History of Song
Encyclopedia
The History of Song or Song Shi is one of the official Chinese historical works known as the Twenty-Four Histories
Twenty-Four Histories
The Twenty-Four Histories is a collection of Chinese historical books covering a period from 3000 BC to the Ming Dynasty in the 17th century. The whole set contains 3213 volumes and about 40 million words...

 of China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 that records the history of the Song Dynasty
Song Dynasty
The Song Dynasty was a ruling dynasty in China between 960 and 1279; it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and was followed by the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or paper money, and the first Chinese government to establish a...

 (960-1279 CE). It was commissioned in 1343 and compiled under the direction of First Minister Toktoghan
Toktoghan
Toktoghan , also called "The Great Historian Tuotuo", was a Yuan Dynasty official historian and high minister of the Yuan emperor. With the purge and murder of him, the Yuan court might have lost its last chance to defeat the Red Turban Rebellion, which started in the early 1350s.- Biography...

 and Prime Minister Alutu (阿鲁图/阿魯圖) during the Yuan Dynasty
Yuan Dynasty
The Yuan Dynasty , or Great Yuan Empire was a ruling dynasty founded by the Mongol leader Kublai Khan, who ruled most of present-day China, all of modern Mongolia and its surrounding areas, lasting officially from 1271 to 1368. It is considered both as a division of the Mongol Empire and as an...

 (1279-1368 CE) at the same time as the History of Liao
History of Liao
History of Liao, or Liao Shi is a Chinese historical book compiled officially in the Yuan Dynasty founded by the Mongols, under the direction of the great historian Tuotuo, and finalized in 1343...

and the History of Jin. Running to a total of 496 chapters, the History of Song includes biographies of the Song Emperors along with contemporary records and biographical sketches of Song Dynasty politicians, soldiers and philosophers.

Publication process

During the early years of the Yuan Dynasty, its progenitor Kublai Khan
Kublai Khan
Kublai Khan , born Kublai and also known by the temple name Shizu , was the fifth Great Khan of the Mongol Empire from 1260 to 1294 and the founder of the Yuan Dynasty in China...

 ordered the compilation of a History of the Song Dynasty but due to style issues, this was not completed during his reign as emperor. In March 1343, the third year of Ukhaantu Khan, Emperor Huizong of Yuan's Zhizheng Era
Chinese era name
A Chinese era name is the regnal year, reign period, or regnal title used when traditionally numbering years in an emperor's reign and naming certain Chinese rulers . Some emperors have several era names, one after another, where each beginning of a new era resets the numbering of the year back...

 (至正年号), an Imperial edict ordered the creation of histories of the Song, Liao and Jin Dynasties. Under the overall supervision of Toktogan, Temür Daš (Chinese Tiemuertashi 铁木儿塔识/鐵木兒塔識), He Weiyi, (贺惟一/賀惟一), Zhang Qiyan (张起岩/張起巖), Ouyang Xuan (欧阳玄/ 歐陽玄) Li Haowen (李好文), Wang Yi (王沂) and Yang Zongduan (楊宗端) were given responsibility for the project with Woyuluntu (斡玉伦徒/斡玉倫徒), Tai Buhua ( 泰不华/泰不華), Yu Wenzhuan (于文传/于文傳), Gong Shidao (贡师道/貢師道), Yu Que (余阙/餘闕), Jia Lu
Jia Lu
Jia Lu is an oil painter working in America, known for blending Asian and European imagery in her paintings, predominantly of women.-Biography:...

 (贾鲁/賈魯) Wei Su (危素) and 23 others appointed as historiographers
Historiography
Historiography refers either to the study of the history and methodology of history as a discipline, or to a body of historical work on a specialized topic...

. Toktogan resigned in May 1344 to be replaced on the project by Prime Minister Alutu, even though the later was not familiar with Chinese character
Chinese character
Chinese characters are logograms used in the writing of Chinese and Japanese , less frequently Korean , formerly Vietnamese , or other languages...

s. The final book took only two and a half years to produce and was published in Zhejiang Province in 1346, the sixth year of the Zhizheng Era.

Content

The History of Song with its 496 chapters is the largest of the 24 Dynastic Histories. It contains 47 chapters of Imperial biographies, 162 chapters covering Song Dynasty records (志/誌 Zhì), 32 chapters of tables (showing genealogy etc.) and 255 chapters of historical biographies. A work of enormous breadth, the History of Song contains more than 2,000 individual historical biographies, more than twice as many as the Book of Tang
Book of Tang
The Book of Tang , Jiu Tangshu or the Old Book of Tang is the first classic work about the Tang Dynasty. The book began when Gaozu of Later Jin ordered its commencement in 941...

 that chronicles the history of the Early Tang Dynasty. In the section of the book covering Song Dynasty records there are fifteen separate categories viz: astronomy, the system of five phases known as Wu Xing, the legal calendar (律历/律曆), geography, rivers and water ways、Confucian rites, music, ceremonial weaponry and bodyguards (仪卫/儀衛), military dress (舆服/輿服), elections, government positions, consumer goods, the army and punishment together with art and culture. Altogether these chapters make up one third of the work. The historical biographies section of the History of Song is unsurpassed by any of the other Dynastic Histories; there are detailed descriptions of Song government structures from the central down to the local level. Sections covering consumer goods and the army are also well written with much more detail than found in the other Dynastic Histories. The fourteen chapters on consumer goods contain seven times the amount of information as the corresponding chapters of the Book of Tang. A total of seven chapters contain biographies of traitors and rebels including Cai Jing
Cai Jing
Cai Jing , style name Yuanchang , was a government official and calligrapher who lived during the Northern Song Dynasty. Cai Jing is also featured as one of the antagonists and nemesis of the 108 Liangshan heroes in the Water Margin, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese...

, Huang Qianshan (黃潛善), Qin Hui
Qin Hui (Song Dynasty)
Qin Hui or Qin Kuai was a Chancellor of the Song Dynasty in China, who is widely regarded as a traitor of the Han race for his part in the political execution of General Yue Fei...

, Zhang Bangchang (张邦昌) and Liu Yu
Liu Yu
Liu Yu was a warlord and politician during the late Han Dynasty period of Chinese history.During the campaign against Dong Zhuo, the Guandong coalition asked Liu Yu to declare himself emperor, since he was a member of the extended family of the Han Dynasty emperors, but Liu Yu refused...

 (劉豫) whilst the four chapters on Confucian scholars feature individuals such as Zhou Dunyi, Cheng Hao
Cheng Hao
Chéng Hào , styled Bochun , was a neo-Confucian philosopher from Luoyang, China. In his youth, he and his younger brother Cheng Yi were students of Zhou Dunyi, one of the architects of Neo-Confucian cosmology.-Life:...

, Cheng Yi
Cheng Yi (philosopher)
Cheng Yi , courtesy name Zhengshu , also known as Mr. Yichuan , was a Chinese philosopher born in Luoyang during the Song Dynasty. He worked with his older brother Cheng Hao . Like his brother, he was a student of Zhou Dunyi, a friend of Shao Yong, and a nephew of Zhang Zai...

, Zhang Zai and Zhu Xi
Zhu Xi
Zhū​ Xī​ or Chu Hsi was a Song Dynasty Confucian scholar who became the leading figure of the School of Principle and the most influential rationalist Neo-Confucian in China...


Evaluation

The ideology behind the History of Song is that of Neo-confucianism
Neo-Confucianism
Neo-Confucianism is an ethical and metaphysical Chinese philosophy influenced by Confucianism, that was primarily developed during the Song Dynasty and Ming Dynasty, but which can be traced back to Han Yu and Li Ao in the Tang Dynasty....

, with coverage of the Confucian doctrines of loyalty, righteousness and ethics regarding the well-known scholars Zhou Dunyi, Cheng Hao, Cheng Yi, Zhang Zai and Zhu Xi amongst others. No less than 278 individuals feature in the section on loyalty and righteousness (忠义传 Zhōngyì Zhuàn). Qing Dynasty
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....

 historian Qian Daxin (钱大昕) once said: "The History of Song esteems neo-confucianism, especially the school of Zhu Xi". Its compilation follows the principles of Confucian life. Fine logic and language is used to convey morality
Morality
Morality is the differentiation among intentions, decisions, and actions between those that are good and bad . A moral code is a system of morality and a moral is any one practice or teaching within a moral code...

 whilst eschewing utilitarianism
Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism is an ethical theory holding that the proper course of action is the one that maximizes the overall "happiness", by whatever means necessary. It is thus a form of consequentialism, meaning that the moral worth of an action is determined only by its resulting outcome, and that one can...

. The book's style is also highly regarded and considered a model example. Wang Anshi
Wang Anshi
Wang Anshi was a Chinese economist, statesman, chancellor and poet of the Song Dynasty who attempted controversial, major socioeconomic reforms...

's Xining Reforms (熙寧變法) are rejected by the History of Song whilst political reform campaigners including Lu Huiqing (呂惠卿), Ceng Bu (曾布) and Zhang Dun (章惇) feature in the section on traitors and rebels, Shi Miyuan (史彌遠) however, despite his involvement in the suicide of Emperor Ningzong of Song
Emperor Ningzong of Song
Emperor Ningzong 寧宗 was the 13th emperor of the Song dynasty who reigned from 1194 to 1224. His temple name means "Tranquil Ancestor". His reign was noted for the cultural and intellectual achievements...

's eldest heir, does not feature in this section or indeed the entire History of Song. Famous general Wang Jianzai (王堅在), regardless of his valiant combat record, is also omitted as are many other individuals involved in Mongol defeats by the Song.

Despite both the History of Song and the History of Jin being completed at the same time they are different in many ways. the History of Song records Yue Fei
Yue Fei
Yue Fei , style name Pengju, was a military general of the Southern Song Dynasty. His ancestral home was in Xiaoti, Yonghe Village, Tangyin, Xiangzhou, Henan...

 emerging victorious from every battle with the Jin Dynasty, yet the History of Jin barely mentions Emperor Taizu of Jin's capture of Bozhou
Bozhou
Bozhou is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Anhui province, People's Republic of China. It borders Huaibei to the northeast, Bengbu to the southeast, Huainan to the south, Fuyang to the southwest, and the province of Henan to the north.-Administration:...

, Shunchangfu (顺昌府), Ruzhou
Ruzhou
Ruzhou is a city in Henan province in China. It has more than 100,000 inhabitants. The Fengxue Temple of Ruzhou features the Qizu Pagoda, built in 738 during the Tang Dynasty .- Transportaion :...

 and Songzhou (嵩州) when Yue Fei and other commanders withdrew from the battle. Information in the History of Song regarding Yue Fei all comes from a work by his descendant Yue Ke's (岳珂) Eguo Jintuo Zuibian (鄂國金佗稡编 literally: Record of the Jin in Hubei), the reliability of which is questioned by some sources, for example whether the Battle of Yancheng
Battle of Yancheng
The Battle of Yancheng took place in 1139 CE near modern day Luohe City in Henan Province, China between the main armies of the ruling Song Dynasty and Jurchen or Jin invaders from the north...

 (郾城之戰) really was a great victory for the Song and if the claim regarding Yue Fei's twelve gold medals is true. Furthermore, there remains the issue of whether Yu Fei's troops left the people unharmed as is sometimes claimed. Qing Dynasty poet and historian Zhao Yi (赵翼) covers this in his Twenty-two Historical Sketches (二十二史扎记) under a section regarding observations on the Song and Jin armies (宋金用兵需参观二史).

Because the History of Song was prepared in a hurry and is the work of many editing it contains a number of unavoidable errors and contradictions; for example an individual with two biographical entries such as Li Xijing (李熙靖) who appears in chapter 116 of the historical biographies section then again in chapter 222. The work also covers the Northern and Early Southern Song Dynasties in detail with only an outline of the later Southern Song Dynasty. There are more biographies of individuals from the Northern Song period, for example the Wenyuan Zhuan (文苑传) covers a total of 96 people of which only 11 are from the Southern Song era. The History of Song is also considered the most disordered of the 24 Dynastic Histories. Zhao Yi comments: “When the Yuan Dynasty wrote the history of the overthrown Song they probably just arranged preexisting Song texts.” The Qing Dynasty Siku Quanshu (四庫全書總目) collection of books says that the “main purpose of the History of Song is as a tribute to the Song emperors and their Confucianism. Attention is not paid to other matters so there are a great number of errors”. In 1977, Zhonghua Publishing issued a new version of the History of Song with corrections to the punctuation.

Later influence

Since the time of its publication, successive dynasties have produced commentaries on the History of Song. In 1546, Ming Dynasty
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...

 author Wang Zhu (王洙) completed his 100 chapter Supplement to the History of Song to be followed in 1561 by Ke Weiqi's (柯维祺) 200 chapter Songshi Xinbian (宋史新编) and the 250 chapter Songshi Ji (宋史记) written by Wang Weijian (王惟俭). During the Qing Dynasty, Chen Huangzhong (陳黃中) wrote the Songshi Gao (宋史稿) running to 219 chapters whilst Chen Xinyuan (陸心源) produced the 40 chapterSongshi Yi (宋史翼). In Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...

 Li Suan
Jeongjo of Joseon
King Jeongjo was the 22nd ruler of the Joseon Dynasty of Korea. He made various attempts to reform and improve the nation of Joseon. He was preceded by his grandfather King Yeongjo and succeeded by his son King Sunjo...

 (李算) of the Joseon Dynasty
Joseon Dynasty
Joseon , was a Korean state founded by Taejo Yi Seong-gye that lasted for approximately five centuries. It was founded in the aftermath of the overthrow of the Goryeo at what is today the city of Kaesong. Early on, Korea was retitled and the capital was relocated to modern-day Seoul...

 (1392-1910 CE) penned the Songshi Qian (宋史筌) with 148 chapters. All these works correct some of the shortcomings of the History of Song but are no substitute for the original.

During the final years of the Qing Qianlong Emperor
Qianlong Emperor
The Qianlong Emperor was the sixth emperor of the Manchu-led Qing Dynasty, and the fourth Qing emperor to rule over China proper. The fourth son of the Yongzheng Emperor, he reigned officially from 11 October 1735 to 8 February 1796...

 (r. 1735-1796 CE), historian Shao Jinhan (邵晉涵) along with Qian Daxin (錢大昕) and Zhang Xuecheng
Zhang Xuecheng
Zhang Xuecheng was a Qing Dynasty historian, writer and thinker. His magnum opus is On Literature and History , which was published posthumously in 1832. In Zhang's view, the Confucian Way developed over time in response to the concrete needs of the people for social organization...

 (章學誠) worked hard to revamp the History of Song. Shao produced his Biographical sketch of the Southern Song (南都事略) then went back to work on the History of Song but died before it was completed.

External links

  • (In Chinese)

  • (In Chinese)

  • (In Chinese)

See also

  • History of the Song Dynasty
    History of the Song Dynasty
    The Song Dynasty of China was a ruling dynasty that controlled China proper and southern China from the middle of the 10th century into the last quarter of the 13th century...

  • 24 Histories


This article is based on a translation of 宋史 in Chinese Wikipedia
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