Basic Annals of the Imperial Dynasty

AnonymousJun 2024

2.9

Word count: 22K words
Chapters: 5

Summary

Traditional Chinese culture has a long intellectual lineage, marked by a high degree of originality, inventiveness, and literary quality. Its early thought forms are highly distinctive: religious theology, classical texts of Chinese medicine, ancient military strategy, Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, and the Hundred Schools, feng shui and metaphysical studies, the Twenty-Four Histories, and local customs and geography—all are vast and profound. This series, "Essence of Classic Chinese Culture: Original Texts," preserves the original appearance of the books, with the aim of conserving and transmitting traditional Chinese thought and culture. By reading the literary essence left by ancient sages, readers cultivate character and subtly acquaint themselves with the classics of Chinese learning.

Editor's review

Huangchao Benji belongs to the series "Essence of Classic Chinese Culture: Original Texts" and prioritizes authenticity, preserving the original appearance of the ancient text. Its value lies not in textual research on a particular time or place but in giving readers direct access to the native expression of traditional historiography and thought, and to the way the ancients recorded dynastic rise and fall and the gains and losses of governance. Its content, together with religious theology, the Hundred Schools, and institutional and geographical writings, forms a sample of early thought forms and is suitable as an introductory reader for understanding the thread of Chinese learning. Because it is an anonymous work presented in its original appearance, the language may be archaic and the format not necessarily uniform; readers should value its documentary atmosphere and narrative texture rather than judge it by the strict standards of modern historiography. Read alongside other classics of Chinese learning, it reveals more clearly the sense of propriety between "records" and "registers" in traditional writing.

Who it's for

A good fit for

General readers interested in traditional historiography and original classics of Chinese learning who wish to encounter ancient books directly.
Student readers who wish to understand the genre of ancient dynastic records through short pieces or fragments.
Collectors of the series "Essence of Classic Chinese Culture: Original Texts" who prefer editions preserving the original appearance.

Not a good fit for

Beginning readers who need modern vernacular translation and annotation or sentence-by-sentence explanation.
Professional researchers expecting rigorous historical textual research and a clear chronological framework.

Reading tips

First read the table of contents or opening to grasp the book's format, then select passages of dynastic records for close reading.
Keep a dictionary of commonly used classical Chinese characters at hand and look up unfamiliar characters and words as you go, without rushing.
Read alongside other classics in the same series, noting differences in how different genres narrate the same kind of historical event.

版权信息
皇朝本记（明）撰人不详
六月甲子取广德路秋
戊戌抵安庆破其水军遂克其城
洪武二年春遣使往谕诸蕃定仁祖陵号曰皇陵

FAQ

Is this book suitable for readers with no foundation in classical Chinese?

It is not very suitable for reading straight through from zero foundation. This book preserves the original appearance of the text and provides no vernacular translation; classical Chinese sentence patterns and vocabulary pose barriers for beginners. It is advisable to first acquire some classical Chinese reading ability, or to use it with dictionaries and annotated editions, before entering this book.

Does "preserving the original appearance of the book" mean there are no annotations?

According to the series description, this book emphasizes preserving and transmitting traditional thought and culture, presenting the original appearance of the text, and is not a translation-and-annotation edition aimed at beginners. Readers should not expect paragraph-by-paragraph vernacular translation or detailed explanatory notes; the purpose of reading should be to encounter the original text.

What can readers gain from this book?

Mainly an intuitive sense of the genre of ancient dynastic records and a sample of how traditional histories recorded governance, people, and rise and fall. It is better used as a point of contact with original classics of Chinese learning than as a systematic general history or a textual research monograph.

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About the author

Anonymous Author

Anonymous is not a real personal name but a general Chinese designation for authors whose names are unknown, lost, or unsigned. Neither nationality nor dates of birth and death can be verified, and available public information is limited, so the works attributed to this name are the only basis for description. The collection holds 2,078 works under Anonymous, spanning medicine, classics, historical readings, ancient poetry, classical literature, and philosophy. Representative works include The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon: Lingshu, Mencius, The Book of Documents, Nineteen Old Poems, Complete Song Ci, and The Peacock Flies Southeast. Most of these works took shape through long transmission and editing, emerging either from collective folk creation or from authors whose names were lost over time. In ancient China, the Book of Songs, the Great Learning, and many popular storybooks and plays were signed Anonymous because their authors could not be traced. Anonymous works cross the classics, histories, philosophical writings, medical texts, and poetry; their subjects are broad, and their styles vary from archaic simplicity to clear naturalness, making them important and influential sources for understanding ancient Chinese thought, medicine, and literature.