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Zizhi Tongjian
 Section from one of the original scrolls of the Zizhi Tongjian | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Author | Sima Guang et al. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Language | Classical Chinese | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Subject | History of China | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Publication date | 1084 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Media type | Scrolls | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Original text | Zizhi Tongjian at Chinese Wikisource | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 資治通鑑 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 资治通鉴 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | "Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance"[a] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Zizhi Tongjian (1084) is a chronicle published during the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127) that provides a record of Chinese history from 403 BC to 959 AD, covering 16 dynasties and spanning almost 1400 years.[1] The main text is arranged into 294 scrolls (卷; juàn), each equivalent to a chapter—totaling around 3 million Chinese characters.
In 1065, Emperor Yingzong of Song commissioned his official, Sima Guang (1019–1086), to lead a project to compile a universal history of China, and granted him funding and the authority to appoint his own staff. His team took 19 years to complete the work[1] and in 1084 it was presented to Emperor Yingzong's successor Emperor Shenzong of Song. It was well-received and has proved to be immensely influential among both scholars and the general public. Endymion Wilkinson regards it as reference quality: "It had an enormous influence on later Chinese historical writing, either directly or through its many abbreviations, continuations, and adaptations. It remains an extraordinarily useful first reference for a quick and reliable coverage of events at a particular time",[2] while Achilles Fang wrote "[Zizhi Tongjian], and its numerous re-arrangements, abridgments, and continuations, were practically the only general histories with which most of the reading public of pre-Republican China were familiar."[3]
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