History of compilation

Lê Tắc (or Lê Trắc) was an advisor of the Marquis Chương Hiến Trần Kiện who was the son of Prince Tĩnh Quốc Trần Quốc Khang and grandson of the emperor Trần Thái Tông. During the 1285 invasion of Đại Việt by the Yuan Dynasty, Trần Kiện surrendered to Kublai Khan's prince Toghan, but he was killed before he could flee to the northern border. As a subordinate of Trần Kiện, Lê Tắc followed his master to China, he survived the ambush that killed Trần Kiện and afterwards lived in exile in the town of Hanyang, Hubei. During his exile in Hanyang, Lê Tắc compiled the An Nam chí lược to recite the history, geography and culture of Đại Việt. A study shows that Lê Tắc wrote his work around the period from 1285 to 1307 and continuously supplemented until 1339, from the foreword of Lê Tắc, one knows that An Nam chí lược was published for the first time in 1335 during the reign of the Emperor Huizong of Yuan, it was subsequently published in the library Siku Quanshu of the Qing Dynasty. During the reign of the Ming Dynasty, an author also based on An Nam chí lược to write an extensive records about Vietnam named Việt Kiệu thư.

During the Fourth Chinese domination, many valuable books of Đại Việt were taken away by the Ming Dynasty and subsequently were lost. Hence the An Nam chí lược became one of the few historical books about Đại Việt that survive from the 14th and 15th centuries and it is considered the oldest historical work compiled by a Vietnamese that has been preserved. Only in early 20th century, the book was brought back to Vietnam through a version that was printed in Japan in 1884, An Nam chí lược was translated into Vietnamese in 1961.

Description

In An Nam chí lược, Lê Tắc recounted the history and other aspects of his country Đại Việt from its beginning to the reign of the Trần Dynasty. The title of the book literally means Abbreviated Records of An Nam with An Nam (Pacified South) was the Chinese name for Vietnam during the Tang Dynasty, thus An Nam chí lược was written with a Chinese bias. The contents of An Nam chí lược are arranged in 20 chapters (quyển), except for details dating from Lê Tắc's lifetime, An Nam chí lược is derived almost entirely from Chinese accounts and contains some records that cannot be found elsewhere. Today 19 chapters are preserved in the original form except the 20th chapter named Danh công đề vịnh An Nam chí that was lost.

According to Keith Weller Taylor in his The Birth of Vietnam, although Lê Tắc wrote his work in China, the An Nam chí lược still reflects his Vietnamese root and thoughts that result in some materials about "rebels" of Chinese authority which one would not expect from a Chinese historian. For example, An Nam chí lược is the earliest surviving historical book to mention Lady Triệu who led a rebellion against the kingdom of Eastern Wu in 3rd century. Besides the historical accounts, An Nam chí lược also contains valuable information about the geography, tradition and culture of Vietnam such as the influence of Taoism in Đại Việt. The oldest records about the activities of Đại Việt people from the ancient time to the Trần Dynasty are found in the first chapter of the An Nam chí lược, by his own experiences, Lê Tắc made a detailed description about the Vietnamese tradition of singing, dancing and musical instruments. From this account, it is known that Vietnamese people has an old tradition of creating songs in native language together with tunes in Chinese.

Table of contents

《安南志略》的编撰

《安南志略》的作者黎崱，原是越南陈朝人，曾任乂安镇守陈键的幕僚。公元1285年，中国元朝军队攻入义安，陈键与黎崱一同投降，于是黎崱便归化元朝，曾获授以官职。黎崱在晚年时，「聊乘暇日，缀葺已，同采摭历代国史、交趾图经，杂及方今混一典故」，写成《安南志略》。

至于编撰《安南志略》的原因，据《安南志略·自序》所述，有以下数点。

• 黎崱在暮年时，希望有一点作为。据他的自述，他自从「内附圣朝，至是五十馀年矣」（《自序》中称他写作时是「元统初元乙卯」学者武尚清认为可能有误）。感到「自愧朴愚，旧学芜落，垂老嗜书，卒恨晚；于古今文籍，不能徧览」，于是便开始著手撰书工作。

• 宣示中国元朝与越南陈朝宗藩关系的合理性。黎崱虽原是越南人氏，但郤全心归向元室，他说：「庸表天朝德化所被，统一无外，而南越其有惓惓向慕朝廷之心，亦可概见于此者。」

• 黎崱认为越南终究是自成一国，有她自身独特的历史发展，「声教文物所尚，近乎中国。虽曰风土之异，而事之可为纪述，不可泯也。」

内容

《安南志略》的内容如下：

• 卷首：包括与黎崱相识的元代学者写的序及黎崱的《自序》和《总序》。

• 卷一：包括《郡邑》、《山》、《水》等等，是有关越南地理及地方建制的资料。

• 卷二：《大元诏制》及《前朝书命》，载录了中国历代王朝对越南的国交文书。

• 卷三：《大元奉使》及《前朝奉使》，介绍中国历代王朝对越所派遣的外交使臣。

• 卷四：《征讨运饷》及《前朝征讨》，载述中国历代王朝与越南之间的战争。

• 卷五：《大元名臣往复书问》及《前朝书疏》，载录了中越两国间政府官员及士大夫的往来文书，及中国历代王朝官员对越时务策略书疏等等。

• 卷六：《表章》及《前代书表》，载录了越占两国朝廷对中国的国交文书。

• 卷七：《汉交州九真日南刺史太守（附三国时刺守）》，介绍中国汉朝及三国时代派驻越南地区的地方长官（当时越南北部的国土隶属中国）。

• 卷八：《六朝交州刺史都督交趾九真日南太守》介绍中国东吴、两晋及南朝派驻越南地区的地方长官（当时越南北部的国土隶属中国）。

• 卷九：《唐安南都督都护经略使交爱驩三郡刺史》，介绍中国唐朝派驻越南地区的地方长官（当时越南北部的国土隶属中国）。

• 卷十：《历代覊臣》，载述中国历史上因政争或动乱，而贬徙、迁移到越南的中国士大夫事迹。

• 卷十一：《赵氏世家》、《五代时潜窃》、《丁氏世家》及《黎氏世家》，载述南越国、吴权、十二使君、丁朝、前黎朝等古代越南王朝的历史。

• 卷十二：《李氏世家》，载述李朝的历史。

• 卷十三：《陈氏世家》、《内附侯王》，载述陈朝历史，并介绍归附元朝的陈朝宗室侯王。

• 卷十四：包括《学校》、《官制》、《历代遣使》等等，载述越南古代在文教、政治、军事、刑法等各方面的典章制度，以及越南历代王朝对中国所派遣的外交使臣。。

• 卷十五：《人物》、《物产》，载述越南在中国统治时期及独立后各朝中的著名人物事迹及土产。

• 卷十六：《杂记》、《历朝名贤杂题》，载述历史事迹及中越古代文人所作的有关越南的诗文。

• 卷十七：《至元以来名贤奉使安南诗》、《玉堂诸公赠送天使诗序》，载录中越两国士大夫交流文化的诗文。

• 卷十八：《安南名人诗》，载录越南古代人物所著的诗文。

• 卷十九：《图志歌》、《敍事》，前者为黎崱歌咏中越宗藩关系的文章，后者则是其自传。

• 卷二十：《题辞》（已佚）

史料价值

• 具包罗万有的通史作用。黎崱的《安南志略》是现存较早的一部越南历史典籍，内容广泛，包括越南古代政治、文化、军事、外交等多个方面。学者武尚清便说，此书「实已构成为一部颇具规模的越南通史了」。

• 可与其他典籍互相参证。《安南志略》修正及填补了其他中越典籍中的讹缺。例如，中国正史之一的《元史》中载「宋封丁部领为交趾郡王，其子琏亦为王。传三世为李公蕴所夺」，误把篡夺丁朝者当成为李公蕴。而《安南志略》的卷十一及卷十二，则清楚地交代了黎桓篡丁、李公蕴篡黎的政情发展。又如越南古籍《越史略》中，将李朝改为「阮朝」，李氏改为「阮氏」，但并无说明改易原因。后人从《安南志略》中，乃得知陈氏夺位后实施了「凡李氏宗族，及齐民姓李者，令更为阮，以绝民望」的防变政策，解答了李氏改为「阮氏」的谜团。

流传及出版情况

《安南志略》的现代点校本

《安南志略》问世后，便受到关注。元代官修的《经世大典》，便将本书纳入。后来，有一些私家藏本出现，如「胡茨村藏钞本」、「两准马裕家藏本」等。在清代乾嘉时期，本书的校订工作活跃起来。乾隆朝编修的《四库全书》，也根据「两淮马裕家藏本」，将本书收入史部载记类，但当中的文渊阁在本书已佚的卷二十里，只把最后数卷进行析合凿换，以凑足二十卷，而且没有书序、题跋、目录，只有正文。在1884年（光绪十年），上海的乐善堂出版本书的的铜活字本，由日本人岸吟香聚珍印行，除十九卷正文外，还有十一篇书序、目录、钱大昕少量批注及黄丕烈前后题跋。1979年，上海古籍书店刊行复印本。

在现代的整理版本方面，则有1995年北京中华书局出版的武尚清点校本《安南志略》，并收录在中外交通史籍丛刊。其后与《海外纪事》合订出版。

注释