Toktoghan (Mongolian: Тогтох, Chinese: 脱脱 tuotuo, 1314年－1355年), also call "The Great Historian Tuotuo", was a Yuan dynasty official historian. In the very late years of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), he lead a team of officials to quickly compile the Chinese historical books about previous dynasties. The immense work was done in some few years, which caused a lack of proofreading and textual criticism.[1]
Some Chinese scholars of the time argued that Khitans being formerly non-Chinese barbarians, their Liao Dynasty didn't deserve to get a compiled standard official history.[1] Due to the dispute over whether Liao Dynasty should be considered a legitimate dynasty, the Liao Shi was not officially compiled until 1342-1343, when the Chancellor Tuotuo of the Yuan Dynasty finally decided to treat both Liao, Jin, and Song dynasties as legitimate dynasties. The compilation of the Liao Shi was finished in one year[1] by highly skilled imperial historians, but without elaborate proofreading and textual criticism.[1] Because of this double time and support lacking context, the Liao Shi is renowned for its inferiority, technical errors, naiveness, lack of precision, over-lapsing and self-contradictions. The team had not the suitable context to provide a deep analysis, and audacious comments.[1]
Notes
- ^ a b c d e Xu Elina-Qian, p.22
See also
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