What are the 24 histories and which histories do the 24 histories cover? Today, I will first talk to you about the overall overview of the 24 histories.
The Twenty-Four Histories are the general term for the twenty-four canonical histories written by various dynasties in ancient China, all of which are compiled in the jichuan style. It dates from the legendary Yellow Emperor period (c. 2550 BC) to the seventeenth year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty (1644). It covers the political, economic, military, ideological, cultural, astronomical, geographical and other aspects of ancient China. A total of 3213 volumes, about 40 million words.
What are the parts of the 24 histories? Let's go one by one.
Originally known as the Taishi Gongshu or Taishi Gongji and Taishi Shiji, it is a chronicle of the Western Han Dynasty written by the historian Sima Qian, and is the first general history of the Jichuan style in Chinese history, recording a total of more than 3,000 years from the era of the Yellow Emperor in ancient legends to the four years of the first four years of the Han Wu Emperor. Second, the Book of Han, also known as the Book of the Former Han Dynasty, is the first chronicle of the Chinese dynasty. Compiled by the Historian Of the Han Dynasty and the Eastern Han Dynasty, The Confucian Scholar Ban Gu, which lasted for more than 20 years. The book mainly records the history of the first year of Han Gaozu (206 BC) and down to the fourth year of the new dynasty King Mangdi (23 AD).
3. The Book of the Later Han Dynasty was compiled by Fan Ye, a historian of the Southern Dynasty and Song Dynasties. It mainly records the first year of Jianwu (25 AD) of Emperor Guangwu of Han guangwu in the Eastern Han Dynasty, down to the 25th year of Jian'an (220 AD) of Emperor Xian of Han, a total of 195 years of history.
IV. The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, written by the Historian Chen Shou of the Western Jin Dynasty, records the history of the Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu dynasties of the Three Kingdoms period of China, and is one of the highest-rated "first four histories" in the twenty-four histories. It took ten years of hard work.
V. The Book of Jin was co-authored by Fang Xuanling and 21 others in the Tang Dynasty. The history recorded in the book begins in the early years of Sima Yi at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and ends with the eastern Jin Dynasty Gong Emperor Yuan Xi's second year (420) Liu Yu deposed the Jin Emperor and established himself, with the History of the Song Dynasty and the Jin Dynasty and the Eastern and Western Jin Dynasties.
Before talking about the following history books, it is necessary to briefly talk to you about the Southern and Northern Dynasties. The Southern and Northern Dynasties are the collective names of the Southern and Northern Dynasties. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, southern and northern China were divided, from the Sixteen Kingdoms of the Eastern Jin Dynasty to the Sui Dynasty, beginning with Liu Yu's establishment of the Southern Song Dynasty in 420 and ending with the Sui Dynasty chen in 589. The Southern Dynasty (420-589) inherited from the Eastern Jin Dynasty and was founded by the Han Chinese, with the Southern Dynasties Song, Southern Qi, Southern Liang, and Southern Chen Si Dynasties, all with Jiankang (present-day Nanjing, Jiangsu) as the capital; the Northern Dynasty (386-581) inherited from the Sixteen Kingdoms, established by the Xianbei people, with Northern Wei, Eastern Wei, Western Wei, Northern Qi and Northern Five Dynasties, northern Wei split into Eastern Wei and Western Wei, Northern Qi replaced Eastern Wei, Northern Zhou replaced Western Wei, and Northern Zhou destroyed Northern Qi. Born in one of the Eight Pillar States of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, Li Tangzong's Book of Jin was regarded as orthodox by the Northern Dynasty, and Sima Guang's Zizhi Tongjian was regarded as orthodox by the Southern Dynasty. 6. The Book of Song is a chronicle of the history of the Liu Song Dynasty in the Southern Dynasty. Written by Southern Dynasty Liang Shen Yue. It records the historical facts of the Southern Dynasty Liu Song Dynasty from the establishment of Liu Yu to the last 60 years of Liu Song to its final demise. It is necessary to emphasize here that the Book of Song records the history of Liu Song, one of the Southern Dynasties, but not the history of the Song Dynasty established by Zhao Kuangyin in China's history.
7. The Book of Southern Qi is a historical book written by Liang Xiaozixian of the Southern Dynasty, which records the history of the Xiaoqi Dynasty of the Southern Dynasty from the first year of the founding of Emperor Qi Gao (479 AD) to the second year of Qi He Emperor Zhongxing (502 AD), a total of 23 years of history, and is the earliest surviving history of Southern Qi.
VIII. The Book of Liang is one of the Twenty-Four Histories, and is a chronicle written by Yao Cha and Yao Silian in the early Tang Dynasty. It mainly records the politics of Xiao Qi in the southern dynasty and the history of the Xiao Liang Dynasty (502-557 AD) for more than 50 years.
9. The Book of Chen is a historical work written by Yao Silian of the Tang Dynasty, which records the history of the Chen Dynasty in the Southern Dynasty, from the ascension of The Chen Wu Emperor Chen Baxian to the thirty-three years before and after the fall of Chen Shubao, the lord of Chen Hou. 10. The Book of Wei is a chronicle of the Northern Wei Dynasty written by The Northern Qi dynasty, which records the history of the Northern Wei Dynasty from the end of the 4th century to the middle of the 6th century.
11. The Book of Northern Qi is a chronicle of the Tang Dynasty historian Li Baiyao. The work records about ten years before the northern Wei split, followed by the northern Wei split, the eastern Wei state, the northern Qi replacing the eastern Wei, and the lower northern Qi fall, more than 50 years before and after the historical facts, and mainly records the history of northern Qi.
XII. The Book of Zhou was edited by the Tang Dynasty LingHu Dedi, and the main record is a chronicle of the 24-year history of the Zhou Dynasty (Northern Zhou, 557-581).
13. The Book of Sui is a chronicle of the Tang Dynasty edited by Wei Zheng. It records a total of 38 years from the first year of Emperor Wen of Sui (581) to the second year of Emperor Yining of Sui (618). The authors of the Book of Sui were all well-educated people with a high level of historical revision.
14. 15: The History of the South and the History of the North are sister articles, compiled by Master Li and his son Li Yanshou for two generations. The History of the South records a total of 169 years of history from the first year of the song Dynasty Emperor Liu Yuyong 's first year (420) to the third year (589) of Chen Shubaozhenming. The History of the North chronicles the 232-year history from the first year of the Northern Wei Dynasty (386) to the second year of Sui Yining (618).
16, 17: "Old Book of Tang", "New Book of Tang": Under normal circumstances, there is only one canonical history of the dynasties, but there are only two canonical histories that record the history of the Tang Dynasty, in order to show the distinction, named "Old Book of Tang" and "New Book of Tang" respectively, recording the history of the Tang Dynasty in 289 years. The Old Book of Tang was edited by Zhao Ying of the Later Jin Dynasty, and edited by Song Qi and Ouyang Xiu of the New Book of Tang.
18, 19: History of the Old Five Dynasties, History of the New Five Dynasties. The History of the Old Five Dynasties was written in the Northern Song Dynasty and was written by Xue Juzheng and others in the Song Dynasty. The historical materials that can be referenced in the book are quite complete, and there are actual records in each of the five dynasties. The "History of the New Five Dynasties" was written by Song Ouyang, and later generations distinguished it from the history of the Five Dynasties of Xue Juzheng and other officials, called the History of the New Five Dynasties. Both record the historical deeds from 907 AD when Zhu Wen was called emperor of the Tang Dynasty to the establishment of the Northern Song Dynasty in 960 AD, which is customarily called "Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms". The "New History of the Five Dynasties" is the only private revision history after the Tang and Song Dynasties, and has a very important position in the history of Chinese historiography, especially in the historiography after the Tang and Song Dynasties, and Ouyang Xiuwencai is even more fascinating, but because of the promotion of the "Spring and Autumn Brushwork", the praise and criticism of recent people are mixed.
20 to 22: "History of Song", "History of Liao", "History of Jin": Successively edited by The Yuan Dynasty And Arutu, the "History of Song" and the "History of Liao" and "History of Jin" were revised at the same time, which is the largest official revision history book in the twenty-four histories. The History of the Song Dynasty records the history of the two Song Dynasties and three hundred years, and the History of Liao records the history of the Liao Dynasty (907-1125) from the Liao Taizu Yelü Abaoji, down to the Liao Tianzuo Emperor Yelü Yanxi, and the history of the Western Liao (1124-1218) established by Yelü Dashi. The "History of Jin" records the history of 166 years from the birth of Jin Taizu (1068) to the third year of Jin Aizong Tianxing (1234) when the Mongols destroyed Jin. Successive dynasties have highly evaluated the "History of Jin", believing that it not only surpasses the "History of Song" and "History of Liao", but also surpasses the "History of Yuan".
23. "History of the Yuan": It is a chronicle of the rise and fall of the Yuan Dynasty, edited by Song Lian and Wang Yuan of the Ming Dynasty. It recounts the history from the rise of the Mongols to the establishment and demise of the Yuan Dynasty.
The History of the Ming Dynasty is the last of the twenty-four histories, consisting of three hundred and thirty-two volumes. It is a chronicle of the Ming Dynasty, recording the history of the Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang Hongwu Yuan yuan (1368 AD) to the 17th year of the Ming Sizong Zhu Youguan Chongzhen (1644 AD) 276 years.
Well, the 24 history will be briefly introduced to everyone, at this time there are children who ask, why is there no "History of the Qing", first of all, every history book of the Twenty-Four History is written by the later dynasty for the previous dynasty, and China's imperial power has ended in the Qing Dynasty. One point we should note is that the history books of the past dynasties cannot be the historians of this dynasty who wrote the correct history for this dynasty, because this is really too biased. Therefore, successive dynasties have adopted the history of this dynasty to write history for the previous dynasty, for example, the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" of the Three Kingdoms period is the main history written by chen shou, the historian of the Jin Dynasty; and the "Book of Jin", which describes the history of the Jin Dynasty, was written by the historian of the Tang Dynasty. However, this does not guarantee absolute objectivity. In fact, the Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty in Our country, and it is reasonable that no one can compile a correct history for it. In fact, in the early days of the Republic of China, there were also histories repaired for the Qing Dynasty, but for various reasons it was shelved.