Sima Guang

Sima Guang was a native of Sushui Township, Xia County, Shaanxi Province, Northern Song Dynasty (now Sima Ying Village, Xia County, Shanxi Province). He was born on November 17, 1019 AD, and is known as Mr. Sushui in the world. He is a famous historian in ancient our country. He wrote many books in his life, with more than 500 volumes in 20 kinds. Among them, the book "Zizhi Tongjian" compiled by him is the best general history masterpiece after Sima Qian's "Historical Records" in Chinese feudal society. Since its inception, it has always been respected by historians and has had a huge impact on the future development of historiography in our country.

Sima Guang was diligent and studious since he was a child, and loved to read history books. When he was 7 years old, he was very interested in listening to his teacher talk about "The Biography of the Spring and Autumn Zuo Clan". When he got home, he could tell his family well. This famous historical work had a great influence on him. His ability to write "Zizhitongjian" was inseparable from the influence of this book on him. Sima Guang was smart since he was a child. Once, he played hide-and-seek with a group of friends. A child accidentally fell into the water tank, and the other children were scared away. Only Sima Guang was in a hurry and moved a big stone, smashed the water tank, and after the water flowed out, the child was saved. Sima Guang's wit and bravery have been passed down to future generations as a good story.

Sima Guang passed the Jinshi exam at the age of 20. He continued to study hard and studied history whenever he had time. He found that although there were many historical works since ancient times, they lacked a relatively systematic and complete general history, so he decided to compile it himself. Initially, Sima Guang spent two years writing a history book from the Warring States Period to the end of Qin Dynasty. There were 8 volumes in total, called "Tong Zhi." After reading it, Song Yingzong was very satisfied and immediately ordered the establishment of a bookstore as a compilation institution. Continue writing. Song Yingzong allowed Sima Guang to choose his own editors and allowed him to borrow official books. When Sima Guang founded the bookstore, he invited famous historians at the time Liu Shu and Fan Zuyu as assistants to jointly compile this general history.

After Song Shenzong became emperor, he also believed that the book "Tongzhi" could not only help to understand the rise and fall of dynasties, but also the history recorded in the book was like a mirror, which could be often used for reference. Therefore, he changed the title of the book to "Zizhi Tongjian". "Zizhi" means help, "pass" means from ancient times to the present, and "view" refers to the mirror, which means warning and lessons. Later, people referred to "Zizhi Tongjian" as "Tongjian". This book was compiled from the second year of Song Yingzong's hegemony (AD 1065) to the seventh year of Shenzong's Yuanfeng (AD 1084), which lasted 19 years. In order to compile this book, Sima Guang paid a lot of labor, and two rooms were piled up in just the first draft. Although Sima Guang was born into a family of bureaucrats and landlords, he served as a judge of the Kaifeng Mansion, a general judge of Binzhou, a straight bachelor of Longtuge, a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy, a master of the imperial history, an official of the book Zuo Pushu and a servant under the door. He was very conservative and stubborn in politics, but in the process of editing "Zizhitongjian", he was extremely rigorous and responsible, and meticulous. He got up early every day to work until he went to bed late at night. He was afraid that he would oversleep, so he specially made a log pillow that was easy to roll. As soon as he turned over the pillow, it would roll off, and he woke up. He called this pillow "the police pillow".

"Zizhi Tongjian" arranges the actual history in chronological order, starting from the 23rd year of King Weilie of the Zhou Dynasty (402 BC) to the sixth year of Xiande of Shizong of the Later Zhou Dynasty (959 AD). It records the history from the Warring States Period to the Five Dynasties and 1361 years. The book has a total of 294 volumes, and 30 volumes of catalog and textual research are attached, totaling more than 3 million words. It is a historical masterpiece with great reference value and is still loved by readers today. Sima Guang devoted his life to "Zi Zhi Tong Jian". Two years after the book was written, he died in 1086 at the age of 67.

A Volume of Sima Guang's Comprehensive Review of the Comprehensive Review of the Administration of Resources