As a Mirror, Zi Tong Zhi Jian is a masterpiece of general history compiled by Sima Guang, a famous politician and historian in the Northern Song Dynasty. At first, the title of this book was not Zi Tongzhi Jian. During the Northern Song Shenzong period, Wang Anshi presided over the political reform, and Sima Guang, the leader of the old party who opposed the political reform, volunteered to go out to Beijing to be an official. In his official career, he put his long-standing idea of compiling a concise and general history into action. Also in the first year of Song Yingzong Zhiping (1064), Sima Guang presented his own 25-volume history book "Li Tu" to Yingzong, and two years later presented an eight-volume "Tong Zhi". Yingzong was very satisfied after reading it, and asked him to continue writing, and wrote a book to set up a bookstore to supply expenses, supplement personnel and specialize in writing. After Song Shenzong ascended the throne, he thought Tongzhi was easier to read and learn from than other historical books, so he summoned Sima Guang and praised it greatly, saying that the book had the resources to treat Taoism and view the past, and personally named Zi Tongzhi Jian as a preface to the book. Zongshen also gave Sima Guang 3,400 volumes of old books, and all the expenses needed for writing books, such as pens, ink, paper, inkstones, meals and accommodation, were provided by the court, which provided favorable conditions for Sima Guang to write books and promoted the compilation and revision of this history book. In the seventh year of Yuanfeng (1084), Zi Tong Zhi Jian was finally completed, and it was used for 19 years.
Was Sima Guang the only one who wrote "Lessons Learned from Mutual Adversity"?
Although the signature of Zi Tong Zhi Jian was written by Sima Guang in the Northern Song Dynasty, it was actually not written by Sima Guang alone. The writing of Zi Tong Zhi Jian was actually started by Sima Guang himself. As early as the fifth period of Jia (1056- 1063), when Sima Guang served as the attendant system and assistant lecturer of Tianzhangge, he saw that the room was full of history books, which was difficult to browse even if a person was poor all his life, so he came up with the idea of writing a systematic and concise general history, so that people could easily understand the ups and downs of thousands of years of history. This idea was endorsed and supported by Liu Shu, a good friend and historian. In the first year of Song Yingzong Zhiping (1064), Sima Guang presented his 25-volume history book Calendar to Yingzong. Two years later, an eight-volume annals came out. Yingzong was very satisfied after reading it, and asked him to continue writing, and wrote a letter to set up a special bookstore for him to supply expenses and supplement personnel to write specifically. Inspired by this, Sima Guang called famous historians at that time to discuss the purpose and outline of compilation. Liu was responsible for writing Hanshu, Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, and Fan Zuyu wrote Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties. Finally, Sima Guang was the editor-in-chief and his son Sima Kang was the proofreader. After Song Shenzong acceded to the throne, he thought Tongzhi was easier to read and learn than other historical books, so he summoned Sima Guang, praised him, and named him "Tong Zhi Jian". In addition, 3400 volumes of old books of Indy were awarded to Sima Guang as reference books, and the cost of pens, ink, paper, inkstones, meals, accommodation and other books was provided by the court. In the seventh year (1084), Zi Tong Zhi Jian was finally completed. It took nineteen years to compile this book.