Quizzes
Quick Facts
- Wade-Giles romanization:
- Ma Tuan-lin
- Born:
- 1254?, Leping [now in Jiangxi province], China
- Died:
- 1323
- Subjects Of Study:
- China
Adding us as a Preferred Source tells Google you trust our content, so our articles show up more often in your Google Search, Discover feed, and AI Overviews.
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies.
Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Ma Duanlin
Chinese historian
Also known as: Ma Tuan-lin
Ma Duanlin (born 1254?, Leping [now in Jiangxi province], China—died 1323) was a Chinese historian who wrote the Wenxian tongkao (“General Study of the Literary Remains”), a huge encyclopaedia of general knowledge. This work, with the works of two other historians of the Song dynasty (960–1279), Zheng Qiao (1104–62) and Sima Guang (1019–86), is considered one of the greatest institutional histories ever written on China and, as such, was a model for many later historians. Ma insisted that a knowledge of institutional history was just as necessary to the Confucian official as knowledge of the Confucian Classics.
This article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Discover the fascinating events that shaped the world, straight from our editors.
By clicking “Sign Up”, you consent to the Britannica
Privacy Policy
and
Terms of Use.