This Is How You Should Read History Closely: Gu Cheng's Collected Works on Ming and Qing History (Three-Volume Set)

A collection by Gu Cheng, a leading figure in the rigorous verification of historical facts and an internationally renowned authority on Ming and Qing history. Author of A History of the Southern Ming and A History of the Peasant War at the End of the Ming, he was hailed as an “academic ascetic.” Did Li Yan, the general under Li Zicheng, actually never exist? Was Shen Wansan, supposedly “the richest man of the Ming dynasty,” actually a man of the Yuan dynasty? Behind these startling claims lies Gu Cheng’s meticulous sifting of historical sources and exceptionally rigorous reasoning. For example, when writing his essay “Questioning Li Yan,” he consulted not only various archives and collected works, but more than a thousand local gazetteers, concluding that Li Yan, despite being mentioned in numerous historical texts, was a fictional figure. In “An Examination of Shen Wansan and His Family,” he points out that various sources, including the History of the Ming, contain errors, and that Shen Wansan, supposedly “the richest man of the Ming dynasty,” was actually from the Yuan dynasty. His essays “A New Study of Cultivated Land Area in the Early Ming,” “Changes to the Guard-Battalion System in the Qing Dynasty,” “Territorial Administration in the Ming Empire,” and “On Military Household Registration in the Ming Dynasty” have earned an unshakable place as classics in their field for their groundbreaking contributions. Open this book and let Gu Cheng, a leading figure in rigorous historical research, guide you through exhaustive sources, probing every detail, testing every claim, and questioning again and again.