First Historical Archives of China

The First Historical Archives of China (SHAC, Chinese: 中国第一历史档案馆) is home to many historical documents managed by the National Archives Administration of China.^[1][2] The First Historical Archives of China is located in Beijing and has China's central government archives of Ming and Qing dynasties.

Collection overview The archives keep 74 fonds of Ming and Qing historical archives, about 10 million pieces (volumes), of which more than 3,000 are Ming Dynasty archives, and most of the rest are Qing Dynasty archives. Among the archives in the collection, Chinese archives account for about 80%, Manchu archives account for about 20%, Mongolian archives account for more than 50,000 pieces (volumes), and a small number of archives in other ethnic languages, as well as foreign countries such as Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and Japan. Text file [4] . Ming Dynasty Archives As the Ming Dynasty burned the palace offices when it perished, a large number of Ming Dynasty archives were reduced to ashes. Later, the Qing government ordered the destruction of the Ming Dynasty archives many times, and the archives kept by the Jiageku and the Nanming court were all destroyed. The Daxing writing prisons in the Qing Dynasty also destroyed a large number of Ming Dynasty books and archives. To sum up the reasons, the archives of the Ming Dynasty remaining in the world can be described as very few. The more than 3,000 pieces (volumes) of Ming Dynasty archives kept in China's First Historical Archives were collected after Emperor Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty to supplement the insufficiency of the "Ming History". The time period was from the 4th year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty to the 17th year of Chongzhen. Including archives of 11 dynasties including Hongwu, Yongle, Xuande, Chenghua, Zhengde, Jiajing, Longqing, Wanli, Taichang, Tianqi, and Chongzhen. The main types of languages ​​are: edict, proposition, title book, memorial, title manuscript, unveiling post, submission, essay, open version, manuscript, essay, payment, map, contract, tax receipt, household registration, etc. The collections of precious Ming Dynasty archives mainly include: the earliest existing Ming Dynasty archives-"Hukou Form", "Selling Land Deed" (1371), the earliest surviving emperor's edict-"Yongle Edict", the largest preserved in China, the date The oldest and most complete map of the ancient world drawn by the Chinese themselves—"Da Ming Mixture Picture", etc. [4] . Qing Dynasty Archives After foreign powers invaded, looted and burned in the late Qing Dynasty, as well as the regime change and war destruction during the period of the Beiyang warlords and the Kuomintang, the Qing Dynasty archives loss was also quite serious. According to incomplete statistics, the total number of Qing Dynasty archives kept in public institutions and private hands at home and abroad is less than 20 million (volumes). 1. File content. The 10 million Qing Dynasty archives preserved by China's First Historical Archives are document archives formed more than 300 years from the nine years before the Qing Dynasty entered the customs (1607) to the three years of Xuantong (1911). The latest file is the edict on the abdication of Emperor Xuantong on December 25th (February 12, 1911) of Xuantong three years. In addition, it also includes the archives formed between 1921 and 1931 after Puyi abdicated, such as the "Sunnah" of Dezong compiled by the Xuantong imperial court in the 13th year of Xuantong (1921). The contents of the archives cover many aspects of Qing Dynasty politics, economy, military, culture, art, ethnicity, religion, diplomacy, science and technology, astronomy, geography, meteorology, major events, important ordinances, important historical figures, etc. It is a research and compilation First-hand valuable information on contemporary history. 2. File fonds. The archives preserved in the Qing Dynasty are divided into 73 fonds according to the institutions formed by the archives. Among them, the archives of the cabinet and the fonds of the Ministry of Internal Affairs each have more than 1 million (volumes), and the archives of the Military Aircraft Department, the Palace, the Clan Mansion, and the Ministry of Criminal Affairs and the Ministry of Justice each have more than 500,000 (volumes). The above six Daquan records account for more than 80% of all Qing Dynasty archives in the collection. Other fonds range from hundreds of thousands (volumes) to dozens (volumes). The smallest file fond is Shangyu Reserve File, only one file. 3. File type. The Qing Dynasty was a feudal country with a centralized and authoritarian system. The imperial power was supreme, and the affairs of the country were all handled directly by the emperor. Therefore, the archives formed around the emperor’s activities constitute the core of the national archives. There are as many as 100 languages, which can be roughly divided into five parts: One is the emperor’s command documents (downstream): system, edict , Gao, edict, decree, decree, Zhuyu, Tingji, Jinbang, etc.; the second is the memorial report (upstream) of minister workers: title, memorial, table, note, submission, open book, manuscript, book article, pond Newspapers, revealing posts, yellow books, township association test records, telegrams, notes, etc.; the third is the exchange documents between various yamen and countries (parallel texts): consultation, report, transfer, transfer, notification, note, national letter , Treaties, contracts, letters, letters, films, lines, bows, knots, lists, etc.; the fourth is official historian records and official revision of historical records: personal notes, veritable records, hadiths, conventions, chronicles, strategies, chronicles, history books, etc.; The fifth is the archives of the royal family and the royal family: jade, Xingyuan Jiqing, yellow records, royal records, inventory, archives, etc. The precious Qing dynasty archives in the collection mainly include: "Records", "Hadiths", "Meetings", "Shangyu Archives", "Living Notes", Emperor Daoguang's Secret Storage Box, "The Complete Map of the Jinsha River", and "Treasure Book" ", "Golden List", "Hong Xiuquan's Edict", "Old Manchu Documents", etc. The "Memory of the World Project" initiated by UNESCO is aimed at protecting the world's cultural heritage, especially the documentary heritage that is on the verge of disappearing. The Manchu Secret Book and Qing Dynasty Jinbang in our collection were successfully selected into the Memory of the World Project in 1999 and 2005, and were listed in the Memory of the World Heritage List [4] .

References[]

Sources[]

• First Historical Archives of China, Eugenio Menegon, Zhang Xianqing 2002.

External links[]

• Official website

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