Liu Zhiji (66 1 ~ 72 1) was born in Pengcheng (now Xuzhou, Jiangsu). In the first year of Tang Gaozong Yonglong (680), he was a scholar. In the second year of Chang 'an (702), Wu Zetian began to serve as a historian and wrote notes on the mansion; I have worked as Zuo Lang, Zuo Shi, Zuo Lang, Secretary Shao Jian, Prince Zuo Shuzi, Zuo Sanqi's long history, etc., and I have also studied national history. In the third year of Chang 'an, Zhu Jingze and others wrote eighty volumes of Tang Shu, while Shenlong (705 ~ 707) and Xu Jian wrote Wuhou Lu. In the first year of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty (7 12), he revised the genealogy with genealogist Liu Chong. In the second year of Kaiyuan (7 14), he wrote 200 volumes of genealogy, and in four years, he wrote 20 volumes of Zong Ruizhi with Jason Wu, and rebuilt 30 volumes of Ze Tianzhi and 20 volumes of Zhong Zongzhi.
Liu Zhiji was dissatisfied with the confusion of the historical museum system and the interference in the supervision and revision of history. In the second year of Jinglong (708), he resigned as a historian and "retired from privacy to write a history book to see his ambition".