The Ming court's official history of Mongol rule in China, compiled in 1369 to 1370 from Yuan state records.
Full title History of the Yuan (210 juan): Taizu benji (juan 1, annals of Chinggis Khan) and Dili zhi (juan 58-63, treatise on geography, including the Mongol homeland and the Western Regions)
When the Ming drove the Mongol Yuan dynasty out of China, the new court ordered Song Lian and a team of scholars to write its official history, which they did in a hurry in 1369 to 1370 from the Yuan veritable records and archives. The annals of Chinggis Khan (juan 1) give a dated framework for his rise, and the treatise on geography (juan 58 to 63) describes the provinces of the empire, including Lingbei (Mongolia with Karakorum) and the peoples of southern Siberia. The corpus holds poor CADAL scans and the full Kanseki Repository transcription of the Siku quanshu manuscript copy, which is quoted here.
How they knew
Official record
Who “Tartar” means here
In the passages read here the Yuan shi calls the Mongols 'Mongols' (蒙古) and uses Tatar (塔塔兒, spelled 塔塔爾 in this copy) for the Tatar tribe that Chinggis's father fought, not for the Mongols as a whole.
Why read it
It is the Chinese state record of the Mongol empire, and it treats Karakorum as a real capital with walls and a palace and describes Siberian forest peoples in birch-bark tents.
Watch out
Hastily compiled and sometimes repetitive. This Siku copy (1770s to 1780s) systematically re-spells Mongol names (和琳 for 和林 Karakorum, 竒爾濟蘇 for 吉利吉思 Kyrgyz, 特穆津 for 鐵木真 Temujin), so older prints show different forms. Translations are working translations.
Editorial contextThe geography treatise explains that the Lingbei capital took its name, Helin (Karakorum), from the Qara Qorum river to its west. Chinggis made it his capital in 1220 and it remained the capital of five reigns. A small-character note adds that Ogedei walled the city and built the Wan'an palace in 1235, and goes on to list more halls outside the city built in 1237 and 1238. Khubilai moved the capital to Dadu (Beijing) in 1260.
[Hening circuit] was first called Helin; because west of it is the Halahelin (Qara Qorum) river, the city was named after it. In the fifteenth year of Taizu (Chinggis), having pacified the prefectures north of the Yellow River, he established his capital here. At first Yuanchang circuit was set up, later changed to the Helin Transport Commission. It was the capital for five successive reigns. (In the yiwei year of Taizong [Ogedei, 1235] Helin was walled and the Wan'an palace built.)
The Siku copy writes 和琳 for the usual 和林. The words 'Taizu established his capital here' in 1220 are the history's claim; the annals date the building of the walls and palace to 1235.
Birch-bark tents and reindeer in the Siberian forests
Editorial contextThe note on the Kyrgyz lands of the upper Yenisei describes a forest people whose poor lived in tents of birch bark, loaded their goods on white deer (reindeer), drank deer milk, gathered pine nuts and roots, and hunted in winter on 'wooden horses' (skis). Nearby Qianzhou had a few thousand households of Mongols and Uighurs, and workshops of Chinese craftsmen moved there early in the dynasty.
The poor, who have no fixed property, all make their tents of birch bark and load their baggage on white deer. They take deer's milk, gather pine nuts and dig up the roots of mountain lilies and peonies for food. In winter they also ride 'wooden horses' (skis) to hunt... [In Qianzhou] the inhabitants, several thousand households, are all Mongols and Huihe (Uighurs); there are several workshops of craftsmen, who are Han Chinese moved there at the start of the dynasty.
A Yuan official teaches pottery, metalwork and boats
Editorial contextThe same note says that before the Yuan official Liu Haoli arrived, the local peoples made cups from willow wood and hollowed out logs as troughs to cross rivers, and did not know how to cast farm tools. Liu reported this to the court, which sent craftsmen to teach pottery, metal-casting and boat-building. It is a Chinese state view of 'civilising' the Siberian frontier.
Before this, the custom of these several tribes was to make their cups and dishes of willow and to hollow out logs as troughs for crossing water; they did not know how to cast farm tools. Haoli reported this to the court, which then sent craftsmen to teach them pottery, metal-casting and boats, and the local people found it convenient.
Working translation
Original wording
先是數部民俗皆以杞栁為杯皿刳木為槽以濟水不解鑄作農器好禮聞諸朝乃遣工匠教為陶冶舟楫土人便之
Song Lian and the Ming history office, History of the Yuan (Siku quanshu Wenyuange copy, Kanseki Repository transcription)
Editorial contextThe annals of Chinggis Khan say that his father Yesugei had just captured the Tatar chief Temujin when his wife gave birth to a son clutching a clot of blood like a red stone. Yesugei named the boy after the captive to mark his victory. Here Tatar is the name of one rival tribe, not of the Mongols.
At first Liezu (Yesugei) campaigned against the Tatar tribe and captured its chief Temujin. Just then the empress Xuanyi, Ogelen (Hoelun), gave birth to the emperor, who held in his hand clotted blood like a red stone. Liezu thought it a marvel and named him after the captured Temujin, to record his military success.
Working translation
Original wording
初烈祖征塔塔爾部獲其部長特穆津宣懿太后諤楞適生帝手握凝血如赤石烈祖異之因以所獲特穆津名之志武功也
Song Lian and the Ming history office, History of the Yuan (Siku quanshu Wenyuange copy, Kanseki Repository transcription)
The same story is told in the Secret History; the Siku copy re-spells Temujin as 特穆津 and the Tatars as 塔塔爾.
The fine print
How we know
compilation Assembled from earlier sources. The author did not observe it directly.
official retrospective history compiled within a year of the Yuan fall from Yuan veritable records, the Shengwu qinzheng lu tradition and administrative archives
Research notes
Hastily compiled; depends on the lost Yuan shilu and on the Shengwu qinzheng lu tradition; many duplicated biographies. Siku quanshu (1770s-80s) manuscript copy: the Qianlong editors systematically re-transcribed Mongol, Jurchen and Khitan names following the Qinding Liao Jin Yuan san shi guoyu jie, so name forms differ from Ming and early Qing prints (seen on the Ming shi Wala chapter page: 衛拉特 for 瓦剌, 太平巴圖博囉 for 太平 and 把禿孛羅). Cite the pre-Siku editions for original orthography.
Why it matters
The primary Chinese official narrative of the Mongol conquests and administrative geography of the empire, including Lingbei (Mongolia) and the appanages in Central Asia and Rus; the Taizu annals give a dated framework to test against the Secret History and Persian sources.