Classical Chinese language

Anonymous, «Genealogy of the Mǎ Family, 馬民家记», manuscript, from the late Ming to early Qing dynasty, 6 volumes, volume 1, 102 pages, volume 2, 304 pages, volume 3, 242 pages, volume 4, 202 pages, volume 5, 100 pages, and volume 6, 178 pages, total 1128 pages, dated between 1600 and 1735, circa 1735.

Disclaimer

These comments has been writen based on my limited knowledge of Classical Chinese. As such, it may contain inaccuracies or errors. I apologize for any errors and welcome corrections from those more knowledgeable in the subject. It is important to note that, although the manuscript is written in Classical Chinese, some characters in theses comments are in Simplified Chinese.

Cover

• The title of the work on the cover is «馬民家记», where:
  • «民家记» means Genealogy, and
  • «馬» is Mǎ in pīnyīn, it is the family name, literally meaning Horse.
• The character «馬» is an ideogram, representing a galloping horse:
  • the head faces left,
  • three horizontal lines to the right of the head represent the mane blowing in the wind,
  • the four vertical strokes below represent the legs, and
  • the curved stroke at the bottom right symbolizes the tail.
• Beneath the title on the cover, we read, from top to bottom and right to left, as is typical in traditional Chinese: «六写全» where:
  • «六» means six,
  • «写» means book, it hasn't plural, books for us, and
  • «全» can be translated as complete.
  Therefore, an English editor might have titled it «Complete work in 6 volumes».

Four generations

The title might suggest it is just the family tree of the Mǎ family, but it is actually a chronicle of the history of a lineage over four generations. Therefore, although it is dated between 1600 and 1735, it is likely written closer to 1735.

The manuscript narrates the deeds and actions of four generations of the Mǎ family from the city of Liáoyáng in northeastern China:

• Great-grandfather: Mǎ Mingpei (1600–1666),
• Grandfather: Mǎ Xiongzhen (1634–1677),
• Father: Mǎ Shiji (1650–1714),
• Son: Mǎ Guozhen (1666–1720).

It seems to be a story of ascent and descent:

• The great-grandfather was a significant figure.
• The grandfather was even more prominent, eventually assassinated, and posthumously awarded titles and an honorary name, «Wenyi».
• The father and son, though important, did not reach the heights of their predecessors.

This manuscript contains official titles, title grants, imperial praises for their actions, historical events, and also the poetic and literary works of the four generations.

Scanned for readability by Westerners

The correspondence between these 6 volumes and the 9 scaned PDF files is as follows:

• Volume 1: PDF 1.
• Volume 2: PDF 2 and PDF 3.
• Volume 3: PDF 4 and PDF 5.
• Volume 4: PDF 6 and PDF 7.
• Volume 5: PDF 8.
• Volume 6: PDF 9.

These 9 PDF files are the result of scanning the book, dividing volumes with many pages into 2 PDF files.

The Chinese books are read: from back to front, from right to left, and from top to bottom.

The scanning process was done so that what would be the last pages of the book for us, and the first for the Chinese, are at the beginning of the PDF. The pages are scanned in pairs to be readable by Westerners: starting from page 2-1, read from right to left, with 1 blank, and continuing 4-3, 6-5, 8-9... until the end of the PDF file.

The Chinese script used in this manuscript is clear and legible compared to other documents from that era.

Pages

6 volumes:

• volume 1, 51*2 = 102 pages,
• volume 2, 65*2+87*2 = 304 pages,
• volume 3, 66*2+55*2 = 242 pages,
• volume 4, 48*2+53*2 = 202 pages,
• volume 5, 50*2 = 100 pages, and
• volume 6, 89*2 = 178 pages,

total 102+304+242+202+100+178 = 1128 pages.

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Bibliographical reference of century XVI.

Classification: Manuscript, Classical Chinese language and In black and white.

Author: unknown.

External resources:

• Library of the Congress.
• Volume 2, initial part.
• Volume 2, final part.
• Volume 3, initial part.
• Volume 3, final part.
• Volume 4, initial part.
• Volume 4, final part.
• Volume 5.
• Volume 6.

Internal resources: MaFamiliaXVIII.01a.tapas.pdf Volume 1 PDF format, MaFamiliaXVIII.02a.tapas.pdf Volume 2, initial part, PDF format, MaFamiliaXVIII.02b.pdf Volume 2, final part, PDF format, MaFamiliaXVIII.03a.tapas.pdf Volume 3, initial part, PDF format, MaFamiliaXVIII.03b.pdf Volume 3, final part, PDF format, MaFamiliaXVIII.04a.tapas.pdf Volume 4, initial part, PDF format, MaFamiliaXVIII.04b.pdf Volume 4, final part, PDF format, MaFamiliaXVIII.05a.tapas.pdf Volume 5 PDF format and MaFamiliaXVIII.06a.tapas.pdf Volume 6 PDF format.

---

Bibliographical reference of century XVI.

Classification: Manuscript, Classical Chinese language and In black and white.

Author: unknown.

External resources:

• Library of the Congress.
• Volume 2, initial part.
• Volume 2, final part.
• Volume 3, initial part.
• Volume 3, final part.
• Volume 4, initial part.
• Volume 4, final part.
• Volume 5.
• Volume 6.

Internal resources: MaFamiliaXVIII.01a.tapas.pdf Volume 1 PDF format, MaFamiliaXVIII.02a.tapas.pdf Volume 2, initial part, PDF format, MaFamiliaXVIII.02b.pdf Volume 2, final part, PDF format, MaFamiliaXVIII.03a.tapas.pdf Volume 3, initial part, PDF format, MaFamiliaXVIII.03b.pdf Volume 3, final part, PDF format, MaFamiliaXVIII.04a.tapas.pdf Volume 4, initial part, PDF format, MaFamiliaXVIII.04b.pdf Volume 4, final part, PDF format, MaFamiliaXVIII.05a.tapas.pdf Volume 5 PDF format and MaFamiliaXVIII.06a.tapas.pdf Volume 6 PDF format.