Zhaozhonglu 昭忠錄

Zhaozhonglu 昭忠錄 "Biographies of Inspired and Loyal Persons" is a collection of biographies compiled by an unknown person from the Yuan period 元 (1279-1368; some bibliographies say, from the Song period 宋, 960-1279).

The short texts describes the conquest of China by the Mongols, beginning with the siege of Ft. Maling 馬岭堡 in 1231 until the downfall of the Southern Song period 南宋 (1127-1279). The collection focuses on 130 loyal subjects to the Song that defended their dynasty with their lives, like Tian Sui 田璲 or Xie Fangde 謝枋得.

The biographies are partially detailed, but some others are very short, and in all cases very reliable accounts that add to the official dynastic history Songshi 宋史. There is a manuscript edition from the Qing period 清 (1644-1911) that was commented by Luo Yizhi 羅以智 (1788-1860).

The Zhaozhonglu is included in the series Siku quanshu 四庫全書, Mohai jinhu 墨海金壺, Shoushange congshu 守山閣叢書 and Congshu jicheng chubian 叢書集成初編.

There are also several other texts with the title Zhaozhonglu, focusing on individual persons like Zhou Jing's 周璟 (Ming period 明, 1368-1644) source collection on the Tang period 唐 (618-907) calligrapher Chu Suiliang 褚遂良 (596-658), or on a group of persons like Su Fengwen's 蘇鳳文 Guangxi zhaozhong lu 廣西昭忠錄, Ding Richang's丁日昌 Jiangnan zhaozhonglu qianbian 江南昭忠錄前編 (both about heroes during the Taiping era).