A Probe Into Zhu Ming - Hao 's Historical History

Corresponding to the situation of the clustering of social conflicts afterMid-Ming Dynasty, the bad style of study marked by “emptiness” and“generalization” gradually turned to the style of textual research characterized by“knowledgeableness”,“factualism”,“lofty aspiration” and “practicality”. The turn inhistory study brought about the new prosperous situation in textual research history.In the late Ming Dynasty, the study of history displayed quite different directions andtracks from the early period.Under such a big social background, Zhu Minggao studied the written history intotally16official history books from “The Annals of San Guo” to “History of YuanDynasty” in his “Corrections of History”. His research started the ethos of officialhistory studies, and he was worthy the name. The content in the book “Corrections ofHistory” was quite comprehensive and systematic; various scientific methodologieswere applied, and the style was objective and rigorous. What’s more, due to its earlycoming of age and splendidness, it was the hub work in the changing of History Studyin the late Ming and early Qing period. At the same time, Zhu Minggao became thekey figure in this changing period. In the book, the methodologies such as “seekingproof in itself”,“seeking proof through others”,“theory proof” and “questionmethod” adopted by Zhu were generally similar to the Qianjia Scholars in QingDynasty, the former and the later had a lot in common. Zhu Minggao and his book“Corrections of History” occupied an important position in the development ofChinese Ancient History Study even though there were some weak points in thebook’s relatively weak theoretical bases, its emphasis on the study of political historyand its study objects of dating history in some biographical history books.