天嘏

Tian Gu was an author known for his writings on Qing dynasty history in the late Qing and early Republican period. Public information about his full name, native place, dates of birth and death, and educational background is limited, and present-day knowledge of him rests mainly on works published under his name. Eleven of his works are held in the collection, the representative one being the multi-part Unofficial History of the Qing, which proceeds from a general introduction through the reigns of Shunzhi and Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong, Jiaqing and Daoguang, Xianfeng and Tongzhi, and Guangxu and Xuantong, alongside a single-volume edition of the same title. Drawing largely on official and unofficial observations and historical notes, these works survey the political shifts, figures, anecdotes, and court lore of each Qing reign in a narrative, topic-by-topic style. Concise in language and orderly in structure, they combine the readability of historical works with the interest of documentary literature and circulated widely in the Republican era as popular reading for understanding Qing history and its anecdotes.