Ngô Sĩ Liên
Encyclopedia
Ngô Sĩ Liên was an historian of the Lê Dynasty
. He is best known for being the principal compiler of the Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư, a comprehensive chronicle of the history of Vietnam
and the oldest official historical record of a Vietnamese dynasty that remains today. In Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư, Ngô Sĩ Liên is appreciated not only for the precision of his records but also for the innovative method of compilation, he was the first Vietnamese writer who extracted information for historical book from collections of myths and legends such as Lĩnh Nam chính quái or Việt điện u linh tập. Until now, Ngô Sĩ Liên is always considered one of the most important figures of the historiography of Vietnam.
of Lê Lợi that led to the retreat of the Ming Dynasty
and the foundation of the Lê Dynasty
in Vietnam. In the 1442 imperial examination
under the rule of Lê Thái Tông
, Ngô Sĩ Liên gained the title Doctorate (Tiến sĩ) and thus became an official in the royal court of three successive emperors Lê Thái Tông (1434–1442), Lê Nhân Tông
(1442–1459) and Lê Thánh Tông
(1460–1497), during the latter's reign, Ngô Sĩ Liên was appointed Director of the National Bureau for Historical Record (Viện Quốc sử) in 1473. According to some sources, Ngô Sĩ Liên lived up to the age of 99, therefore he was likely born around 1400 and died during the late period of Lê Thánh Tông's reign. Ngô Sĩ Liên was born and grew up during a turbulent period of Vietnam with the collapse of the Trần Dynasty, the Fourth Chinese domination by the Ming Dynasty
, the Lam Sơn uprising, the coronation of Lê Lợi and several struggles in the royal family of the Lê Dynasty. Besides, Ngô Sĩ Liên also witnessed the gradual predomination of the Confucianism
over the Buddhism
in the royal court, especially during the reign of Lê Thánh Tông, it was the context in which Ngô Sĩ Liên wrote his Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư.
of Lê Văn Hưu
and Đại Việt sử ký tục biên of Phan Phu Tiên. During the reign of Lê Thánh Tông, the emperor had commissioned his historians to write an official chronicle for the dynasty in the Quang Thuận period (1460–1469), this work was later lost but after Thánh Tông's order, Ngô Sĩ Liên, a member of the board of compilation, wrote his own version in 1479 which was finally resulted in the Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư. The fact that Ngô Sĩ Liên decided to write his own national history despite the existence of the official records might be explained by Ngô Sĩ Liên's intention of expressing his opinions in the book just as Lê Văn Hưu did with his Đại Việt sử ký instead of satisfying with only an objective narration of the official records. Some reasoned that Ngô Sĩ Liên compiled the Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư because he felt the need to promote Cofucian ideology in the Lê Dynasty.
Ngô Sĩ Liên's style of compilation showed an important influence from Sima Guang
, the author of the Zizhi Tongjian
. Different than his Vietnamese predecessors, Ngô Sĩ Liên did not limit his references in official documents related to history but he also extracted information from Việt điện u linh tập (Compilation of the potent spirits in the Realm of Việt) and Lĩnh Nam chính quái (Extraordinary stories of Lĩnh Nam) which were collections of folk legend and myth but considered by the historian having some credibility about history. Another innovation of Ngô Sĩ Liên is his division of history of Vietnam into two principal periods, he placed all events that happened before the establishment of the Đinh Dynasty in Peripheral Records (Ngoại kỷ) while the independent time from the Đinh Dynasty (10th century) to the creation of the Lê Dynasty in 1482 was narrated in Basic Records (Bản kỷ). In addition, Ngô Sĩ Liên also compiled another three records for the reigns of Lê Thái Tổ, Lê Thái Tông and Lê Nhân Tông (1428–1459) in a separate volume named Tam triều bản kỷ (Records of the Three Reigns).
From his extensive 72 comments in Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư, Ngô Sĩ Liên appeared to be a Neo-Confucianist
scholar. He often quoted from Cofucian literature in criticizing an event or a decision of the previous dynasties that, according to Ngô Sĩ Liên, did not follow the Confucian codes for an appropriate ruling institution. According to O. W. Wolters, Ngô Sĩ Liên respected the Confucianist perspective to the extend that the highest praise he could lavish on a Vietnamese ruler was that his achievements could not be bettered by even the most famous Chinese emperors in antiquity. However, the criticism and often harsh remarks of Ngô Sĩ Liên towards previous dynasties, especially the Trần Dynasty, could be understood as the historian's concern for the current dynasty, because the Lê Dynasty would fall into collapse unless it could avoid the mistakes that were committed by its predecessors like the Trần Dynasty. Besides, the historian paid attention in defining the identity of the nation, a typical example of this intention was the existence of the Hồng Bàng Dynasty in Peripheral Records, Ngô Sĩ Liên's introduction of this dynasty was challenged by several historians for the lack of information and the real motive of the historian in writing about Hùng Kings. Some remarked that Ngô Sĩ Liên made Hồng Bàng Dynasty the first dynasty of Vietnam only because he wanted to emphasize the identity and the independence of Vietnam from China
.
to praise the achievements of the historian. Several streets, schools and other places in Vietnam are named in honour of Ngô Sĩ Liên.
Lê Dynasty
The Later Lê Dynasty , sometimes referred to as the Lê Dynasty was the longest-ruling dynasty of Vietnam, ruling the country from 1428 to 1788, with a brief interruption....
. He is best known for being the principal compiler of the Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư, a comprehensive chronicle of the history of Vietnam
History of Vietnam
The history of Vietnam covers a period of more than 2,700 years. By far Vietnam's most important historical international relationship has been with China. Vietnam's prehistory includes a legend about a kingdom known as Van Lang that included what is now China's Guangxi Autonomous Region and...
and the oldest official historical record of a Vietnamese dynasty that remains today. In Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư, Ngô Sĩ Liên is appreciated not only for the precision of his records but also for the innovative method of compilation, he was the first Vietnamese writer who extracted information for historical book from collections of myths and legends such as Lĩnh Nam chính quái or Việt điện u linh tập. Until now, Ngô Sĩ Liên is always considered one of the most important figures of the historiography of Vietnam.
History
The exact dates of Ngô Sĩ Liên's birth and date are unknown but it was said that he was born in the Đan Sĩ village, Hà Đông, Hanoi. In his youth, Ngô Sĩ Liên participated in the Lam Sơn uprisingLam Sơn uprising
In 1405 the Chinese Ming Dynasty invaded Dai Viet in northern Vietnam on the pretext of settling a succession dispute. Within a year the previously independent kingdom had been reduced to a province of China...
of Lê Lợi that led to the retreat of the Ming Dynasty
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
and the foundation of the Lê Dynasty
Lê Dynasty
The Later Lê Dynasty , sometimes referred to as the Lê Dynasty was the longest-ruling dynasty of Vietnam, ruling the country from 1428 to 1788, with a brief interruption....
in Vietnam. In the 1442 imperial examination
Imperial examination
The Imperial examination was an examination system in Imperial China designed to select the best administrative officials for the state's bureaucracy. This system had a huge influence on both society and culture in Imperial China and was directly responsible for the creation of a class of...
under the rule of Lê Thái Tông
Lê Thái Tông
Lê Thái Tông was an emperor of Vietnam from 1438 till his early death four years later.- Biography :...
, Ngô Sĩ Liên gained the title Doctorate (Tiến sĩ) and thus became an official in the royal court of three successive emperors Lê Thái Tông (1434–1442), Lê Nhân Tông
Le Nhan Tong
Lê Nhân Tông was king of Vietnam from 1453 till his murder in a coup. He was a grandson of the hero-king Le Loi. During nearly all of his short reign, the real power behind the throne was his mother, Nguyen Thi Anh....
(1442–1459) and Lê Thánh Tông
Lê Thánh Tông
Lê Thánh Tông was emperor of Đại Việt from 1460 until his death. He is generally regarded as one of the greatest emperors of Vietnamese history and the Vietnamese "Hammurabi."-Early years:...
(1460–1497), during the latter's reign, Ngô Sĩ Liên was appointed Director of the National Bureau for Historical Record (Viện Quốc sử) in 1473. According to some sources, Ngô Sĩ Liên lived up to the age of 99, therefore he was likely born around 1400 and died during the late period of Lê Thánh Tông's reign. Ngô Sĩ Liên was born and grew up during a turbulent period of Vietnam with the collapse of the Trần Dynasty, the Fourth Chinese domination by the Ming Dynasty
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
, the Lam Sơn uprising, the coronation of Lê Lợi and several struggles in the royal family of the Lê Dynasty. Besides, Ngô Sĩ Liên also witnessed the gradual predomination of the Confucianism
Confucianism
Confucianism is a Chinese ethical and philosophical system developed from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius . Confucianism originated as an "ethical-sociopolitical teaching" during the Spring and Autumn Period, but later developed metaphysical and cosmological elements in the Han...
over the Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
in the royal court, especially during the reign of Lê Thánh Tông, it was the context in which Ngô Sĩ Liên wrote his Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư.
Works
Ngô Sĩ Liên's major work is the historical record Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư, a 15-volume (quyển) book that he compiled in revising Đại Việt sử kýĐại Việt sử ký
The Đại Việt sử ký is the official historical text of the Trần Dynasty, that was compiled by the royal historian Lê Văn Hưu and was finished in 1272...
of Lê Văn Hưu
Lê Văn Hưu
Lê Văn Hưu was an historian of the Trần Dynasty. He is best known for his work the Đại Việt sử ký, the first comprehensive historical record of the history of Vietnam...
and Đại Việt sử ký tục biên of Phan Phu Tiên. During the reign of Lê Thánh Tông, the emperor had commissioned his historians to write an official chronicle for the dynasty in the Quang Thuận period (1460–1469), this work was later lost but after Thánh Tông's order, Ngô Sĩ Liên, a member of the board of compilation, wrote his own version in 1479 which was finally resulted in the Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư. The fact that Ngô Sĩ Liên decided to write his own national history despite the existence of the official records might be explained by Ngô Sĩ Liên's intention of expressing his opinions in the book just as Lê Văn Hưu did with his Đại Việt sử ký instead of satisfying with only an objective narration of the official records. Some reasoned that Ngô Sĩ Liên compiled the Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư because he felt the need to promote Cofucian ideology in the Lê Dynasty.
Ngô Sĩ Liên's style of compilation showed an important influence from Sima Guang
Sima Guang
Sīmǎ Guāng was a Chinese historian, scholar, and high chancellor of the Song Dynasty, jinshi 1038.-Life, profession, and works:...
, the author of the Zizhi Tongjian
Zizhi Tongjian
The Zizhi Tongjian was a pioneering reference work in Chinese historiography, published in 1084, under the form of a chronicles. In 1065 CE, Emperor Yingzong of Song ordered the great historian Sima Guang to lead with other scholars such as his chief assistants Liu Shu, Liu Ban and Fan Zuyu, the...
. Different than his Vietnamese predecessors, Ngô Sĩ Liên did not limit his references in official documents related to history but he also extracted information from Việt điện u linh tập (Compilation of the potent spirits in the Realm of Việt) and Lĩnh Nam chính quái (Extraordinary stories of Lĩnh Nam) which were collections of folk legend and myth but considered by the historian having some credibility about history. Another innovation of Ngô Sĩ Liên is his division of history of Vietnam into two principal periods, he placed all events that happened before the establishment of the Đinh Dynasty in Peripheral Records (Ngoại kỷ) while the independent time from the Đinh Dynasty (10th century) to the creation of the Lê Dynasty in 1482 was narrated in Basic Records (Bản kỷ). In addition, Ngô Sĩ Liên also compiled another three records for the reigns of Lê Thái Tổ, Lê Thái Tông and Lê Nhân Tông (1428–1459) in a separate volume named Tam triều bản kỷ (Records of the Three Reigns).
From his extensive 72 comments in Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư, Ngô Sĩ Liên appeared to be a Neo-Confucianist
Neo-Confucianism
Neo-Confucianism is an ethical and metaphysical Chinese philosophy influenced by Confucianism, that was primarily developed during the Song Dynasty and Ming Dynasty, but which can be traced back to Han Yu and Li Ao in the Tang Dynasty....
scholar. He often quoted from Cofucian literature in criticizing an event or a decision of the previous dynasties that, according to Ngô Sĩ Liên, did not follow the Confucian codes for an appropriate ruling institution. According to O. W. Wolters, Ngô Sĩ Liên respected the Confucianist perspective to the extend that the highest praise he could lavish on a Vietnamese ruler was that his achievements could not be bettered by even the most famous Chinese emperors in antiquity. However, the criticism and often harsh remarks of Ngô Sĩ Liên towards previous dynasties, especially the Trần Dynasty, could be understood as the historian's concern for the current dynasty, because the Lê Dynasty would fall into collapse unless it could avoid the mistakes that were committed by its predecessors like the Trần Dynasty. Besides, the historian paid attention in defining the identity of the nation, a typical example of this intention was the existence of the Hồng Bàng Dynasty in Peripheral Records, Ngô Sĩ Liên's introduction of this dynasty was challenged by several historians for the lack of information and the real motive of the historian in writing about Hùng Kings. Some remarked that Ngô Sĩ Liên made Hồng Bàng Dynasty the first dynasty of Vietnam only because he wanted to emphasize the identity and the independence of Vietnam from China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
.
Legacy
Today, Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư is the oldest official historical record of a Vietnamese dynasty that remains in its original form while Ngô Sĩ Liên is always considered one of the most important figures of the historiography of Vietnam. He is venerated in his native village where people, during the reign of Tự Đức, erected a steleStele
A stele , also stela , is a stone or wooden slab, generally taller than it is wide, erected for funerals or commemorative purposes, most usually decorated with the names and titles of the deceased or living — inscribed, carved in relief , or painted onto the slab...
to praise the achievements of the historian. Several streets, schools and other places in Vietnam are named in honour of Ngô Sĩ Liên.