The Study Of 《The Diary In Nengjing Dwelling》

The Diary in Nengjing Dwelling, written by Zhao Liewen in Qing Dynasty, was also called The Diary of Zhao Huifu or The Diary of Prefect Zhao. Zhao Liewen (1832-1893), whose infant name was "Laiqiu", cognomen "Huifu" and courtesy name "Nengjing Layman", was a native of Yanghu (now Changzhou) in Jiang Province. Zhao clan had excellent reputation and powerful influence in Yanghu. Zhao Shenqiao, the ancestor of Zhao Liewen, was Jinshi (advanced scholar) in the ninth year of Kangxi Emperor’s reign (1670) and the minister of the Board of Revenue. He had been posthumously awarded the title of "Gongyi". Zhao Liewen’s father, Zhao Renji, being Jinshi in the sixth year of Daoguang Emperor’s reign (1826) was versed in Confucian classics, history, and poetry-composing.Zhao Liewen got a good reputation for his articles in the youth, but he was not so zealous for the imperial examination. Having failed to the provincial exam for three times, he gave up pursuing fame via the exam and shifted his effort to the statecraft. Zhao had gained position in Zeng Guofan’s office for four times. "Zeng Guofan spoke highly of Zhao Liewen the moment they met and treated him as a distinguished guest." (Preface of the Chronicle of Yanghu Mr. Zhao Huifu) During his eight-year service for Zeng Guofan, Zhao Liewen had witnessed many significant decisions made by Zeng, experienced quite a few happenings of Xiang Army and Huai Army, and knew fairly well lots of inside information. Zhao Liewen was a prolific writer yet nearly all of his writings got lost, only with the manuscript of the diaries left.The Diary in Nengjing Dwelling, complete in fifty-four volumes, spanned as long as thirty two years, from May in the eighth year of Xianfeng Emperor’s reign (1858) to June in the fifteenth year of Guangxu Emperor’s reign. The book records the political and military situations and matters in the reign of Xianfeng Emperor and Tongzhi Emperor, of which those regarding Xiang Army group, Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Taiping Army, and late Qing Dynasty are especially of great value. This book also gives comprehensive portrayal of the society of late Qing Dynasty and touches upon other aspects, such as history, geography, literature, arts, religion, folklore, and so on. However, the overall researches on The Diary in Nengjing Dwelling have not been initiated in the academic arena to date.By dint of preliminary exploration, the thesis tries to conduct an overall and general study of The Diary in Nengjing Dwelling, thereby filling the deficiency in the studies thereof and broadening the subject for the subsequent researchers. The thesis has been divided into three Chapters. The first Chapter, namely "The introduction to The Diary in Nengjing Dwelling", analyzes its historic background and summarizes the book’s version condition from political and academic perspective. The second chapter sums up and sorts out the main contents of this book from the pedigree of Zhao Liewen, his relationship with Zeng Guofan and Zeng’s brothers, his book collections, and divination. In the last chapter, an overview based on the historic value of this book will be given. In the thesis, integrated approaches involved literature, history and other disciplines have been applied. Besides, various research techniques such as documentary analysis are also adopted.