Compilation of Tu Ji's Mengwuershiji in the early Republic of China and the Perception of History in the Transitional Period

The Mengwuershiji(『蒙兀兒史記』) is a historiography written by Tu Ji, a bureaucrat and historian during the late Qing and early Republic of China. This book, a monumental work covering the history of the Mongol Empire, continues the trend of Yuanshi studies conducted during the Ming and Qing dynasties. The Yuanshi(『元史』) had been criticized by scholars from its time to later periods for its errors and omissions. Consequently, from the Ming Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, efforts to correct and supplement the Yuanshi were continually published. By the late Qing period, the confluence of the Qing's evidential scholarship tradition and the crisis at the frontier led to a flourishing of research that formed the academic stream known as 'Mongol-Yuan Studies.' Tu Ji wrote the Mengwuershiji in this context of ongoing scholarly critique and correction. However, the Mengwuershiji differs significantly in several aspects from earlier works written in the Ming and Qing dynasties that aimed to correct the Yuanshi. Tu Ji aimed to incorporate the Mongolian perspective in the Mengwuershiji. He also attempted to restore the historical narrative of the Mongol Empire. He supplemented the gaps found in the Yuanshi and its revised editions, which were written by Han Chinese historians, by including the early history of the Mongol tribes, the campaigns of Genghis Khan, and the genealogies and records of the various descendants of Genghis Khan who conquered Eurasia. Tu Ji meticulously detailed the origins of the Mongol tribes and the early history and achievements of Genghis Khan to thoroughly introduce the formation process of the Mongol Empire. Furthermore, he sought to reveal the scale and realities of the ruling group of the Mongols in detail. By elaborately describing the forces in Western Asia and the Mongol conquests, which were briefly covered in the 'History of Yuan,' he aimed to clarify the process of Mongol expansion across Eurasia and to attempt a restoration of the historical narrative of the Mongol Empire. Tu Ji's ability to approach the true nature of the Mongol Empire through the Mengwuershiji was made possible by the achievements of Mongol-Yuan studies that had been actively conducted since the 18th century and the Mongolian studies of Western academia. The individuals who introduced these studies were diplomats dispatched to Europe or students studying abroad. Notably, Hong Jun, who was dispatched as an ambassador to Russia, Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands, encountered Western research on Mongolian history and, based on this, wrote the Yuanshiyiwenzhengbu(『元史譯文証補』), which significantly influenced the structure and content of Tu Ji's Mengwuershiji. To understand this work, it is also necessary to understand the historical context of the time when the Mengwuershiji was compiled. In 1911, the Xinhai Revolution ultimately led to the fall of the Qing Empire, and Outer Mongolia, which was under the domain of the Qing Empire, declared its independence. Tu Ji began to devote himself to writing the history of the Mongol Empire during this transitional period of the fall of an empire and the birth of nation-states. In this regard, the Mengwuershiji reflects the historical awareness of the era's circumstances, including Tu Ji's personal encounter with the crisis of imperial collapse and the birth of a new nation.