Book of Zhou (Full 3 volumes) -- Traditional vertical layout

Author: (Tang) Lingguo Degeng and others compiled
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Features: The Book of Zhou, fifty-three volumes, including eight volumes of chronicles and forty-two volumes of biographies. Compiled primarily by Tang's Lingguo Degeng, with contributions from Cen Wenben and Cui Renshi. In the late Northern Wei period, political turmoil and chaos broke out everywhere. Yuwen Tai, born in Wuchuan Town of the Northern Six Towns in Northern Wei, led a Xianbei army mainly composed of Wuchuan Town people, allying with the armed forces of Han aristocratic clans in the Guanlong region to establish the Western Wei state. Later, Yuwen Tai's third son, Yuwen Jue, succeeded Wei and founded the Zhou dynasty in 557, known as Northern Zhou. These two successive regimes—Western Wei and Northern Zhou—controlled territories that roughly encompassed most of today's Shaanxi, Ningxia, Gansu, and Sichuan, as well as western Shanxi, western Hubei, and western Henan. They formed a triangular balance of power with the eastern Eastern Wei and Northern Qi, and the southern Liang and Chen. In 577, Northern Zhou conquered Northern Qi, unifying northern China. In 581, Yang Jian overthrew Zhou and established the Sui dynasty. Although titled The Book of Zhou, the work actually chronicles the history of Western Wei and Northern Zhou from the division of East and West Wei in 534 to the establishment of the Sui dynasty by Yang Jian, covering forty-eight years. Due to the scarcity of sources and the fact that many of the figures it records are ancestors of prominent officials of the ruling dynasty, The Book of Zhou appears thin and lacks full factual accuracy. However, it fundamentally reflects the establishment of the Yuwen regime, the wars between the three feudal regimes after its founding, and the internal struggles within the upper echelons of the Yuwen ruling group. It remains one of the most basic and original historical sources for studying and understanding the history of Western Wei and Northern Zhou.