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Kongzi shilu 孔子實錄

Oct 24, 2013 © Ulrich Theobald

Kongzi shilu 孔子實錄 "Veritable Records of Confucius" is a collection of documents on Confucius 孔子 and his ancient home town written by an unknown author during the early Yuan period 元 (1279-1368).

According to the postface of the book, the Counsellor-in-chief Yelü Chucai 耶律楚材 (1190-1244) had organized the granting of land to Kong Yuancuo 孔元措 (1182-1251). From the revenues of the land, the Confucius temple in Queli 闕里 near Qufu 曲阜 was to be furnished. This was the home town of the sage master.

The compilers of the imperial series Siku quanshu 四庫全書 were therefore of the opinion that Kong Yuancuo was the author of the book. The first half of the text is a quotation of various official sources on the veneration of Confucius, like inscriptions on stelae, or imperial edicts. The latter half is a list of the state officials with the family name Kong serving in Queli (Kongshi xiangguan 孔氏鄉官). Because the text is quite unsystematic it was decided not on include it in the Siku quanshu.

The title is misleading, because "veritable records" (shilu 實錄) are chronologically arranged collections of important documents, mostly imperial edicts.

Source:
Li Xueqin 李學勤, Lü Wenyu 呂文鬰, eds. (1996). Siku da cidian 四庫大辭典 (Changchun: Jilin daxue chubanshe), Vol. 1, 966.