1006 years ago today, on November 17th, 1019 (October 18th, 1019 in the lunar calendar), Sima Guang, a historian in the Northern Song Dynasty, was born. Sima Guang Sima Guang was a native of Sushui Township, Xia County, Shaanxi Prefecture, Northern Song Dynasty (now Simaying Village, Xia County, Shanxi Province). He was born on November 17th, 1019 AD. He is known as Mr. Sushui in the world and is a famous historian in ancient China. He has written many works in his life, with more than 500 volumes in 20 kinds. Among them, the book Zi Zhi Tong Jian compiled by him is the best masterpiece of general history after Sima Qian's Historical Records in Chinese feudal society. Since its advent, it has always been respected by historians, and has had a great influence on the future development of historiography in China. Sima Guang was diligent and studious since childhood, and loved to read history books. When he was 7 years old, he was very interested in listening to his teacher's biography of Zuo Shi in the Spring and Autumn Period. When he returned home, he could tell his family eloquently. This historical masterpiece had a great influence on him, and his ability to write Zi Zhi Tong Jian was inseparable from the influence of this book on him. Sima Guang was smart since childhood. Once, he and a group of friends were playing hide-and-seek. A child accidentally fell into a water tank, and all the other children were scared away. Only Sima Guang used his wits to lift a big stone and smash the water tank. After the water flowed out, the child was saved. Sima Guang's wit and bravery have been handed down as a much-told story by later generations. When Sima Guang was 20 years old, he passed the Jinshi exam. He continued to study hard and delved into history whenever he had time. He found that although there were many historical works since ancient times, there was a lack of a systematic and complete general history, so he decided to compile it himself. At first, it took Sima Guang two years to write a history book from the Warring States Period to the late Qin Dynasty, with eight volumes, named Tongzhi. Song Yingzong was very satisfied after reading it, and immediately ordered the establishment of a bookstore as a book editing organization, asking Sima Guang to continue writing. Song Yingzong allowed Sima Guang to choose his own writers, and allowed him to borrow books from the government collection. When Sima Guang set up the bookstore, he invited Liu Shu and Fan Zuyu, famous historians at that time, as assistants to jointly compile this general history. After Emperor Shenzong of the Song Dynasty became emperor, he also thought that the book Tongzhi could not only help to understand the rise and fall of past dynasties, but also the history recorded in the book was like a mirror, which could often be referred to. Therefore, he changed the title of the book to Zi Zhi Tong Jian. "Zizhi" means help, "Tong" means from ancient times to the present, and "Jian" means mirror, which means warning and lesson. Later, people referred to Zi Zhi Tong Jian as Tong Jian for short. This book was compiled from the second year of Zhiping in Song Yingzong (AD 1065) to the seventh year of Yuanfeng in Shenzong (AD 1084), which lasted 19 years. In order to write this book, Sima Guang put in great labor, and the first draft alone piled up two rooms. Although Sima Guang was born in a bureaucratic landlord family, he successively served as an official in Kaifeng Government, a general judge in Bingzhou, a bachelor of Longtu Pavilion, a bachelor of Hanlin Academy, a censor Zhongcheng, a minister's Zuo Pushe and an assistant minister, etc. He was politically conservative and stubborn, but he was extremely rigorous, responsible and meticulous in the process of compiling Zi Zhi Tong Jian. Every day, he gets up early to work until he goes to bed late at night. He is afraid that he will sleep too much, so he specially makes a log pillow that is easy to roll. As soon as he turns over, the pillow will roll off, and he wakes up. He calls this pillow "police pillow". Zi Zhi Tong Jian arranges the actual history in chronological order, starting from the 23rd year of King Weilie of Zhou Dynasty (402 BC) to the 6th year of Xiande of Emperor Shizong of Zhou Dynasty (959 AD). It records the history from the Warring States Period to the Five Dynasties in 1361. There are 294 volumes in total, with 30 volumes of catalogue and examination, with a total of more than 3 million words. It is a historical masterpiece with great reference value, and it is still loved by readers. Sima Guang spent his whole life on Zi Zhi Tong Jian. Two years after the book was written, he died in 1086 at the age of 67. Sima Guang Zi Zhi Tong Jian Cun Volume 1