\tThe Zizhi tongjian \u8d44\u6cbb\u901a\u9274 "Comprehensive mirror to aid in government" is one of the most important traditional histories of China. In respect of influence it is only second to the first universal history of China, the Shiji \u53f2\u8bb0, or even surpasses the latter. The Zizhi tongjian was written by the Northern Song period \u5317\u5b8b (960-1126) writer and politician Sima Guang \u53f8\u9a6c\u5149. The Zizhi tongjian consists of 294 juan "scrolls" plus 30 juan of register (mulu \u76ee\u5f55) and a text-critical apparatus (kaoyi \u8003\u5f02) of 30 juan. It covers the time period between the reign of King Weilie \u5468\u5a01\u70c8\u738b (r. 425-402 BCE) of the Eastern Zhou dynasty \u4e1c\u5468 (770-221 BCE) and the reign of Emperor Shizong \u540e\u5468\u4e16\u5b97 (r. 954-959) of the Later Zhou \u540e\u5468 (951-960), or the years 403 BCE to 959 CE.<\/p>\n
\tSima Guang had always been interested in history but was repelled by the bad structure of traditional historiography which made an access to events and their circumstances very cubersome, especially in the official dynastic histories that are written in a biographic-thematic style (jizhuanti \u7eaa\u4f20\u4f53). He therefore decided to write history by himself. His first work was a draft called Tongzhi \u901a\u5fd7 "Comprehensive records" in 8 juan, covering the Warring States period \u6218\u56fd (5th cent.-221 BCE)and the short-lived Qin dynasty \u79e6 (221-206 BC). He submitted this book to Emperor Yingzong \u5b8b\u82f1\u5b97 (r. 1063-1067) in 1066 who immediately appreciated it and ordered to continue the work. Emperor Shenzong \u5b8b\u795e\u5b97 (r. 1067-1085) granted the book the title of Zizhi tongjian, wrote a preface to it and had it included in the Institute for the Veneration of Literature \u5d07\u6587\u9662 of the Imperial Archives. In 1084 the whole book was completed.
\tAlthough Sima Guang is often called the sole author of the book he had only written part of it. The rest was compiled by a team of historians under his supervision. The most important members of the team were Liu Shu \u5218\u6055, Liu Ban \u5218\u653d and Fan Zuyu \u8303\u7956\u79b9. Liu Shu was a historian of wide knowledge who constructed the theoretical background of the Zizhi tongjian. Liu Ban was an expert on the history of the Han period, Fan Zuyu on that of the Tang period \u5510 (618-907).<\/p>\n
\tThe composition of the Zizhi tongjian was made in three steps. In the first step the compilers collected all available source material from all ages, put together accounts on specific events and arranged the material chronologically. The result was the so-called congmu \u4e1b\u76ee "clustered overview". The second step was to screen the material, to eredicate redundancies, to select the most detailed passages, and to clear contradictions. The result was the changbian \u957f\u7f16 "long version". This version was again, in a third step done by Sima Guang himself, abbreviated and refined.<\/p>\n
\tThe compilers of the Zizhi tongjian used a vast amount of material, not only the official dynastic histories and miscellaneous histories, but, especially for the Tang period, a lot of official and private sources of all kinds: veritable records (shilu \u5b9e\u5f55), family registers (jiapu \u5bb6\u8c31, pudie \u8c31\u7252), family biographies, condolences and essays. The text-critical apparatus is of great help to reconstruct wordings in primary sources.<\/p>\n
\tThe great advantage of the Zizhi tongjian over the official dynastic histories is that it is arranged chronologically. While the latter are following a biographic-thematic pattern of historiography (jizhuanti \u7eaa\u4f20\u4f53) in which specific historical events are to be found in many different chapters, namely the biographies of the persons involved, the Zizhi tongjian follows a chronological pattern (biannianti \u7f16\u5e74\u4f53), coupled with a short introduction and summary to each important event. This makes is very easy for the reader to follow the course of events and to understand how things in history developed. Inspite of this great advantage the Zizhi tongjian is still a traditional history which lays most stress on political events, not on the history of culture, economy, literature, and so on. It is also influenced by Confucian thinking of righteous rule and usurpatious rule and is therefore biased towards persons thought to be not backed by a right to rule. Sima Guang gives his own comments to history, in paragraphs introduced by the words chen Guang yue \u81e3\u5149\u66f0 "servant Guang says". His book served in first line as a textbook on governance and should be read by princes and emperors as a guideline how to rule and what not to do as a ruler. Sima Guang was an excellent author whose literary talent is seen in the Zizhi tongjian. It is one of the most-read traditional histories of China.<\/p>\n
\tA textual revision was undertaken after the submission to the throne, and in 1086 the Zizhi tongjian was printed in Hangzhou \u676d\u5dde, Zhejiang. The print is lost, and from a print from 1132 only fragments exist. During the Qing period \u6e05 (1644-1911) Hu Kejia \u80e1\u514b\u5bb6 reprinted a Yuan period \u5143 (1279-1368) version, which served also as the base for the modern reprint by the Zhonghua shuju press \u4e2d\u534e\u4e66\u5c40 in 1956.
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