In the Ming dynasty, the Military Appointments Books were prerequisite to the Ministry of War for personnel selection. They recorded the family careers of the hereditary officers of the Guards, containing a great deal of rare primary sources on the military personnel administration of the Guards. They can answer such questions as why the old generations joined the armies, how merits and demerits were recorded, how promotions and demotions were made, and etc. The First Historical Archives in Peking holds the largest collection of the Military Appointments Books, while the Japanese scholar Kawagoe Yasuhiro has studied a little more than 10 kinds of hand-copied Appointments Books collected in Japan. By using the Appointments Books newly discovered in the Institute of History and Philology, together with other primary sources, this essay examines Kawagoe Yasuhiro's works and illustrates the values of these Books.
Ming, Military Officers of the Guards, Military Appointments Books
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