Is biographical style still adopted in the compilation of Qing history?

No, experts including Ge Jianxiong think it is appropriate to innovate the genre. What's more, domestic research monographs are no longer stuck in biographical style, but focus on thematic analysis.

in Cang Xiuliang's Exploration of Local Records, although modern people have the characteristics of ancient records, genre innovations emerge one after another, so it is necessary to restrict the ancient style.

All the papers and monographs in China are special studies, and you must know them, needless to say;

A few materials can be quoted:

Ge Jianxiong's "Official History" can be repaired, but it must be innovated ":

Biographical style can certainly be used, but it should also absorb the advantages of other genres. For example, it is difficult to get a complete and systematic account of some major events in biographies and biographies, so it is necessary to use the form of chronicle. Another example is the description of ethnic minorities, which has never been treated equally in the previous official history. The newly revised history of Qing Dynasty should create an appropriate genre and way. For another example, in the past, the official history basically did not explain the basis and source of the data. According to today's standards, it can't meet the needs of researchers and readers. When it is revised, it should list the main references and notes. Names and place names of foreign countries and ethnic minorities should be annotated with the original or old translated names. All quoted foreign documents should be retranslated according to the original text, instead of following the original translations that are inevitably full of big mistakes. If we consider that many foreign languages or minority languages are inserted, the whole book should be arranged horizontally.

many new things, new technologies and new means appeared in the late Qing dynasty, which should be truthfully reflected in the newly revised history of Qing dynasty and fully utilized. Some people, objects and events have left photos, which should be included in the relevant records and biographies. During the reign of Emperor Kangxi, maps were mapped and printed all over the country. In the late Qing Dynasty, various maps were mapped and printed in succession, and detailed maps were also drawn when demarcating borders with neighboring countries. The Geographical Annals (if adopted) and related chronicles and biographies should be accompanied by necessary maps. Science and technology, culture and education, medicine and health, industrial transportation, post and telecommunications, finance and so on should all be recorded.

But the difficulty of innovation can be imagined. For example, whether this "official history" should be written in classical Chinese or vernacular Chinese is a dilemma. In the case that the cited original documents and historical materials are almost all written in classical Chinese, some vernacular narratives in the middle are really neither fish nor fowl, and they look awkward. And if the vernacular is completely adopted, the total number of words will be even larger. However, if you really want to write in classical Chinese, I'm afraid most of the existing Qing history researchers can't adapt. In addition, when it comes to some things imported from foreign countries, and there is no corresponding classical Chinese vocabulary in China, it will be very funny to use classical Chinese.

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Wang Rong Sheng

Abandoning "Official History" and Innovating Genre

Many outstanding historians in the history of China have always tried to explore new genres of historical compilation in order to better reflect their own understanding of history, so various genres of historical compilation have emerged. Among them, the most influential is the biographical style, which has many advantages in narrating historical facts and many great works have been handed down from generation to generation. Because it is centered on emperors, it has become a typical genre of "official history". However, the most obvious disadvantage of biographical style is that it is beneficial to describe personal deeds and inconvenient to analyze groups and society by dispersing the same event in Ji, Biography, Books (Records) and other articles.

at the end of 19th century and the beginning of 2th century, a new genre of historical compilation emerged in the wave of new historiography, which people called chapter style. This new genre is convenient to describe the trend of social change, the origin of political reform, the context of economic development and the evolution of academic culture. This genre has been popular for a century, and its most obvious shortcoming is that there is no biography.

How to revise history today, the most important thing is innovation. The first thing is to innovate the genre, but also to have new materials, new ideas and new methods. What is particularly worrying is how to establish a new operating mechanism, a new organizational form and new effective measures to prevent personal arbitrariness, academic corruption and the "national key cultural project" from being turned into a "bean curd project" under the current bad academic atmosphere. The country has invested a lot of money, but if it produces tens of millions of words of text garbage, then what is left for future generations is only a bitter joke.

excuse me, I can only use regular characters. However, the key point is the quotation, not the self-report.