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Mengwu'er shiji 蒙兀兒史記

Mar 11, 2011 © Ulrich Theobald

Mengwu'er shiji 蒙兀兒史記 "Historical records of the Mongols" is a history of the Mongols, the Yuan dynasty 元 (1279-1368) and the empire of Tamerlane (1336-1405) compiled by the late Qing-period 清 (1644-1911) historian Tu Ji 屠寄 (1856-1921).

Tu Ji replaced the better known Chinese transcription for the Mongols, Menggu 蒙古, by the term Mengwu'er 蒙兀兒. The 160-juan long book, of which 14 juan are lost, describes the origin of the Mongol empire and the conquest wars of Činggis Qaɣan (r. 1206-1227), as well as the foundation of the Yuan dynasty in China. The text has been compiled by Tu Ji himself and was not based on older histories on the Yuan period. Tu also added critical commentaries to historical events and thus imitated the style of Sima Guang's 司馬光 (1019-1086) Zizhi tongjian kaoyi 自治通鑒考異. These commentaries are of considerable value for the study of historiographic material about the Mongol era.

The book was therefore several times printed and reproduced. The first print was published in in 1911, another one in 1934. In 1962 the Zhonghua Book Company 中華書局 made a reprint of the latter, and again in 1984.

Sources:
Gao Wende 高文德, ed. (1995). Zhongguo shaoshu minzu shi da cidian 中國少數民族史大辭典 (Changchun: Jilin wenshi chubanshe), 2338.
Li Jianzhao 李鑑昭 (1957). "Guanyu Tu Ji he ta de Mengwu'er shiji 關於屠寄和他的“蒙兀兒史記”", Wen-shi-zhe 文史哲, 1957 (12).
Li Xueqin 李學勤, Lü Wenyu 呂文鬰, ed. (1996). Siku da cidian 四庫大辭典 (Changchun: Jilin daxue chubanshe), Vol. 1, 934.
Wang Ting 王頲 (1994). "Mengwu'er shiji 蒙兀兒史記", in Zhou Gucheng 周谷城, ed. Zhongguo xueshu mingzhu tiyao 中國學術名著提要, Vol. Lishi 歷史卷 (Shanghai: Fudan daxue chubanshe), 256.
Wu Feng 吳楓, ed. (1987). Jianming Zhongguo guji cidian 簡明中國古籍辭典 (Changchun: Jilin wenchi chubanshe), 877.
Zhou Weizhou 周偉洲, Ding Jingtai 丁景泰, ed. (2006). Sichou zhi lu da cidian 絲綢之路大辭典(Xi'an: Shaanxi renmin chubanshe), 770.