Zi Tong Zhi Jian records the history of Zhou Shizong 1362 from the Warring States to the Five Dynasties, with 294 volumes, 30 volumes of textual research and 30 volumes of content. Its scale is amazing.
Sima Guang consulted a large number of books and materials in order to compile Zi Tong Zhi Jian. Song Shenzong allowed him to borrow all books from the stacks of Jixian, Zhaowen and History Museum, and granted him the privilege of borrowing books from Longtuge, Tianzhangge and Secret Pavilion. Song Shenzong also took out his collection of more than 2,400 books for Sima Guang's reference. In addition, Sima Guang also consulted a large number of unofficial history, genealogy, anthology, anthology, epitaph and other materials, with 222 kinds of * * *, accounting for more than 30 million words.
Sima Guang's style of study is rigorous and strict with himself. He stipulated that he should review a book every three days. A historical manuscript is 40 feet long, and it is revised 10 feet every day on average. If things are delayed, they must be made up afterwards. Every night, he always let the old servant sleep first, light candles and work until late at night, and get up the next morning to continue his work. Every day, 19 years is like a day. In the evening, he was afraid of oversleeping, so he made a pillow out of logs. The wooden pillow is very smooth. If you move a little, your head will be stiff and wake up. Later people called this kind of pillow "police pillow".
Sima Guang's residence was sultry in summer and he couldn't work, so Sima Guang had people dig a big pit in the house and build a basement. The basement is warm in winter and cool in summer, which makes it a good place for him to compile books. At that time, Wang Xuanhui, a big bureaucrat, went to the high building of his famous garden for the summer every summer. People laughed and said, "The Wangs got into the sky and the Sima family got into the ground." Sima Guang's revised manuscript filled two rooms. Huang Tingjian, a calligrapher, once looked through hundreds of volumes and found that these manuscripts were all written in meticulous regular script, without a cursive script.
Sima Guang once asked his good friend Shao Yong, "What kind of person do you think I am?" Shao replied: "Those who are practical are also practical.". It means that Sima Guang studied knowledge and worked hard. This is the origin of the idiom "down-to-earth".
Sima Guang spent 19 years compiling Zi Tong Zhi Jian. When he started writing, Sima Guang was 48 years old. When he finished writing, he was already 66 years old. 19 Sima Guang "Hold the candle until late at night, and the police pillow will break dawn."
The long-term work at his desk exhausted his hard work. Just over 60 years old, his eyesight dropped, his teeth fell off and his face was full of fear. Sima Guang died before Zi Tongzhi Jian was published.
In order to mourn the great historian, Song Zhezong personally mourned and ordered a grand official funeral for him. People in his hometown, Xia County, Shanxi Province, built a tombstone pavilion and a huge monument for him. This huge monument, together with its pedestal, is nine meters high, which is higher than the emperor's tombstone and headstone. The inscription is engraved with Song Zhezong's imperial seal "Zhong De Bei", and Su Dongpo, a great writer, wrote the inscription. Sima Guang's residence was sultry in summer, so he couldn't work, so Sima Guang had a big pit dug in the house and a basement built. The basement is warm in winter and cool in summer, which makes it a good place for him to compile books. At that time, Wang Xuanhui, a big bureaucrat, went to the high building of his famous garden for the summer every summer. People laughed and said, "The Wangs got into the sky and the Sima family got into the ground." Sima Guang's revised manuscript filled two rooms. Huang Tingjian, a calligrapher, once looked through hundreds of volumes and found that these manuscripts were all written in meticulous regular script, without a cursive script. Sima Guang once asked his good friend Shao Yong, "What kind of person do you think I am?" Shao replied: "Those who are practical are also practical.". It means that Sima Guang studied knowledge and worked hard. This is the origin of the idiom "down-to-earth". Sima Guang spent 19 years compiling Zi Tong Zhi Jian. When he started writing, Sima Guang was 48 years old. When he finished writing, he was already 66 years old. 19 Sima Guang "Hold the candle until late at night, and the police pillow will break dawn." The long-term work at his desk exhausted his hard work. Just over 60 years old, his eyesight dropped, his teeth fell off and his face was full of fear. Sima Guang died before Zi Tongzhi Jian was published.