A Record of Things Heard in the Jingkang Era

丁特起Jul 2024

4.0

Word count: 34K words
Chapters: 5

Summary

The Jìngkāng Jìwén records the events of the first year of the Jìngkāng era. On the fifth day of the first lunar month, the Jin army massed its forces and invaded the capital. On the twelfth day of the second month, the troops withdrew. In the ninth month of autumn, Tàiyuán fell. In the tenth month of winter, Zhēndìng fell, and soon after Huázhōu and other commanderies and counties also fell. On the twenty-fifth day of the eleventh month, the Jin again massed forces and invaded the capital.

Editor's review

Jingkang Jiwen (Records of the Jingkang Era) chronicles in the "record of hearsay" style, in chronological order, the major events of the first year of Jingkang: the Jurchen assault on the capital, their withdrawal, and their return. The prose is terse and forceful, the thread of events clear, giving the work the framework of an annalistic outline. The author, Ding Teqi, arranges events one by one in a documentary hand: from the siege of the capital in the first month to the renewed arrival of enemy troops outside the city in the eleventh, he recounts the year's attacks and defenses, advances and retreats, and the fall of prefectures and counties, allowing readers to fix the chronology of the Jingkang Incident. As one volume in the Classic Chinese Studies Essence and Cultural Original Texts series, it preserves the original book's appearance and is devoted to conserving and transmitting traditional thought and culture; its value lies not in expansive argument but in offering a compact, reliable record of events. For readers new to the history of Jingkang, it is easier to enter than long-form discussion; for researchers, it serves as a basic text for checking timelines and the sequence of events. The classical Chinese is not long and is suited to close reading in sections; used alongside chronological tables and maps, it conveys more directly the rhythm and pressure of an unfolding crisis.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers new to the Jingkang Incident who want first to establish a timeline of events
Students and researchers of Song history who need annalistic sources to verify the sequence of events
Readers of traditional culture who enjoy brief documentary classical Chinese and clear, orderly records
Readers interested in ancient military offense and defense and the process of city falls

Not a good fit for

Readers hoping for deep causal analysis or evaluation of figures
General casual readers who prefer vernacular narrative and do not wish to engage with classical Chinese
Readers expecting detailed war narrative or a complete general-history framework

Reading tips

Read through once without worrying about full comprehension, grasping the key time nodes—first month, second month, ninth month, tenth month, eleventh month—to build an overall framework.
On the second reading, use a historical map of the Song dynasty to mark the locations of Taiyuan, Zhending, Huazhou, and the capital mentioned in the book, so as to understand the advance of the offensive.
Keep paper and pen to excerpt events item by item, forming your own brief chronology, then read it against Jingkang Chuanxin Lu.
After finishing, retell the order of the year's major events in a few sentences to test whether you have truly grasped the narrative thread of the record style.

版权信息
靖康纪闻序
靖康纪闻卷上
靖康纪闻卷下
靖康纪闻拾遗

FAQ

Is this book suitable as an introduction to the Jingkang Incident?

Fairly suitable. The book records events chronologically, is clearly organized, and is not long, helping readers quickly establish the sequence of events in the first year of Jingkang. But it emphasizes record over analysis; after using it as an introduction, one should read relevant studies or similar sources to fill in background and causal understanding.

The title says "record of hearsay"—are these the author's personal experiences?

"Record of hearsay" means recording what was seen and heard. The book chronicles events of the first year of Jingkang in annalistic form, arranging item by item the siege, the withdrawal, and the fall of prefectures and counties. As the materials indicate, its format is documentary record; readers should use it as a text of event threads, and verify the specific sources of what was seen and heard against other historical sources.

Does reading this book require other books?

Two kinds of material are recommended: first, historical maps of the Song dynasty and a chronological table of the Jingkang years, to help locate places and dates; second, similar eyewitness records such as Jingkang Chuanxin Lu. The two books take different angles, and reading them against each other gives a fuller understanding of the complex situation of the siege and court deliberations.

Related on WeRead

Comments

Find this book

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

丁特起 Author

Very little is known about Ding Teqi; his birth and death years, native place and nationality are not clearly recorded, and the available public information is limited. What can be confirmed is only that he is the author of Jingkang Jiwen (A Record of the Jingkang Era), a work classified as a philosophical reading. The book takes the Jingkang Incident as its background and belongs to the genre of notes and records, dealing largely with events and observations of the time and combining historical value with personal commentary. On the evidence available, Ding Teqi's writing does not aim at elaborate rhetoric but favors factual recording and personal judgment, with plain language and clear organization. In later circulation the work was often used as a reference for understanding the social conditions and the mentality of scholars around the Jingkang period, and it thus gained a place in bibliographical tradition. Because relevant sources are insufficient, Ding Teqi's family background, acquaintances and official career cannot be examined in detail; readers should understand his work within the tradition of Song dynasty note-writing rather than relying excessively on the author's life to interpret the text.