introduction
As we all know, Cangjie, who created the text in the legend, is the historical official around the Yellow Emperor of Xuanyuan and the earliest historical official in the history of our country. It is recorded in the "Ming Yi Tongzhi Characters Ancient" that "Cangjie, a native of WuCun in Nanle, was born and saintly, had four eyes, and the bird-watching insect literature was first made to replace the government of the knot rope, and it was the historical official of the Yellow Emperor of Xuanyuan."
Beginning with Cangjie, successive dynasties have established the post of historian to record the history of the time. Throughout history, from the beginning of Sima Qian's compilation of the "History of History" to the "History of Ming", all dynasties in China wrote a total of twenty-four historical books (if you add the "New Yuan History" and "Qing History Draft", that is, twenty-six parts), collectively known as the Twenty-Four History.
▲ Twenty-four histories
01
In addition to the twenty-four histories, there is also a history book in history that cannot be ignored, which was once strictly forbidden to go abroad, and Japan and South Korea would rather smuggle it than get it. This book is the "Zizhi Tongjian" compiled by Sima Guang of the Northern Song Dynasty. This historical book records a total of 1362 years of history from 403 BC to 959 AD, and is a large-scale chronicle of general history, which can be called a historical masterpiece.
The Zizhi Tongjian was given the title by Emperor Shenzong of Song because he believed that the book was "qualified to govern the way in view of the past". This history book has an extremely important influence not only in China, but also in southeast Asia. However, due to its grandiose length and the fact that it is written in ancient Chinese, in modern times, few people except professionals read it through, and even fewer people can integrate it. Mr. Bai Yang spent ten years translating Zizhi Tongjian into vernacular for publication. For the average reader, the vernacular version is much smoother to read.
▲ "Zizhi Tongjian" book shadow
02
In feudal society, it was impossible to complete such a history book without the support of the ruling imperial court. The reason why the emperor supported the compilation of history books was not only to circulate historical records, but more importantly, to guide his own rule. The same is true of the Zizhi Tongjian, which can be said to be a guide for the emperor to rule the world, and there are a large number of "conspiracies of power and power" in the book, which can be said to be "emperor textbooks". Therefore, it also became a "banned book" at that time, and it was strictly forbidden for folk circulation. In the fourth year of Shaosheng (1097 AD), because Sima Guang was different from Wang Anshi's political faction at that time, Wang Anshi's son-in-law proposed to destroy the Zizhi Tongjian, but fortunately was stopped by the courtiers at that time.
Once the Zizhi Tongjian was written, it belonged to the strict control of the Song court and was strictly prohibited from being sold outside of China. After hearing about this book, the king of Goryeo sent envoys to the Song court to ask for the Zizhi Tongjian, but the Song court categorically refused. Japan at the time was also very curious about the book, but at that time Japan had very little contact with the Song Dynasty, and even the King of Goryeo could not get the book, let alone Japan.
▲Map of the Northern Song Dynasty
Therefore, the Goryeo Kingdom and Japan had coveted this book for a long time, but the Song court hid it tightly and could not get it from official channels anyway. Until the turn of the Song Dynasty, china's government was chaotic and wars were frequent, and the Goryeo Kingdom and Japan seized this opportunity. Through the way of private smuggling, the "Zizhi Tongjian" was finally collected.
03
After the Goryeo kingdom received this book, it was taught to the princes and nobles in the imperial palace as a teaching material. After the introduction of the Zizhi Tongjian to Japan, many Japanese politicians and thinkers immediately studied it carefully and gave the book a very high evaluation. The emperor and shoguns regarded it as a textbook for training rulers. Until the time of Emperor Meiji, the Zizhi Tongjian was one of the required books that the emperor often put on his desk.
▲Emperor Meiji's former illumination
Sima Guang, the chief compiler of the Zizhi Tongjian, was referred to as the Three Confucian Saints along with Kong Meng. When compiling this book, Sima Guang selected a wealth of historical materials, not only taking various historical materials as reference and revision, but also specifically indicating the reasons for the selection of historical materials. It was finally completed with the help of everyone, and then uniformly revised and polished by Sima Guang, and then finalized. Therefore, the thinking and rhetoric of this book are unified, the writing is beautiful and vivid, and in addition to its historical value, it also has a fairly high literary value.
The Zizhi Tongjian records all aspects of historical data in the past 1362, including war, science and technology, etiquette, astronomy, geography and so on. Scholars of all generations in China have spoken highly of the Zizhi Tongjian, and since its completion, successive emperors have regarded it as a must-read book. The famous sages and sages in history not only read it carefully, but also carefully commented on it. The same is true of today's politicians and thinkers in various countries. Gu Yanwu of the Qing Dynasty praised him in the "Rizhilu and the Difficulty of Writing Books": "(The Zizhi Tongjian and the Literature Tongkao) were all made with a lifetime of energy, and they became indispensable books for future generations." The praise and accolades received by Zizhi Tongjian are simply innumerable. Of all the history books, only the Chronicle of History can be compared.
▲ Photo of "History"
epilogue
Nowadays, it is very easy to get a "Zizhi Tongjian", and it is not difficult to read it. For ordinary people, it is not necessary to call it a heavy name, and it is very interesting to look at it just as a collection of historical stories.
Resources:
"Ming Yi Tongzhi : Characters of Antiquity"
"The Difficulty of Writing a Book"
Zizhi Tongjian