ChinaKnowledge.de -
An Encyclopaedia on Chinese History and Literature

Pingwulu 平吳錄

Aug 16, 2019 © Ulrich Theobald

The text Pingwulu 平吳錄, full title Huang-Ming pingwu lu 皇明平吳錄, describes the war of Zhu Yuanzhang 朱元璋 (Ming Taizu 明太祖, 1368-1398), eventual founder of the Ming dynasty 明 (1368-1644), against a competitor, Zhang Shicheng 張士誠 (1321-1367), who adopted the title of emperor of Zhou 周 (r. 1354-1357), then king of Wu 吳 (1363-1367).

The author of the book in not known. An afterword compiled by Yuan Jiong 袁褧 says it was written by Wu Kuan 吳寬 (1435-1504, Wu Wendinggong 吳文定公). The book catalogue Qianqingtang shumu 千頃堂書目 lists a book with the title Pingwulu as written by Huang Biao 黃標. It is quoted in Lu Ji's 陸楫 (1515-1552) book Gujin shuohai 古今說海, from where it can be seen that the two texts are not identical.

The book describes the events between 1353 and 1366, but does not provide information not found in other texts, barring an imperial military proclamation (shuxi 書檄) which is quoted in full and not cited elsewhere.

The Pingwulu is described in the book catalogue Siku quanshu zongmu tiyao 四庫全書總目提要, Cunmu 存目 section and is included in the series Xuxiu siku quanshu 續修四庫全書.

Source:
Siku quanshu zongmu tiyao 四庫全書總目提要, 53.