The Twenty-Five Histories (Bilingual Full Translation, Complete Ten Volumes)

Author: None
Publisher: China Literature Press
Publication Date: None
Features: The Twenty-Five Histories is a comprehensive collection of official historical records compiled by various dynasties. Since Sima Qian wrote Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji) establishing the biographical history style, and Ban Gu compiled Book of the Later Han (Hanshu) setting the precedent for dynastic histories, each subsequent dynasty followed this model to compile its own historical records. The Twenty-Five Histories can be broadly divided into several stages: During the Three Kingdoms period, the existing Records of the Grand Historian, Book of the Later Han, and Annals of the Eastern Han were collectively referred to as the "Three Histories." By the Tang Dynasty, Fan Ye's Book of the Later Han replaced Annals of the Eastern Han as one of the Three Histories. In addition to these three, there were fifteen other histories recognized as official dynastic records, including Records of the Three Kingdoms, Book of Jin, Book of Song, History of Southern Qi, Book of Liang, Book of Chen, Book of Wei, Book of Northern Qi, Book of Zhou, Book of Sui, History of Southern History, and History of Northern History. During the Song Dynasty, New Book of Tang and New Book of the Five Dynasties were completed, replacing Old Book of Tang and Old Book of the Five Dynasties. Afterward, the term "Seventeen Histories" became widely used. In the Ming Dynasty, the concept of the "Twenty-One Histories" emerged, which built upon the Song Dynasty's Seventeen Histories by adding Book of Song, Book of Liao, Book of Jin, and Book of Yuan compiled by the Yuan Dynasty. The Qing Dynasty established a bureau to compile Book of Ming, making it the "Twenty-Two Histories." Later, an imperial edict added Old Book of Tang, resulting in the "Twenty-Three Histories." In the 49th year of the Qianlong reign (1784), Old Book of the Five Dynasties was incorporated, and the name "Twenty-Four Histories" was officially established. After the Xinhai Revolution, the last Qing emperor was forced to abdicate. The Beijing government established the Qing History Commission to compile Book of Qing, which was completed in 1926 and published under the title Draft of the History of Qing. It was then merged with the Twenty-Four Histories, collectively forming the Twenty-Five Histories.