A Study Of Biographical Sketchs Of Famous Ministers Of The Yuan Dynasty By Su Tianjue

Biographical Sketches of Famous Ministers of the Yuan Dynasty is an important biographical book compiled by Su Tianjue,an official of the yuan dynasty.It includes the biographies of 47 important officials in the early days of the yuan dynasty.And its great historical value and document value has been recognized by the academic community.This paper is based on the author Su Tianjue’s special life experience,as an important official and scholar,as well as his profound historical thought,Confucian classics thought,literary thought.Combined with the 13 th century Mongolia gradually entered ancient China’s territory to establish a unified dynasty of the historical background,and the mid-yuan dynasty gradually turned to the internal affairs of the new era background,to understand Su Tianjue’s compilation behavior and motivation with definite subject consciousness,to grasp more accurately the nature and value of the book,and to find its ideological and emotional connotation.The thesis is divided into three chapters.The first chapter discusses the motive of Su Tianjue’s compiling this book.When Su Tianjue was 20 years old and studying in the imperial college,he had the intention of compiling the book.His special growth experience and educational background enable him to have a deep-rooted Han culture and Confucian in his early years.Under the influence of this cultural atmosphere,he not only attached importance to history but also had a certain ability to edit history.Considering the specific historical background and individual living conditions at that time,Su Tianjue’s compilation of this book may have many motives,such as to be an official who edits history,to learn the good qualities of famous officials,to carry the responsibility of inheriting the spirit of the traditional article,to show the yuan dynasty article prosperity,to promote Confucianism as an official truth,to help local education,to express oneself ambition with the history,and use this to carry on the Han culture to govern the ideal.The second chapter discusses Su Tianjue’s choice of the biography of the main character,Su Tianjue focused on the famous officials during the reign of Kublai Khan.The historical process of the unification of China in the yuan dynasty was also a process in which the Mongolian rulers gradually established a high relationship with the Han culture.Su Tianjue selected famous ministers with the method of Han as the core.The image of most famous ministers directly conforms to the ideal of Confucian scholars of the traditional Han,and very few famous ministers of minority nationalities can also form an indirect connection with the method of Han.To unify the whole book,the northern scholars in jin and yuan dynasties were selected.The third chapter discusses the methods used by Su Tianjue in compiling this book.Su Tianjue hoped to form a system of the whole book and achieved the effect of interpreting classics with history.Therefore,he extensively collected and used various documents.He paid special attention to the authenticity of the documents and the style of writing,especially the biographies written by the historians in the north.When he compiled the whole book,he imitated the form of The Words and Deeds of Famous Ministers of Eight Generation by Zhu Xi,to organize the documents.In dealing with specific texts,he elaborately deleted and changed the text according to his aesthetic orientation of "concise" biography style or some other needs,to shorten the length of biography and form sketches.