A Journal of My Misgivings

“The chapters in Sima Qian’s Shiji (Records of the Grand Historian) that relate to the history of Qin are unique and unequalled historical materials; and yet, because of an extreme lack of corroborating evidence, doubts about their reliability have arisen. In A Journal of My Misgivings, Jeffrey Riegel has with special discernment chosen such doubtful Shiji passages in order to examine the scholarly approach and contributions of the Shiji zhiyi [Liang Yusheng’s 18th-century criticism of Sima Qian’s work]. Professor Riegel on the one hand both describes in broad strokes the intellectual movements of the Qing dynasty as well as deeply explores the resources Liang Yusheng relied on and the distinctive features of his life. On the other hand, he absorbs the results from the latest archaeological discoveries and research on unearthed documents and judges with precision the successes and failures of Liang's work. Professor Riegel pertinently points out that Liang Yusheng’s revision of the text of the Shiji was deeply influenced by the research methodology prevalent during the Qianlong and Jiaqing reign periods of the Qing and that Liang’s forthright criticism of Sima Qian adopted the stricter historical standards of its “truth-seeking,” although sometimes Liang was not immune from the influence of his own biases. Through meticulous philological work, Professor Riegel’s book makes readers aware of the extent to which the Shiji zhiyi has influenced the current popular editions of the Shiji (and the appendix provided online lists one by one the corrections made by the Zhonghua shuju editors based on Liang Yusheng's textual notations). Professor Riegel proves that no matter whether one studies the Shiji or the historical periods it covers, one cannot avoid Liang Yusheng, though his work has in the past been slighted and disregarded. Just as Liang Yusheng “performed outstanding service” to Sima Qian so has Jeffrey Riegel “performed outstanding service” to Liang Yusheng. He has contributed to the academic world a book that must be consulted when reading the Shiji zhiyi and the Shiji, or when studying the history of Qin. For the sinological community, this book is equally as important as Liang’s original (or perhaps even more so).”—[translated] by Chen Kanli 陳侃理, Professor of History, Peking University

“Jeffrey Riegel’s monumental work on the Qing historian Liang Yusheng 梁玉繩 (1745–1819) is the first book-length study of a single work of Qing kaozheng 考證 scholarship published in any Western language.... While the first part describes the historian in a general sense, the second one deals with concrete issues of Qin history. There, Riegel shows in great detail the methods that Liang Yusheng used in order to correct what he perceived as errors in Sima Qian’s text.... Riegel masterly presents us with the traditional history of the Qin dynasty as well as with the many elements that we have come to know about it due to archeological discoveries in more recent times.”—Hans van Ess, Ludwig Maximilians-Universität, München, T’oung Pao 110 (2024): 487–518.

"Having devoted decades to Liang Yusheng, Riegel, in compiling this large and densely written volume, intimately recreates the practice of a Qing evidence scholar. But in the end, his reenactment is not a simple replica, but a close-up case study of Qing scholarship—one that not only reconstructs its content, but also reveals the context in which it was created and situated. As a result, Riegel makes a unique and valuable contribution to the field of Qing intellectual history in any language."—Q. Edward Wang, Rowan University, Journal of Chinese History (2025), 1–3