Zizhi Tongjian (Hardcover Full 20 Volumes) (Hardcover Full 20 Volumes)

Author: None
Publisher: Beijing Yanshan Press
Publication Date: None
Features: Zizhi Tongjian is the largest and most comprehensive chronicle-style history book extant in China. Compiled by Sima Guang, a renowned minister and scholar of the Northern Song Dynasty, it took nineteen years to complete. The entire work consists of 294 volumes, covering events from the 23rd year of King Weilie of Zhou (403 BC) to the 6th year of Xingde in the Later Zhou Dynasty (959 AD), spanning a total of 1,362 years. The content of Zizhi Tongjian focuses on politics, military affairs, and ethnic relations, while also encompassing economics, culture, and evaluations of historical figures. Its purpose is to serve as a warning to future generations by describing the policies of the ruling class that affected the prosperity or decline of the nation and the rise or fall of ethnic groups. The General Catalogue of the Four Treasuries praises Zizhi Tongjian as "extremely comprehensive in scope, grand in structure, and profound in depth, surpassing anything seen in ancient times."