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Historical Writings on Loyalists in the Late Song Dynasty

Articles
Yanjun XIONG (Hanshan Normal University)
Year: 
2018
Volume: 
16
Number: 
2
Page: 
1-42
Full Text Download (PDF): 
Abstract: 

The story of Yuan Yong and his whole family fighting against the Mongols is among the legends of loyalists in the late Song Dynasty. Scholars had been discussing the reasons for that Yuan Jue did not include a biography of Yuan Yong in "The Siming Gazetteers in the Reign of Yanyou" that he edited. Some thought that Yuan Jue omitted Yuan Yong on purpose and thus violated the rule of being honest in Chinese traditional historiography. In fact, when Yuan Jue was writing "The Siming Gazetteers in the Reign of Yanyou", there was not any record about Yuan Jue's martyrdom since the whole story was fabricated later. The historical writings of the loyalists in the late Song Dynasty were much influenced by the historical context, authorship, and the genre of texts. Writing about loyalists in the late Song was a project bearing multiple goals, but the ultimate motivation was, without an exception, that individuals tried to compete for more resources.

Journal of History and Anthropology