Yuan Shu was knowledgeable and had contacts with scholars Zhu, Yang Wanli at that time. During the editing period of the National History Museum, he was responsible for compiling Biography of Song History. The descendants of Zhang Dun, the prime minister of the Northern Song Dynasty, tactfully asked Yuan Shu to add more decorations in the biography of Zhang Dun because of his fellow countryman, but Yuan retorted: "My son is thick, and our country deceives the king." I am a historian, and I don't hide my calligraphy. I'd rather be a countryman than a public discussion. Yuan Shu's profound knowledge and upright attitude of revising history are of great help to him in finishing the ending of Zi Zhi Tong Jian.
Yuan Shu likes to read Zi Tongzhi Jian (or Tong Jian for short) by Sima Guang, but Zi Tongzhi Jian is voluminous and rich in content, especially in its chronological style, which makes it difficult for readers to read (Summary of Four Books and Chronology of Tong Jian). Sima Guang himself knows this. He once said: "Only Wang Shengzhi borrowed the mirror, and others didn't finish reading it, so they didn't have enough time to sleep." ([Song] Liu's Questions about Tong Jian) When Yuan Shu read Tong Jian, he was also "suffering from his extensive knowledge" and "learning from other things", with the title "History of Tong Jian" (Song's Biography of Yuan Shu).
Yuan Shu has been an official for many years. Politically, it advocates getting rid of the disadvantages of employing people and opening up the road. To this end, he wrote to the emperor many times. He knew that it was an important content for the Song emperor to learn from the history books of "learning from the past to prove the present" in order to learn from the previous dynasties when he was reading the classics, and "As a Mirror" was an important content. Yuan Shu once said to Xiaozong, "I overheard your majesty reading Tong Jian, which contains many commandments." After Ningzong acceded to the throne, Yuan Shu was disintegrated due to political involvement and lived in seclusion for ten years. Tong Jian's history was written when his political ideas were ignored and his career was frustrated. He devoted his political enthusiasm to the compilation of historical masterpieces. Perhaps he hoped that through the adaptation of Tong Jian, he could better serve the rulers.
All the materials in Chronology of Tong Jian are from Zi Tong Zhi Jian, but Yuan Shu just integrated the events scattered in the volumes of Tong Jian into 239 titles and 69 attached topics. "Everything has its own title. Each article has its own year and year, both of which are the beginning and the end. It started with the division of the three schools into Jin Dynasty and ended with Zhou Shizong's expedition to Huainan (Summary of the Catalogue of Sikuquanshu, History of Tongjian). Zi Zhi Tong Jian, an event-centered compilation method, created a new genre of history books-chronological style as the end of the book, which was more convenient for readers to read, besides the two popular styles at that time-biographical style and chronological style. Since then, Yuan Shu's Chronicle has become an important genre of history books, and works edited in this genre frequently appear.
A complete historical event can be used as a lesson for rulers, so Song Xiaozong's evaluation of Yuan Shu's History as a Mirror is: "Governing the Tao is everything." (Biography of Song History and Yuan Shu) For the general readers, chronological works can also play a role of "learning from the past". In this regard, Mr. Liang Qichao said: "The reason why husband wants historical relics is that it is useful to learn from the past, and it is necessary to focus on things. Therefore, the chronicle is the new history closest to our ideal, and it also inhibits the extreme trajectory of the evolution of the old historical world. " ("China's historical research methods, China historians in the past")
Although the history of Zi Zhi Tong Jian used to be so important, it has been neglected in the reality that modern historiography emphasizes first-hand historical materials and people pay more attention to horizontal comparison today. Not only history lovers are relatively unfamiliar with it, but even some history students know little about it. So far, this book has only been published by Zhonghua Book Company 1964, and it is a pity that it has not been read in depth.
The book planned and produced by Mr. Wei Chao can make up for this deficiency to some extent. Mr. Wei Chao graduated from the Philosophy Department of Peking University and has worked for nearly 30 years. He loves reading and has a soft spot for China traditional culture. In the process of reading Zi Tongzhi Jian, he also encountered the problem that historical events were separated from each other and it was difficult to grasp, so he began to use Tong Jian Chronicle to assist in reading Tong Jian. At the same time, he thought that perhaps more history lovers feel the same way. So, he hired relevant experts and scholars, invested money, and began the work of sorting out and translating the book. Mr. Wei Chao's love for China's traditional culture and his millions of hearts are admirable.
In the form of joint research, this book has organized experts and scholars from more than ten institutions of higher learning and scientific research institutions such as Peking University, Beijing Normal University, China Academy of Social Sciences, Minzu University of China, Capital Normal University and Shanxi University, forming a group advantage. The other editors-in-chief of this book, Wang Yongping, Ning Xin and Li Hongbin, are all famous scholars in the field of history, and their participation has become the most important booster for the completion of this book.
The final publication of this book also benefited from the careful work of the editors of Zhejiang People's Publishing House. The editorial team represented by Mr. Pan Bangshun and Ms. Chen, after three years of hard study and word-for-word collation, put forward countless valuable opinions and avoided all possible omissions and mistakes in the book.
This book is also a testimony of classmates' friendship. Mr. Pan Bangshun and Mr. Si Jinghui from Beijing Daily Publishing House are both classmates of Mr. Wei Chao. They all highly praised and supported Mr. Wei Chao's publishing plan. Mr. Si Jinghui also contributed a lot to this book, and he participated in it from the beginning to the typesetting and printing. As classmates, the three of them also hope to commemorate that wonderful youth through such cooperation.
This book is based on punctuation marks of Zhonghua Book Company 1964. The author annotated and translated the original text today, adding an executive summary every time, so that readers can grasp the pulse before reading various events; At the same time, experts were hired to draw some illustrations. So this book is a collection of words, pictures, explanations and translations. Through this combination, we hope to dedicate a readable book to readers; I hope this book can provide some help for deepening history education and promoting national spirit.
This book is the result of many people's cooperation. Although experts and scholars are extremely serious about their work, they will inevitably make mistakes. Please criticize and correct me.
Li Zhisheng
Summer of 20 19