Chinese Historiography – Confucianism and Features

Charles Gardener says, “No other ancient nation possesses records of its whole past so voluminous, so continuous and so accurate”. J. K. Fairbank says, “No people have been more interested in their past than the Chinese, for them it was the model for the present and the primary source of information on human society”.  The Chinese people took a deep interest in historical writing. Chinese history-writing was strongly influenced by Confucianism.

Confucianism

It is an ethical and philosophical system developed from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius, who lived during the 6^th century BC in the Chinese state. Confucianism has exerted a strong influence on China’s spiritual and intellectual tradition and social and political behaviour of the Chinese people. It has also had a powerful influence on the Chinese history-writing tradition.

There are many key elements of Confucianism. Humanity is the main focus of Confucius, and his philosophy was not God or some divine being but man-human relations, their day-to-day affairs, and the values they inculcated in themselves and in others. They gave a philosophical underpinning to the tradition of reverence for the past. He was convinced that the models of moral, political, and social behaviour found in the past would help end degeneration and chaos and regenerate society.

They believe that moral education is needed to maintain harmony and well-being in society. The teachings of Confucius held that men were inherently good by nature, but the real men of virtue were expected to cultivate the right qualities in themselves through education. They are concerned with finding some order and meaning in the way human society has developed over time. The Confucian concern with establishing and maintaining order in the present. Thus, also influenced the way the past was conceived.

Also Read: Objectivity and Interpretation

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Distinctive Features of Traditional Chinese Historiography

There are some important features of Chinese historiography, some of which are distinct, and others are commonly found elements.

This historiography is official because it was written by officials and sponsored or commissioned by the rulers. There were certain exceptions to the rule. But private history, which existed and even enjoyed certain respectability, never challenged the dominance of officially written history. The content of the history works reflected the concerns of the administration and were also official documents, to which the historians had relatively easy access since they were officials.

Chinese historiography was essentially normative as it appeared to serve as a guide to the reader. It sought to have a model of conscientiousness, moral uprightness, and wisdom in the words and deeds of former rulers and officials, which could educate and inspire the present and future rulers and officials and help them in solving problems. They followed a consistent format. The whole dynastic histories and comprehensive histories have similar sections and sub-sections.

Chinese historians believed that it was their duty to record the facts as objectively as possible, even though it looks paradoxical, considering that the official and normative history would never be expected to support objectivity. Chinese historians also believed that writers’ personalities and opinions were not meant to intrude into the materials he was recording. The writer’s comment has to be demarcated from the rest of the text.

Thus, Chinese historiography attracted historians because of its uniqueness.