Zizhi Tongjian Stories Complete Collection - (Complete 4 Volumes) - Illustrated Edition

Author: Yin Liyun
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features: The Zizhi Tongjian (Comprehensive Mirror to Aid in Government) comprises 294 volumes and approximately 4 million words. Transforming such a monumental work into a narrative form is undoubtedly challenging. Since the Zizhi Tongjian is organized chronologically by year, certain events are scattered across decades, requiring readers to consult multiple volumes to understand their complete context. The Southern Song Dynasty scholar Yuan Shu wrote Zizhi Tongjian Jishi Benmo (Comprehensive Mirror to Aid in Government: Annals of Events), summarizing important historical events into 239 specialized chapters to address the shortcomings of the Zizhi Tongjian's annual narrative structure. However, this proved counterproductive, as its complexity was no less than that of the Zizhi Tongjian. Consequently, reading it was less enjoyable than reading the original Zizhi Tongjian. The term "Complete Collection" in the title carries two meanings. First, all stories from the Zizhi Tongjian are to be included. Second, the combined stories must reflect the entirety of the Zizhi Tongjian. Based on this principle, we have extracted 1,580 stories from the Zizhi Tongjian, with each story focusing on a single event and ranging in length from a few hundred to over two thousand words. In this way, readers can easily grasp the essence of the Zizhi Tongjian by reading a few passages after meals. This set includes four volumes: Zizhi Tongjian Story Complete Collection 1, Zizhi Tongjian Story Complete Collection 2, Zizhi Tongjian Story Complete Collection 3, and Zizhi Tongjian Story Complete Collection 4.