History and biography in modern China

Abstract

This thesis is a study of history and biography in modern China. It is historiographical in focus, examining one way in which the writing of history has changed during the course of the twentieth century. As a biographical perspective was central to traditional Chinese historical writing, such a study of the relationship of biography and history can help reveal what it is that distinguishes modern historical writing from the tradition out of which it has emerged. The first chapter looks at the origins of biographical writing in China, the traditional relationship between biography and history, and the dominance of a biographical perspective on the past. Chapter Two provides an assessment of how that traditional relationship between history and biography changed during the early twentieth century, the transition from the traditional practice of biographical history to the writing of modern historical biographies. Chapter Three then looks in detail at the work of Zhu Dongrun, at his views on what modern biography should be and at his biography of the late Ming scholar and statesman Zhang Juzheng. In Chapter Four the focus shifts to a consideration of the re-evaluation of biography and of the role of the individual in history during the early years of the People's Republic. Chapter Five is devoted to the historical and biographical writing of Wu Han, and, in particular, to the way political changes influenced his biography of the first Ming emperor Zhu Yuanzhang. Finally, in the Epilogue, brief consideration is given to the revival of biographical writing during the 1980s. By exploring the evolving relationship between history and biography, it is hoped that this thesis will contribute to an appreciation of how modem Chinese have reshaped their past in order to give it new significance.