The Sui and Tang dynasties were a period of development of China's feudal society, and it was also a period of new development after the growth of Chinese historiography. Due to the attention and advocacy of the rulers of the Tang Dynasty, historiography has been greatly developed in the Tang Dynasty. During this period, there were new developments and progresses in both the scale of historical revision and in historical thought.
Emperor Taizong of Tang formally established the History Museum
Before the Sui and Tang dynasties, most of the jichuan history books were written privately. During the reign of Emperor Wen of Sui, private households were forbidden to "compile national histories and Zang pin figures". During the Wude period, Emperor Gaozu of Tang ordered the compilation and revision of the history of the previous dynasty. In the third year of Emperor Taizong's reign (629), the History Museum was officially established in the Forbidden Period, the earliest full-time history revision institution in Chinese history, and both the history of the former dynasty and the history of the current dynasty (including the notes on living quarters, the records, and the history of the state) were written from here.
Eight of the twenty-four histories were completed in the Tang Dynasty
There is a revision and a straight building in the museum, which is engaged in specific compilation work, and the prime minister is made to edit. Since then, the official revision history and the supervision of the prime minister have become customized, and have been followed until the Qing Dynasty, which has enabled the history of China's dynasties to continue, thus preserving a large number of historical materials. As a result of strengthening the compilation of history books, the Tang Dynasty made great achievements in the revision of history. Among the twenty-four histories, there are eight histories cultivated in the Tang Dynasty, namely the Book of Jin, the Book of Liang, the Book of Chen, the Book of Northern Qi, the Book of Zhou, the Book of Sui, the History of the South, and the History of the North. Among them, the "History of the South" and the "History of the North" were privately revised by Li Yanshou and later approved by the government to become the main history. In the seventeenth year of Zhenguan (643), because there was no "Zhi" in the five histories of Liang, Chen, Northern Qi, Zhou, and Sui, Tang Taizong issued an edict to edit the "History of the Five Dynasties", and until the first year of Emperor Gaozong of Tang (656), it was written, which is now the "Zhi" in the "Book of Sui".
Liu Zhi is like a few
The most important achievement of Tang Dynasty historiography is Liu Zhiji's "Stone". Liu Zhiji (661-721), courtesy name Zixuan, was a native of Pengcheng (present-day Xuzhou, Jiangsu). His grandfather was a historian, the family environment made him have a strong interest in historiography, at the age of 17, he basically read the main history books before the Tang Dynasty, at the age of 20, he entered the History Museum, participated in the revision of the "History of Tang", and then quit the History Museum because of disagreements with the people in power in the History Museum, immersed in the creation of "Stone", after 9 years of hard work, Yu Jinglong completed the "Stone" in the fourth year (710).
"Stone" is China's first systematic work of historical criticism and historical theory, which is of epoch-making significance. Stone consists of 20 volumes, with 52 original articles and 49 extant articles, divided into two parts: internal and external. The inner part 36 discusses the origins, styles, and compilation methods of historiography, while the outer part 13 discusses the history of the establishment of historical officials and the gains and losses of historical books.
Stone
Liu Zhiji criticized the fatalistic view popular in historical works, emphasizing the role of personnel in history, and pointed out: "Those who succeed or fail in the theory of husbands and wives should be based on personnel affairs, and if they must push their lives, they are contradictory. Liu Zhiji believes that history is changing and developing, and the evaluation of people and events should be based on the objective situation at that time. He also objected to the past and not the present, arguing that "those who hold this world in the way of the kings of the past" should not be "held by the way of the kings." Obviously, Liu Zhiji's view of history is progressive.
Liu Zhiji also put forward the famous "three-length theory" and the "straight-forward theory." He proposed that historians must have three strengths, namely, historical talent, historiography, and historical knowledge, and knowledge is the most important. If "we see the good and the righteous without feeling the good, and when we resist the good but do not know its loss", then no amount of learning is useless. For writing history, Liu Zhiji advocated "straight writing", to achieve "not to hide evil, not to be vain", "not to avoid the strong", "nothing to be a rong", and to oppose pandering to power or distorting historical facts from the perspective of personal grievances. These remarkable insights had a great influence on the historiography of later generations.
General Dictionary
Another major private historiography work of the Tang Dynasty is Du You's Tongdian (通典), a general history of China devoted to the canonical system. Du You (735–812), courtesy name Junqing, was a native of Jingzhao Wannian (present-day Chang'an District, Shaanxi), an official and chancellor, and a famous wealth manager and historian of the Tang Dynasty. His 200-volume "General Code" consists of nine gates, such as food and goods, elections, officials, ceremonies, music, soldiers, punishments, prefectures, counties, and border defense, starting from the legendary Tang Yu and the Tang Dynasty's Suzong and Daizong, recording the evolution of the canonical system of successive dynasties, preserving a large number of valuable historical materials, and creating a precedent for future generations to record categories and study the canonical system.
In the General Code, Du You listed food as the head, pointing out that "the origin of the peasant country is also". At the same time, he opposed "not the present is the ancient" and advocated "establishing a system at any time and adapting it in case of malpractice." This spirit of governance used in ancient times for the present is extremely valuable and reflects his progressive view of historiography. In dealing with the relations between the Huayi nation, Du You is also at the forefront of history. He pointed out two viewpoints: First, there is no fundamental difference between Huaxia and Yidi, and Yidi's "contemptuous customs and customs" were also found in Huaxia before; second, the geographical environment in which Huaxia and Yidi are located, the former "saving the disadvantages at any time" and the latter "Mo Ge's old style", and only then have there been various differences in the degree of development. These two points reflect Du You's idea of historical evolution, as well as the most correct national theory reached at that time, which is a major progress in historical thought.
During the Sui and Tang dynasties, under the stable social environment of the great unification and the support of strong royal forces, Chinese historiography developed rapidly, which was not only reflected in the explosive growth of the number of history books, but also in the continuous progress of historical thought.