London, 1955), p. 20.

19 Ibid ., pp. 20–21.

20 Allsen, T. T., “The Yüan Dynasty and the Uighurs of Turfan in the 13th Century”, in Rossabi, M. (ed.), China Among Equals: the Middle Kingdom and its Neighbors, 10th – 14th centuries (Berkeley, 1983), p. 246 Google Scholar.

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22 Ibid ., p. 23.

23 Ibid ., p. 21.

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27 Mittag, “Scribe in the Wilderness”, pp. 30–41.

28 吳中.

29 Zheng Sixiao, Zheng Sixiao ji, p. 336.

30 崇禎.

31 han 旱.

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33 Nan Zhili 南直隸.

34 da han 大旱.

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37 萬曆.

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39 太湖.

40 Zhang Tingyu, et al. (eds.), Ming shi, ii, juan 20, p. 273.

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42 Song Lian, et al. (eds.), Yuan shi, xv, juan 205, p. 4563.

43 Song Lian, et al. (eds.), Yuan shi, i, juan 12, pp. 247–248; Zheng Sixiao, Zheng Sixiao ji, pp. 178–179.

44 文天祥.

45 Chengxiang 丞相.

46 大都.

47 Song Lian, et al. (eds.), Yuan shi, i, juan 12, p. 249: Zheng Sixiao, Zheng Sixiao ji, p. 156.

48 安東 (usually transcribed Antong 安童 in the History of the Yuan Dynasty).

49 Zheng Sixiao, Zheng Sixiao ji, p. 179.

50 Song Lian, et al. (eds.), Yuan shi, ii, juan 13, p. 265.

51 Jitsuzō, Kuwabara 桑原騭藏, Pu Shougeng kao 蒲壽庚靠, trans. Chen Yujing 陳裕菁, (Shanghai, Zhonghua shuju 中華書局, 1929), pp. 111–112 Google Scholar.

52 Ibid ., pp. 112–113.

53 魏.

54 蒲忠.

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56 Tuotuo 脫脫, et al. (eds.), Song shi 宋史 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju中華書局, 1977), iii, juan 47, p. 942.

57 Called Anxi 安息 in Chinese.

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63 Barnard, “Astronomical Data”, p. 47.

64 Shi lu 實錄.

65 For this and other problems with official Ming historical sources, see the discussion in the introduction to the Guo que by Wu Han 呉晗: “Tan Qian he Guo que” 談遷和國榷, in Tan Qian, Guo que, i, pp. 5–6.

66 Such as the doubts surrounding the accession of the Yongzheng 雍正 Emperor of the Qing 清 dynasty; see Hummel, A., Eminent Chinese of the Ch’ing Period, (Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1943), ii, pp. 916–917 Google Scholar; and also the Preface to the same work, by Hu Shih: Hummel, Eminent Chinese, i, p. iii.