ABSTRACT
VERITABLE RECORDS Shi lu 實錄 A detailed chronological record of government activities based on the daily diaries of emperors kept by the History Office (known as qijuzhu ‘notes of activity and reopse') and on other central government archives. The shilu date from the Liang dynasty but only exist in fragmentary form until the Ming. The Ming shilu 明實錄 covering 13 emperors runs to around 3,000 juan 卷 and forms a rich source of material on political, military, economic, educational and social matters, natural calamities and court ceremonies. The shilu were produced for the previous emperor on the accession of a new emperor so they were not as much affected by the passage of time as the Dynastic Histories, nor did they suffer from dynastic rewriting. However, since the events they recorded were frequently of contemporary relevance they suffered from pressures to produce a record favourable to those in power. The similar Qing shilu 清 covers 11 emperors in over 4 ,300 ju a n . Charles GARDNER, C hinese Traditional H istoriography (Harvard U niversity Press, 1961);
University Press, 1961).
