A three-day seminar concerning the
compilation on the history of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) opened
in Beijing Monday morning with more than 40 noted scholars,
researchers and experts across the Taiwan Straits attending.
The type of literature and the stylistic rules of the Qing dynastic
history will be the focus of the seminar, which is the tenth of its
kind since the compilation work started at the end of 2002.
To set the type of literature and
the stylistic rules of the Qing dynastic history is "the most
urgent task at present," said Prof. Dai Yi, director of the Qing
dynastic history compilation commission and history professor of
the People's University of China.
Dai Jinxin, an eminent history
professor of Taiwan's Fujen Catholic University, said the
compilation was vital for Chinese history.
Traditionally, every Chinese dynasty
had its history compiled by the next dynasty, which makes China the
only country in the world that has a series of continuous dynastic
histories, ending with the Ming dynasty (1368-1644).
With the Qing dynastic history left
untold, many experts since the founding of new China in 1949 have
repeatedly urged the work be compiled.
Prof. Ji Xianlin, a prestigious
Chinese scholar, raised the issue again in April 2001 with the
central government. The central government and the State Council
decided to start the project last August.
The compilation project is expected
to last ten years and will cover a 30 million-word dynastic history
and other documentary works.
(Xinhua News Agency August 26,
2003)