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Compilation Of County Gazetteer And Local Society: Study On Ruijin Gazetteer In Ming And Qing Dynasty

Posted on:2012-03-03Degree:DoctorType:Dissertation
Country:ChinaCandidate:X F LiFull Text:PDF
GTID:1115330335964856Subject:History of Ancient China
Abstract/Summary:PDF Full Text Request
The dissertation mainly explores the logical relationship between compilation of Ruijin gazetteer and local society in Ming and Qing dynasty. The historical and logic of Ruijin gazetteer provides a typical case to understand the restructuring process of county gazetteer. The restructuring process of Rrujin gazetteer in Ming and Qing dynasty shows that:First of all, the county gazetteer, as an official account of public history and the product of the local historical development, reflects the local historical development to some extent. But at the same time, the county gazetteer, as a kind of discourse power and cultural capital that the local officials and the local gentry pursue, implicitly encompasses many power relations and intended purposes. The compilation of Ruijin gazetteer provides a platform for the local officials to record political achievements for themselves, and help them to establish relationships with local squires and socialite. On the other hand, local squires, who are in charge of writing the local gazetteer, all without exception, permeate their ancestral idea and personal intentions into the documents. They manage to make their private history translate into a part of public history in the county gazetteer. The native people, owing some economic capital, social capital or other capital type, will try their best to occupy a tiny space for themselves, their ancestor or their clan in the new county gazetteer by subsidizing gazetteer compiling and public work, or by interpersonal relationship, or by exchangeable forms of capital.Secondly, the county gazetteer undoubtedly reflects the local historical development objectively to some extent. For example, records of the historical evolution, mountains and rivers, magistrate, personnel from imperial examinations in the country gazetteer, basically manifests the objective facts. But the county gazetteer is far from pure objective records of history, rather it is a local history constructed by the gazetteer compilers based on certain historical facts, social power structure, values, as well as gazetteer compiling habitus and other factors. The compilations are made through the selection, rearrangements and interpretation of such documents embedded with power, ideology and purposes as the official history, local history, genealogy, collected works, legends, stone inscription and other types of text screening. "People" and "event" that meet the above conditions or that are reconstructed to meet those conditions are recorded in the county gazetteer. in Ruijin gazetteer in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, cases as the status changing of Hsieh Chang-Zhen from the Ming Dynasty's "Yilie" to the Qing Dynasty's "Zhonglie", "the creating of Ruijin Cultural image and Local knowledge, have demonstrated the mechanism how the county gazetteer compilers construct "local history".Thirdly, although the county gazetteer have the potential functions to keep history, support politics and civilize people, and even once the gazetteer is under compilation, the compilers will strive to be perfect. However, they are not the main objectives that the compilers pursuit for. The logical relationship between compilers and gazetteer content shows that the compilers'produce'gazetteer for themselves out of various purposes, and at the time, mainly'consume'by themselves. They complies county gazetteer driven by complicate motives, some for keeping history and support politics, some for a matter of routine, some for political investment, some for the hometown feeling, some for posthumous reputation, still some for improving family prestige. Of course, some also do for other direct utilitarian purposes. They even have presupposed how their'production'of the county gazetteer would be'consumed'. But the cases of redress for Jiang-zhenxi and the amendment and challenge to gazetteer from Huangxi Liaoshi, show that once county gazetteer becomes the reading object of "others", it is bound to be'repolluted'and'recreated'by the interests and purposes of'others'.
Keywords/Search Tags:Ming and Qing dynasty, Ruijin gazetteer, Compilation of county gazetteer, local society
PDF Full Text Request
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