EACS-2016. Book of Abstracts

Premodern History 21st Biennial Conference of the European Association for Chinese Studies 124 houses of the other Six States (Qi 齊 , Chu 楚 , Yan 燕 , and the “three Jin” 三晉 — Zhao 趙 , Wei 魏 and Han 韓 ). In the “BasicAnnals of Qin” the story is told fromQin’s perspective and this has been the major source for modern historians studying the era. This paper will view many of the same historical events and processes of Qin’s conquest through the narrations of the conquered in the “Wei shijia” (Hereditary House ofWei, Chapter 44 of the Shiji). This involves exploring how Sima Qian employed his two major sources, the Zuo zhuan 左傳 and the Zhanguo ce 戰國策 , while also examining his treatment of common events in the other hereditary houses (especially the “Zhao shijia,” Hereditary House of Zhao, and the “Han shijia” (Hereditary House of Han) in an attempt to better comprehend the Sima Qian’s understanding of the breakup of the state of Jin, the Qin conquest of Wei, and the historiographic methods and techniques through which he presents these events to the reader. Nylan Michael (University of California, Berkeley) Fan Ye’s Historiography as Seen Through His “Letter from prison to my nephews” Key words: Preface (Zixu), “Letter from prison to my nephews”, writing on history, Ban Family, legitimacy Historians have only just begun to pay particular attention to the paratexts of the official and unofficial histories in pre-modernChina. Having just completed, with three eminent colleagues, the first relatively thorough treatment of the “Letter to Ren An” ascribed to Sima Qian, it is a good time to turn to Fan Ye’s writing on history writing in his “Letter from prison to my nephews” (Yu zhong yu zhushengzhi shu 獄中與諸甥侄書 ), now taken as a virtual Author's Preface (Zixu 自序 ) since none was composed for Fan's own Hou Hanshu compilation. Both the Hou Hanshu and this piece are vastly understudied, though together they represent one of the two essential guides to the Eastern Han court still extant. Written in the fifth-century CE, the official history undoubtedly reflects some post-Han preoccupations, and this paper seeks to understand mainly how, and in what ways, the logics of legitimacy diverged from that articulate in the Ban family history compiled in the late first century CE. Pöllath Jakob (Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich) A Different Account of Early Southern Song China: The Peace with Jin as Seen Through the Zhongxing xiaoji Key words: historiography, annals, Song, Jin dynasty, diplomacy The peace treaty with the Jurchen Jin 金 1141/42 and the events leading up to it are among the defining moments in the establishment of the Southern Song 宋 . Most modern historians studying this period rely almost exclusively on the descriptions given in Li Xinchuan’s 李心傳 great annalistic history Jianyan yilai xinian yaolu 建炎以來繫年要錄 , sometimes supplemented by other works such as Xu Mengxin’s 徐夢莘 Sanchao beimeng huibian 三朝北盟會編 . Yet another, earlier annalistic history is almost always overlooked, although itself one of the main sources Li Xinchuan drew on. This is Xiong Ke’s 熊克 ca. 1185 Zhongxing xiaoji 中興小紀 . Generally considered a lesser work, it is nonetheless important both as a pioneering effort and for providing a different viewpoint that is comparatively close to the events in question. This paper will look at those formative years through the eyes of Xiong Ke’s work. It will consider where his might differ from other accounts, as well as try to understand its author’s own narrative of the peace negotiations with the foreign power to the North and the contemporaneous changes taking place at the Song court. Thereby it also hopes to broaden our view of available sources for this period of Chinese history. Su Feng-nan (National Chengchi University) Mapping the Border: Contexts of Space and Knowledge in Taiwan Aboriginal-Boundary Maps in Qing Rule Key words: history of cartography, aboriginal-boundary, layers, political space, map