Book of Zhou (Complete 3 volumes)

Author: Lingguo Defeng
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2003-09-01
Features: The Book of Zhou, fifty-three volumes, including eight volumes of chronicles and forty-two volumes of biographies. Edited by Tang Dynasty's Lingguo Defeng, with contributions from Cen Wenben and Cui Renshi. In the late Northern Wei period, political turmoil and chaos broke out everywhere. Yuwen Tai, born in Wuchuan Town of the Northern Six Towns in Northern Wei, led a Xianbei army primarily composed of Wuchuan Town natives, allying with the Han aristocratic forces in the Guanlong region to establish the Western Wei state. Later, Yuwen Tai's third son, Yuwen Jue, succeeded Wei and founded the Zhou Dynasty in 557, known as Northern Zhou. The Western Wei and Northern Zhou, these two successive regimes, roughly controlled the areas that are today most of Shaanxi, Ningxia, Gansu, and Sichuan, as well as the southwestern part of Shanxi, the western part of Hubei, and the western part of Henan. They formed a triangular balance of power with the Eastern Wei, Northern Qi to the east, and the Liang and Chen dynasties in the south. In 577, Northern Zhou conquered Northern Qi, unifying Northern China. In 581, Yang Jian succeeded Zhou and established the Sui Dynasty. Although titled The Book of Zhou, the work actually records the history of the Western Wei and Northern Zhou from the division of East and West Wei in 534 to Yang Jian's founding of the Sui Dynasty, spanning forty-eight years. Due to the scarcity of sources and the fact that many of the figures it depicts are ancestors of prominent officials of the ruling dynasty, The Book of Zhou appears thin and lacks full factual accuracy. However, it fundamentally reflects the establishment of the Yuwen regime, the wars between the three feudal regimes after its founding, and the internal struggles within the upper echelons of the Yuwen ruling group. It remains a basic and primary historical source for studying and understanding the history of the Western Wei and Northern Zhou.