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The first study of the Ming historical novels written from a historian's perspective
Yu Hyongwon (1622-1673; pen name, Pan'gye), a recluse scholar, responded to this time of chaos and uncertainty by writing his modestly titled Pan'gye surok (The Jottings of Pan'gye), a virtual encyclopedia of Confucian statecraft, designed to support his plan for a revived and reformed Korean system of government.
This first volume of studies by Professor Pulleyblank opens with an abridged version of his inaugural lecture at Cambridge, on Chinese history and world history. The next pieces look at the historiography of Tang China, and more broadly at Chinese attitudes to the writing of history and the critical methods that were employed. The An Lushan rebellion (755CE) forms an important focal point in the book, with studies on the racial background of the rebel and the impact of the rebellion on governmental systems, as well as on the intellectual history of the period. A further article examines the system of population registration in Tang China and its bearing on the interpretation of population statistics, while the final item goes outside the Tang to discuss the origins and role of slavery as a legal institution in China.