The Shitong is the first Chinese work about historiography

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...

 compiled by Liu Zhiji

Liu Zhiji

Liu Zhiji , courtesy name Zixuan , was a Chinese historian and author of the Shitong born in present-day Xuzhou, Jiangsu during the Tang Dynasty. Liu's father Liu Zangqi and elder brother Liu Zhirou were officials, famous for their literary compositions...

 between 708 and 710. The book describes the general pattern of the past official dynastic historiography on structure, method, order of arrangement, sequence, caption and commentary back to the pre-Qin

Qin Dynasty

The Qin Dynasty was the first imperial dynasty of China, lasting from 221 to 207 BC. The Qin state derived its name from its heartland of Qin, in modern-day Shaanxi. The strength of the Qin state was greatly increased by the legalist reforms of Shang Yang in the 4th century BC, during the Warring...

 era.

It contains about 88,000 words including Liu's commentaries, which divided into 39 inner chapters and 13 outer chapters, 3 of the inner chapters had been lost since the times of Ouyang Xiu

Ouyang Xiu

Ouyang Xiu was a Chinese statesman, historian, essayist and poet of the Song Dynasty. He is also known by his courtesy name of Yongshu, and was also self nicknamed The Old Drunkard 醉翁, or Householder of the One of Six 六一居士 in his old age...

, while the rests managed to survive. The inner chapters which are a principal part of the book provided information on the types, forms, rules, layout, the collecting of historical materials, outline, and the principle of historiography. The outer chapters describe the official system of the historiographer, origin and development of histories, and the success and failure of past historian

Historian

A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...

s.

The copies of 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...

 are no longer available, while the reprinted editions of 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...

can still be seen. The oldest are the 1535 edition by Lu Shen, the most complete version of them being the 1577 edition by Zhang Zhixiang, which was published by Zhonghua Shuju in 1961.

External links

• Shitong "All about Historiography" — Chinaknowledge.de.