History Department Classics Explanation

Author: Wang Shumin
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-08-01
Features: The Records of the Grand Historian and the Book of Han are the two historical works that pioneered and completed the biographical style. The Records of the Grand Historian was completed in the mid-Western Han Dynasty, while the Book of Han was completed in the early Eastern Han Dynasty, a period when the landlord class established a unified empire and stabilized its ruling position. In terms of form, the Records of the Grand Historian has a pioneering nature, whereas the Book of Han is more uniform. In terms of content, both works adopt the perspective of feudal rulers, but the writing style of the Book of Han is more suitable for the needs of feudal rulers. Therefore, later historians have more often taken the Book of Han as a model. The imbalance between the concise early sections and the sparse later sections of the Old Book of Tang can be roughly divided into three stages. Before Emperor Daizong was the early period, with relatively well-organized narration; from Emperor Dezong to Emperor Wuzong was the middle period, with still relatively concise narration; and after Emperor Xuanzong was the late period, with numerous omissions and errors, and the biographies mostly listing titles and ranks with very little factual content. These differences are clearly due to the varying levels of detail in the source texts used. Since its compilation is relatively rough, the book inevitably contains inconsistencies or repetitions, such as the biography of Yang Chaosheng being found in both Volume 122 and Volume 144; the biography of Wang Qiuli being found in both Volume 101 and Volume 187 (lower part); Qiu Shenjie already having a biography in Volume 186 (upper part) and being appended to the biography of Qiu He in Volume 59; Li Shan already being appended to the biography of Cao Xian in Volume 189 (upper part) and appearing again in Volume 190 (Li Yong's biography), with identical narratives. Many historical works compiled by later historians contain similar situations, indicating the general carelessness of official historical compilations. In summary, although the Comprehensive Mirror to Aid in Government was written from the reactionary perspective of the feudal ruling class, due to the author's deep historical cultivation, rigorous attitude, and excellent methods during compilation, it ultimately became a monumental historical work. Although its subjective purpose was to provide rulers with experience in governing the people, it also provided the ruled with much relevant material. Therefore, under the principle of critical application, it remains a valuable book worth studying among the old historical texts.
During the Song Dynasty, rulers expanded the scope of historical compilation beyond the Tang Dynasty, not only producing biographical-style national histories and chronological-style veritable records but also establishing dedicated institutions, known as the Institution for Compiling Ordinances, directly under the Secretariat Department. Thus, official Song Dynasty historical works took on three forms of subject matter, all of which were extremely voluminous and rich in content. To this day, the veritable records of the Song Dynasty have long perished, with the national history serving as the basis for the History of Song, though its core has been preserved while the original sources have long vanished. The ordinances have also been lost, but some original drafts still survive.