Qianbainian yan 千百年眼

Qianbainian yan 千百年眼 "Eyes on thousands of years" is a collection of essays on historiography. The 12-juan-long book was compiled during the late Ming period by Zhang Sui 張燧 (died c. 1650), courtesy name Hezhong 和仲, from Xiaoxiang 瀟湘, Hunan. Not much is known about his life. His studio name was Jigutang 稽古堂 "Hall Exploring the Past". After the downfall of the Ming, he migrated to Japan, where he died.

His book was finished in 1614 and is the only one of his books that has survived. It consists of 511 articles in which the author gives insight into his impressions and thoughts after reading books on history. The author of the preface, Zhang's friend Zou Yuanbiao 鄒元標 (1551-1624), praises the book as coming directly out of the heart. The articles were written with great insight into the matters of old days. He points, for instance, at the contradiction that Emperor Wen 漢文帝 (r. 180-157 BCE) of the Han dynasty 漢 (206 BCE-220 CE) ordered an austere policy for the imperial household. Yet at the same time, he lavishly rewarded loyal ministers like Deng Tong 鄧通 and even allowed him to issue his own coins. Zhang Sui also contradicted the argument of Chao Cuo 晁錯 (died 154 BCE) that the imperial princes (see Rebellion of the Seven Princes) would rebel in any case, whether their princedoms were abolished or not, and explains that a progressive diminishment of their territories would not have led to the uprising. He proves that the derogatory term "blackheads" (qianshou 黔首) for the common populace was not an invention of the Qin dynasty 秦 (221-206 BCE); that the founder of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Gaozu 漢高祖 (r. 206-195 BCE), had venerated his mother, but not his father; and that the appeasement system of the Han towards the Xiongnu (heqin 和親 "peace by marriage") followed the same pattern as the purchase of peace by the Song dynasty 宋 (960-1279), who sent silk tributes to the Kitans and Jurchens. The Qianbainian yan is both a research book, and a theoretical book.

During the Qing period 清 (1644-1911), the Qianbainian yan was forbidden, while an extract of the book, Jigutang lunggu 稽古堂論古, is discussed in the descriptive bibliography Siku quanshu zongmu tiyao 四庫全書總目提要. This extract had been created by book sellers to circumvent the prohibition. The book's rediscovery in the late nineteenth century changed the image of late Ming historiography. It was printed two times, once in Yunjian 雲間 by Master Gong 龔氏 (1899), and in 1903 in Shanghai. In 1987, a modern edition was published by He Tianxin 賀天新. It is also found in the series Biji xiaoshuo daguan 筆記小說大觀.