"Records of the Chongzhen Dynasty" is a chronicle of historical materials in the late Ming Dynasty. It was compiled and compiled by Li Xunzhi, a historian in the Qing Dynasty. This book is taken from the Chongzhen Dynasty part of his long historical material "Records of the Three Dynasties" and is organized into a separate and systematic chapter. Li Xunzhi, courtesy name Fugong, was born in Jiangyin, Changzhou Prefecture, Nanzhili Province. He was a historian in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. His father Li Yingsheng was a member of the Donglin Party and was killed by Wei Zhongxian's followers. In the first year of Chongzhen's reign, he was rehabilitated. Li Xun later regarded himself as a survivor of the Ming Dynasty and concentrated on history. He wrote historical materials such as "The Wild Records of the Three Dynasties". The book was written in the 10th year of the reign of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty, nearly 30 years after the fall of the Northern Capital of the Ming Dynasty. Its historical materials and discussions have been evaluated by later generations as being honest and fair, and it is one of the important texts for the study of the history of the late Ming Dynasty.
The entire book "Records of the Chongzhen Dynasty" uses a chronological framework as a chronological framework to record the central political affairs, movements of the government and the public, military affairs, and social changes of the Chongzhen Dynasty (1628-1644) in an orderly manner. It narrates the key nodes from the beginning of Emperor Chongzhen's accession to the end of the country until the fall of the country. The book not only contains official historical materials such as imperial memorials, government decrees, appointment and dismissal of officials, but also intersperses anecdotes and records collected by the author from newspapers, hearings, and collections of various scholars. It aims to write down the truth and strives to be impartial, neither false nor false, and provides a relatively comprehensive historical profile for later generations.
For modern readers and historians, Chronicle of the Chongzhen Dynasty is an important historical material for understanding the political collapse, power struggle, military-political imbalance and social crisis in the late Ming Dynasty. Compared with official history, it pays more attention to detailed descriptions and a sense of the scene, allowing people to observe the political ecology and social mentality of that era through actual events and daily records. It is an indispensable basic reference for studying the historical changes in the Chongzhen period.
