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An Encyclopaedia on Chinese History and Literature
Nianpu 年譜 are biographies organised in a strict chronological order (years and months), and can therefore be called "annalistic biographies". They often serve as research tools for narrative biographies (zhuanji 傳記), and are sometimes even preferred over the latter because of the easier access to facts in this kind of "curriculum vitae". The person whose life events are reported is called puzhu 譜主, meaning "master" or "subject" of the list.
Nianpu include details about family background, places of residence, success in state examinations, official careers, books and publications, but also private matters such as friendly relations. Chinese scholars made extensive use of nianpu biographies, and for all notable figures in Chinese history and literature, nianpu have been written. Some few nianpu are even autobiographical (like Zhao Guang's 趙光 Zhao Wenkegong ziding nianpu 趙文恪公自訂年譜 [the name Wenkegong was added posthumously]), or were at least authored by descendants of the individual in question.
Not all nianpu biographies include the word nianpu in the title. Hu Zi's 胡仔 (1110-1170) biography of Confucius, for instance, is called Kongzi biannian 孔子編年. In more recent times, the term nianpu is even used for biographies of a more narrative type.
The earliest nianpu date from the Song period 宋 (960-1279): Lü Dafang's 呂大防 (1027-1097) Han libu Wengong ji nianpu 韓吏部文公集年譜 (biography of the philosopher and writer Han Yu 韓愈, 768-824), Zhan Zili's 趙子櫟 (fl. 1123) Du Gongbu nianpu 杜工部年譜 (biography of the writer Du Fu 杜甫, 712-770); and Cheng Fuxin's 程複心 (1258-1341) Mengzi nianpu 孟子年譜 from the Yuan period 元 (1279-1368), that is a biography of the ancient philosopher Meng Ke 孟軻 (Mengzi 孟子). The genre of nianpu biographies flourished during the Qing period 清 (1644-1911).