Old Five Dynasties History (Complete 6 Volumes)

Author: (Song) Xue Juzheng
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2003-09-07
Features: The Old History of the Five Dynasties, originally titled The History of the Five Dynasties, is also known as The Book of Liang, Tang, Jin, Han, and Zhou. Later, to distinguish it from Ouyang Xiu's The New History of the Five Dynasties, it became commonly referred to as The Old History of the Five Dynasties. This was an official imperial history commissioned by Emperor Taizu of Song. Xue Juzheng (AD 912–981) served as the chief editor, with Lu Duksen, Hu Meng, Zhang Dan, Li, Liu Jian, Li Mu, and Li Jiuling among the co-editors. The project began in April of the sixth year of the Kaibao era (AD 973) and was completed on the day of Jiazi in the intercalary October of the following year, taking only about a year and a half. The rapid completion was due to Emperor Taizu's high (emphasis), the high caliber and strong team of compilers organized for the project, as well as the relatively comprehensive historical materials available for reference. The Five Dynasties each had official records, and Fan Zhi further compiled a concise version of these records titled Jianlong Five Dynasties General Register, which greatly facilitated the historical compilation. In Chinese history, there was the last large-scale period of division and fragmentation in feudal society between the Tang and Song dynasties. For fifty-three years, from AD 907 when Zhu Wen usurped the Tang throne to establish the Later Liang dynasty to AD 960 when the Northern Song dynasty was founded, the Central Plains appeared with the Later Liang, Later Tang, Later Jin, Later Han, and Later Zhou dynasties, while outside the Central Plains, there existed ten smaller states such as Wu, Southern Tang, Wu-Yue, Chu, Min, Southern Han, Former Shu, Later Shu, Nanping, and Northern Han. In the surrounding regions, there were also regimes established by ethnic minorities such as the Khitan, Tibetan, Bohai, Dangxiang, Nanzhao, Yuquan, and Dongdan. These are collectively known as the "Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms." The Old History of the Five Dynasties records this period of history.