| The period of Emperor Yingzong in the Ming Dynasty was an important period in the history of the Ming Dynasty.In this period,the glory of "Rule of Ren and Xuan(i.e.Emperor Renzong and Emperor Xuanzong)" was inherited;but at the same time,the prelude to the interference of eunuchs in politics started.Although Emperor Yingzong had been assisted by "Three Yangs(namely,Yang Rong,Yang Shiqi and Yang Pu)" in ruling the state in the early period,his regime had gradually revealed the sign of decline with Wang Zhen’s interference in politics and imprisonment of Emperor Yingzong in the north.Therefore,many scholars believe that the period of Emperor Yingzong in the Ming Dynasty was a turning point of the Ming Dynasty from prosperity to decline.The book True Records of Emperor Yingzong in Ming Dynasty is the most important historical document for the study on this period,which is called a book of "national history",because of detailed records of major events such as "Tumu War","imprisonment of Emperor Yingzong in the north" and "Restoration of NangongThe prevailing version of True Records of Emperor Yingzong in Ming Dynasty is its photocopies published by the Institute of History and Philology in Taiwan in 1962,which came from the blueprint of library-based version(that is,that manuscript in red checks collected in Beiping National Library).Although the library-based version is relatively good,there are still many mistakes in it.The Institute of History and Philology had ever collated and emended the book True Records of Emperor Yingzong in Ming Dynasty in the period of more than 30 years from 1930 to 1961,and finally published Notes on Collation of True Records of Emperor Yingzong in Ming Dynasty in separate edition.As there were almost 20,000 collation notes,this Notes on Collation of True Records of Emperor Yingzong in Ming Dynasty is the most important research result.The collation work was mainly based on comparative proofreading.The collators first compared multiple versions based on the master copy to find out their similarities and differences and then wrote this Notes on Collation.The purpose of collating word by word and sentence by sentence is just to restore historical truth,not judge between right and wrong.The Notes on Collation of True Records of Emperor Yingzong in Ming Dynasty published in Taiwan is extremely detailed and comprehensive,but there have still been many imperfections.Nowadays,with the development of science and technology and the times,not only ancient rare books that were once difficult to obtain have "reappeared" through the published photocopies,the full-text retrieval database of ancient books based on big data have constantly emerged.The essays,epitaphs,biographies,chronicles and local annals have their unique values in the collation.A large number of memorials to the throne were collected in the essays;true stories of those historical figures recorded in the book can be traced through their epitaphs and biographies;in the chronicle,the details of the life story of some person can be found in addition to memorials to the throne and imperial edicts;in the local annals,the biographies of those officials at the lower level which were not recorded in other historical documents and some relevant imperial edicts and memorials to the emperor can be found.Therefore,they are of great importance in the collation.The method of proofreading based on comparison with other books can be used for collation of True Records of Emperor Yingzong in Ming Dynasty;specifically speaking,historical data from other books are cited for proofreading.As historical materials in this book are extremely extensive,it is necessary for collators to use different types of historical data for textual research.Generally,those historical materials containing the Chinese character“通”(meaning universal,general and comprehensive)are widely used for comparative proofreading,such as Sequel to the General Examination of Qing Documents,Collected Statutes of the Ming Dynasty.But when there is no information to be cited from other sources,the method of proofreading based on the content in the book itself can be used for checking the time clue in historical materials.Based on the combination of new historical data and new methods,type of errors and causes for errors in True Records of Empcror Yingzong in Ming Dynasty are analyzed and summarized. |
