Historical Studies (Chinese Edition)

No.6, 2017

 

A General Study on the Singapore Copy of Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji) (Abstract)

 

Li Ping

 

The National University of Singapore’s Chinese library has a complete and very ancient handwritten manuscript copy of Sima Qian’s Records of the Grand Historian. The paper on which its preface is written is a rare cultural relic: paper for transcribing the Buddhist scriptures from Faxi Temple of Haiyan county, Zhejiang. The preface was composed and its text handwritten by Gu Dingchen, the Grand Secretary and calligrapher in the Ming dynasty Jiajing reign period. Gu’s preface accords high praise to the calligraphic style and form (the regular script) of the main body of the text, which has been confirmed as being the work of the great Ming calligrapher Jiang Ligang. Jiang served as Deputy Minister of the Imperial Stud, and was engaged in and in charge of copying important court documents, including imperial edicts, in the Tianshun, Chenghua and Hongzhi reign periods. The transcription, comprising more than 500000 characters, is representative of calligraphy in this format. Differing systematically from other copies of Records of the Grand Historian, this copy constitutes a “new edition” that has never been part of the numerous previous textual amendments and collations. Collectors’ seals show that it went from the Ming capital, Beijing, to Singapore via the Jiangnan and Lingnan areas, in a journey that has classic significance for the history of Sino-foreign cultural exchange. The transcription is not only an artistic masterpiece of Chinese calligraphy, but also of great significance for research on ancient documents, philology, Sino-foreign cultural exchanges, and even the manufacture of handmade paper.