Zheng Xiao And Wu Xue Bian

Zheng Xiao was a politician and historian in the Ming Dynasty. He had been engaged in the department of War, The Ministry of Official Personal Affairs, and The Ministry of Punishments. His official way was very circuitous. He was good at the historiography and his writing was very plentiful. Wu Xue Bian was his representative works and was the first historic book in Style of Biography in the Ming Dynasty. Wu Xue Bian was considered as the valuable and authentic works and was very important in the developmental progress of the historiography of Ming Dynasty. Wu Xue Bian was also very influential to the development of the historiography of Ming Dynasty.This thesis will study the Zheng Xiao and Wu Xue Bian thoroughly from philology. It refers to the following contents, such as, the influence of Zheng Xiao's society and home environment to his works, generalization on all of his works, the writing and the caving of Wu Xue Bian, the source of Wu Xue Bian's material, the style and reason of Wu Xue Bian, the generality of characters and content of Wu Xue Bian and so on. Especially, the study on the value of Wu Xue Bian to Mongolian history of the Ming Dynasty is one of important contents. Finally, the author estimates and analyzes the shortcomings of Wu Xue Bian, the status and the influence of the historiography.