Gao Dai's "Hong You Lu" And It's Historical Value

"Hong you lu" is the history book that recorded the history of Ming dynasty. It was written in"Jiajing"period and recorded the major military incidents from"Hong wu"period to"Jia jing"period of Ming dynasty. The "History of Ming Dynasty" without biography of Gao dai. Through the record of that time and the record behind that time, we can see that his literature was at a high level. He was the man of upright and incorruptible. The purpose that he wrote the "Hong you lu" was to encourage the people who was in power."Gao dai"lived in the period from"Zheng de"to"Jia jing"of Ming dynasty which was a drastic change in society. Mongolia's own strength had been continuously increasing but the Ming dynasty was attacked in and out itself. Ming dynasty was almost total failure in the war between itself and Mongolian. The grave situation of Ming dynasty forced to find a solution on all fronts. The result was that the history attention to reality on the rise and "Hong you lu" was a product of that background."Hong you lu" is 16 volumes in total, using traditional form. It has advantages of coherent, concise and clear. It recorded the major military activities from period"Hongwu"to "Jiajing"of Ming dynasty. The book spread widely, and so far seven editions had retained from many of the Ming dynasty."Hong youlu" using a lot of documentary material in writing, including the "Huang ming li chao tong ji", the Cabinet files and so on . "Hong youlu" had high historical value, especially to research the history of relations between Mongolian and Ming dynasty. It added inadequate materials of "Ming Chronicles". Gao dai had excellent knowledge of the history, so the comments that he made about historical events were thrust clear, objective and impartial. Analysis of the prevailing social contradictions ,he proposed an obvious solution to the problem and it had the purpose of reflect reality."Hong you lu" had shortcomings and omissions of major military incidents and had failures in record the years. These were minor issues and could not affect the status of "Hong you lu" among history books. "Hong you lu" had a certain status and impact on historiography. The Ming dynasty respected its historical comments, the Qing dynasty respected its historical value and it is a comprehensive study of the book in modern society.