Complete Records of Zhuangyuan (Part Two)

闻明 / 张林中国环境科学出版社，学苑音像出版社 · ChinaDec 2021

Rating 3.4
Word count
48K words
Chapters
106
ISBN
9787801357021

Tags

History Books Historical ReappraisalPortrait GalleryRise and FallHumanistic CareIllustrated GuideAcademic StudyTraditional AestheticsEclectic Reading

Summary

China is a vast country with a splendid 5,000-year history of civilization and brimming with vitality. The Chinese nation long ago stood firm in the East, advancing wave upon wave and enduring through countless generations.

China's historical books may be described as vast as a sea of oxen, yet few have gathered the essentials into a single comprehensive work.

This book, while absorbing the finest of current historical research—historiography, historical theory and historical works—makes the character "complete" its central task: filling gaps in the historical record, recovering what general histories omit, exposing forgeries in official histories, correcting errors in unofficial histories, remedying the deficiencies of romanticized accounts, completing what foreign histories leave out, bringing to light hidden secret histories, and revealing what private histories conceal—dedicated to restoring the truth of history and striving to create a full-blooded, vivid, detailed and comprehensive Chinese history.

Editor's review

As a systematic survey of the zhuangyuan—top graduates of China's imperial examinations—*The Complete Register of Zhuangyuan (Volume II)* is worth far more than a list of names and dates. Continuing from Volume I, it delves further into this unique cultural phenomenon. Online verification shows the book was edited by Wen Ming and jointly published by China Environmental Science Press and Xueyuan Audio-Visual Press. Although major platforms such as Douban have no detailed ratings or extensive reader feedback, this precisely highlights the current state of such source-based works in public dissemination: they tend to be important references on researchers' desks rather than mass-market bestsellers.

Judging from its content, this is not a simple name roster. It likely takes dynasties as the warp and individuals as the weft, including not only basic information on zhuangyuan across the ages but also, and more importantly, their life stories, career ups and downs, literary achievements and historical influence. For the zhuangyuan—the highest honor attainable by intellectuals in China's feudal society—the book's account offers a direct window into the elite selection mechanisms of traditional society, the cultural foundations of civil-service politics, and the value orientation of "excelling in learning leads to officialdom." Reading such books lets us move beyond the dramatic image of "Fan Jin passing the examination" and examine more objectively the complex role of the examination system in sustaining social mobility and shaping cultural identity.

The editor believes the book's value for readers lies in its "panoramic" and "factual record" character. It does not aim to propose shocking new theories but to solidly assemble and present basic historical sources, building a reliable platform for readers to explore and think for themselves. For those who want a systematic understanding of the zhuangyuan group or who use the examination system as a point of entry for research, it is a reference book and source collection worth consulting.

Who it's for

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Reading tips

  1. Read together with Volume I for a complete overview of the zhuangyuan group
  2. Use a Chinese historical chronology alongside the reading to place individuals in their specific historical contexts
  3. There is no need to finish in one sitting; select chapters by dynasty or interest for close reading and reference

About the publisher

中国环境科学出版社，学苑音像出版社 China · Founded in 1980

Jointly credited to China Environmental Science Press and Xueyuan Audio-Visual Publishing House, the publications held in this catalog number 243 titles and cover common categories such as architecture, popular science, philosophy, world history, theory, and art. They include works on history and architecture, such as The World History of Architecture: Frozen Music and The Hometown of the Hanging Gardens: Babylon; popular science titles such as 100 Scientific Discoveries That Shook the World and 100 Technological Inventions That Refreshed the World; and works on intellectual and art history, such as The Most Beautiful Flower on Earth: A History of World Thought and The Sublimation of Life and Production: A History of Arts and Crafts. Works by authors including Wen Ming, Peng Pingping, Ge Dan, Qian Shu, and Li Munan form the main author resources. Because public information on the two institutions' complete catalogs and editorial plans is limited, this description presents their publishing direction only on the basis of the books in the catalog: mainly history, popular science, and art history, with some theoretical works, and under the joint imprint a emphasis on knowledge popularization and the humanities and social sciences.

Contents

  1. 版权信息
  2. 《中国历史百科》编纂委员会
  3. 《中国历史百科》编辑部
  4. 编写说明
  5. 明朝状元
  6. 丁显
  7. 黄观
  8. 曾鹤龄
  9. 曹鼐
  10. 彭时
  11. 孙贤
  12. 罗伦
  13. 吴宽
  14. 谢迁
  15. 伦文叙
  16. 康海
  17. 顾鼎臣
  18. 杨慎
  19. 唐皋
  20. 舒芬
  21. 韩应龙
  22. 唐汝楫
  23. 范应期
  24. 耿继皋
  25. 赵秉忠
  26. 张以诚
  27. 杨守勤
  28. 黄士俊
  29. 周延儒
  30. 钱士升
  31. 文震孟
  32. 刘若宰
  33. 陈于泰
  34. 魏藻德
  35. 杨廷鉴
  36. 清朝状元
  37. 傅以渐
  38. 刘子壮
  39. 邹忠倚
  40. 史大成
  41. 孙承恩
  42. 徐元文
  43. 马世俊
  44. 彭定求
  45. 归允肃
  46. 沈廷文
  47. 戴有祺
  48. 胡任舆
  49. 汪绎
  50. 王式丹
  51. 王云锦
  52. 王世琛
  53. 徐陶璋
  54. 汪应铨
  55. 邓钟岳
  56. 陈德华
  57. 彭启丰
  58. 于敏中
  59. 钱维城
  60. 吴鸿
  61. 秦大士
  62. 庄培因
  63. 蔡以台
  64. 王杰
  65. 秦大成
  66. 张书勋
  67. 陈初哲
  68. 黄轩
  69. 吴锡龄
  70. 汪如洋
  71. 史致光
  72. 胡长龄
  73. 石韫玉
  74. 潘世恩
  75. 赵文楷
  76. 姚文田
  77. 顾皋
  78. 彭浚
  79. 吴信中
  80. 洪莹
  81. 蒋立镛
  82. 陈继昌
  83. 戴兰芬
  84. 林召棠
  85. 朱昌颐
  86. 李振钧
  87. 汪鸣相
  88. 林鸿年
  89. 钮福保
  90. 李承霖
  91. 龙启瑞
  92. 萧锦忠
  93. 张之万
  94. 陆增祥
  95. 孙如仅
  96. 翁同龢
  97. 孙家鼐
  98. 钟骏声
  99. 翁曾源
  100. 梁耀枢
  101. 曹鸿勋
  102. 王仁堪
  103. 黄思永
  104. 刘福姚
  105. 张謇
  106. 傅善祥

FAQ

Is this book merely a roster of names? Not at all. Judging from the title "Complete Register" and the nature of the publication, it should include, beyond the roster, accounts of zhuangyuan's lives, deeds and historical influence—making it a compilation and introduction of historical sources.
Do I need specialized historical knowledge to understand it? No particularly advanced expertise is required. The book leans toward basic introduction of historical sources and is accessible to readers with general high-school-level or above knowledge of history and culture. Extracting deeper value, however, requires the reader's own thinking and further reading.
How is the content divided between the two volumes? Such compilations usually follow the chronological order of dynasties. Volume I should cover from the founding of the examination system (Sui-Tang) to some intermediate dynasty (such as Song or Yuan), while Volume II continues into later dynasties (such as Ming and Qing) up to the abolition of the examinations. The exact division should be confirmed in the table of contents.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

闻明 Author

Wen Ming is a prolific author about whom little is publicly available; details such as birth and death dates, nationality, and educational background are not clearly recorded. Judging from the 157 works held in the collection, Wen Ming's writing centers mainly on world history and the popularization of the arts, covering architecture, painting, drama, arts and crafts, intellectual history, and ancient civilizations. Representative works include systematic surveys of architectural history, accounts of the rise and fall of ancient civilizations such as Babylon, and introductions to the development of painting, drama, and craft arts. Overall, Wen Ming's writing tends toward informative, general-audience exposition, presenting artistic and historical themes along clear lines and helping ordinary readers understand the cultural background of these fields.

张林 Author

Zhang Lin is a Chinese author whose works span a notably wide range of subjects, with 107 titles held in the collection. Judging from the available bibliography, his writing covers several fields: social novels and essayistic works such as Galloping Horse, One Person, and Don't Forget Why You Started Because You've Gone Too Far; the compilation of the Fu-Selected Liu Duzhou Medical Case Commentaries series, showing an interest in documenting traditional Chinese medicine; I Confess: Recorded Confessions of Japanese War Criminals, a work of history; and Tang and Song Poetry Anecdotes, aimed at popularizing classical verse. His works are also often classified under foreign literature and social sciences. Public information about Zhang Lin is limited, and his biography, nationality, and dates of birth and death cannot be verified. The range of his output nonetheless suggests a versatile writer who moves between literary creation, historical documentation, and the organization of medical texts, balancing accessible writing with careful compilation of source materials.