The Imperial History Of China Being A History Of The Empire As Compiled By The Chinese Historians

Author : J. Macgowan
Publisher : Forgotten Books
ISBN 13 : 9781330013861
Total Pages : 673 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (138 download)

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Download or read book The Imperial History of China written by J. Macgowan and published by Forgotten Books. This book was released on 2015-06-02 with total page 673 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from The Imperial History of China: Being a History of the Empire as Compiled by the Chinese Historians The Imperial History of China is neither more nor less than the History of China, as it has been written, during successive ages, by the authorized historians of the Empire. This work, together with the writings of Confucius and Mencius, are the only truly authentic sources from which the story of this long-lived nation can be obtained. During the past there have been many writers of note who have professed to give a history of their times, but their works have been so interlarded with manifestly fabulous stories and incredible statements that they could not possibly be accepted as genuine history. It may seem strange to some of the readers of this History that the critical faculty has not been exercised more fully than it might have been in the preparation of the book. The fact is the author could only give what the Chinese historians supplied, and as historical criticism was a science that they had never studied, he did not dare to attempt what the ancient scholars of China had never dreamed of doing themselves. Besides, the materials for doing so do not now exist. China is a country that has taken scarcely any pains to preserve the books or monuments of the far-off past. The author consequently has simply been shut up to those documents that China has always considered to be authentic. In point of fact there are no others to be consulted, for any records outside of these are so few and so unreliable that to use them would land one in the region of fiction and romance. That the authorized documents are on the whole to be relied upon, we have no reason whatever to doubt, especially when we consider the system that was adopted to protect the writers of them, when they had to record facts that might have been unpleasant to the Emperor and high officials of the time. Ever since the Han dynasty (B. C. 206 - A. D. 25) historians have been appointed by royal edicts to write the history of their times, and no one but themselves has ever been allowed to look upon what they have written. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.