明代行人司行人严从简与东北女真史事

A Ming Dynasty Xingren in the Messenger's Office(Xingren Si):Yan Congjian and the Northeast Jurchen's Historical Events

明初设置行人司,是朝廷专掌邦国外交与周边民族事务的官署,其品秩低而权实重。行人奉使,先礼后兵,化干戈为玉帛,作用堪比将帅。嘉靖后期,赐进士出身的严从简,入职行人司六年。为给朝廷拟定涉外及民族之策和出使者提供咨询,他编纂两本著作,即《使职文献通编》《殊域周咨录》,详载明代域外方国和周边部族事迹,其中相关东北女真族史事,弥补了《四库全书》禁毁史事的阙如,对清朝前史研究颇为珍贵。严从简是中国16世纪中外关系和边疆民族史地的一位杰出史学家。

In the early Ming Dynasty,the Messenger's Office(Xingren Si)was established as a specialized agency of the court in charge of diplomatic relations and near-neighbor ethnic affairs.It possessed power disproportionate to its low rank.On diplomatic missions,Xingrens as envoys promoted diplomacy before the use of force and turned hostility into friendship.They functioned in comparable roles to military generals.Late in the reign of the Jiajing Emperor,Yan Congjian,who earned a Jinshi rank,served in the Messenger's Office(Xingren Si)for six years,providing advice for envoys and council for the court to decide upon foreign and ethnic policies.He complied two books,Shi Zhi Wen Xian Tong Bian and Shu Yu Zhou Zi Lu,which recorded in detail the deeds and events of the outside countries and ethnic tribes.The relevant historical facts of the Northeast Jurchen his books recorded filled a gap of missing historical information,which was either forbidden or excluded in the process of compiling Si Ku Quan Shu.His books are of exceptional value for research on the pre-Qing history.Yan Congjian is therefore well deserved to be called an outstanding historian of our country in the areas of Sino-foreign relations and the history and geography of the frontier ethnic groups in the sixteen century.