Emperor Kang Xi and Ming Shi(History of the Ming Dynasty)

Ming Shi has long been regarded as elaborately written, the process of which was under the care and guidance of Emperor Kang Xi. Emperor Kang Xi appreciated the rich experience of state administration in history beneficial for administering state affairs and therefore attached great importance to the writing of Ming Shi. He proposed that historians should emphasize more on the conscience than documentation, stressing the ethics of historiographers in keeping with his belief that Ming Shi should be an exhaustive and faithful account of history. He requested the academic standards for writing Ming Shi. In the meantime, Emperor Kang Xi emphasized the collection of historical literature and documentation and employed administrative means in so doing. In guiding the writing of Ming Shi, Emperor Kang Xi also exhibited his profound knowledge of historiography.