TheShengwu qinzheng lu (Chinese:聖武親征錄;lit. 'Records of the Campaigns of (the) Shengwu (Emperor)[1]') is a Chinese translation of aMongolianchronicle describing the lives ofGenghis Khan (previously named Temüjin) and his sonÖgedei Khan. Much of the chronicle was derived from theAltan Debter (lit. 'Golden Book'), a now-lost state history of theMongol Empire. Both thePersianJami' al-tawarikh, written byRashid al-Din at the start of the 14th century, and the ChineseYuán Shǐ, drew upon theAltan Debter.[2] By combining the three extant works, historians are able to adequately reconstruct theAltan Debter's original content.[3]
The earliest mention of theShengwu in documents was as a presentation toKhubilai Khan by one of his ministers in 1288, under the nameShilu (lit. 'Veritable Records'). Unsatisfied, the Khan demanded that the minister revise the sections on Ögedei, which were finalized in 1290. The work was then transcribed into theMongolian-Uyghur script. The later translation into Chinese came in 1369, as editors under the succeedingMing dynasty compiled the entire Yuán Shǐ. By comparing the translation to theJami' al-tawarikh, it becomes clear that these transcribers misunderstood the original script in several places, creating problems for modern historians.[4]
TheShengwu serves as an interesting contrast to the most famous Mongol chronicle,The Secret History of the Mongols. It does not mention potentially objectionable moments that theSecret History openly describes, such as the young Temüjin's murder of his half-brotherBehter or the abduction and rape of his wifeBörte. It was probably intended as an official history. The consequential lack of drama in the text, alongside some fragmentation of the work, has led to it being overshadowed by theSecret History.[4]
