<Articles>The Cui 崔 Family from East Qinghe 清河 in the Northern Dynasties : A Study on the Background of the Shiliuguochunqiu 十六国春秋 of Cui Hong 崔鴻

The Cui 崔 clan from East Qinghe 清河 prospered during the latter half of Northern Wei as the family in charge of historical studies. This paper reviews the family's development from Northern Wei to Eastern Wei and Northern Qi, and in the process, considers the background of how a member of the family, Cui Hong 崔鴻, came to compile the history of the Sixteen Kingdoms period, the Shiliuguochunqiu 十六国春秋. Additionally, the paper examines the reason behind Cui Kong's hesitation to publicize the work during his lifetime, taking into account the situation surrounding the contemporary understanding of history. The Cui of East Qinghe followed the Hou Yan 後燕 kingdom from Hebei 河北 to the Qingqi 青斉 region (Shandong Province) at the end of fourth century. After the move, the family served the Southern dynasties kingdom of Song 宋, but submitted to Northern Wei during the 469 C.E. conquest of Qingqi. The family was then forced to move to Pingqi-jun 平斉郡 on the outskirts of the capital, Pingcheng 平城. However, the family later grew famous when Cui Hong's uncle, Cui Guang 崔光rose to a position of pivotal importance. Due to his extensive knowledge, Cui Guang served as an advisor to Xiaowendi 孝文帝, and played many roles in the Hanization-oriented policies during the latter half of the Northern Wei. It is worth noting that Cui Guang was entrusted with the compilation of the Guoshi 国史 for a lengthy period. What differentiated Cui Guang's guoshi from the previous Northern Wei projects was that in addition to adopting the style of biographical history (紀伝体), he aspired to construct a history of Northern Wei that focused mainly on the history after "Taizu 太祖", Daowudi 道武帝, the founder who had renamed the country "Wei." Meanwhile, Cui Hong was also recognized for his excellent scholarship, and together with his uncle, successively held various positions in the central government. He especially proved his talent in the genre of historical studies, and participated in the compilation of records such as the Gaozu Qijuzhu 高祖起居注 and the Shizong Qijuzhu 世宗起居注. Because of this, he was eventually appointed by Cui Guang as his successor in the role of compiler of the guoshi. This was the situation in which Cui Hong privately compiled the Shiliuguochunqiu. Thus, one can assume that Cui Hong saw Cui Guang's guoshi that recorded events after Daowudi as the prerequisite for his own effort, and compiled the Shiliuguochunqiu with the intention of recording the history before the guoshi. However, during the latter half of Northern Wei, there was conflict in historical interpretation between the Han and the Dai代. One of the controversies among them would have been whether the Dai history should be included in the guoshi and that kingdom considered as the predecessor to the Northern Wei. Under such circumstances, it was extremely difficult and a delicate issue to record the history of the Sixteen Kingdoms that were contemporary to the Dai Recognizing the Sixteen Kingdoms as an independent era as in the Shiliuguochunqiu could have led to criticism that the record was belittling Dai. Cui Hong most likely hesitated to publicize the record for this reason, After Cui Hong's death, his son Cui Hun 崔混 presented the book to the imperial court. As a result, the book came under heavy attack during the Eastern Wei, and led to the downfall of Cui Hong's family.