 Zizhi Tongjian ( 资治通鉴 ) is an important Chinese history text of annual chronology. Sima Guang ( 司马光 ) was the major contributor, from collecting primary sources, to drafting, to publication. Work on the book started in 1065 and ended in 1084. It recounts the history of China from Warring States Period to the end of Period of the Five Dynasties and the Ten Kingdoms. His book should serve as a guideline for the crown prince to govern in a righteous way and to learn from the faults of the past, and from the wise and clever rulers, so the literary meaning of Chinese title is Comprehensive Mirror to Aid in Government . Zizhi Tongjian was first printed at Hangzhou in 1086. The whole work comprises 294 chapters, and it covers the period from 403 BC to 959 AD
In view of the classical book Spring and Autumn , the annals of the state of Lu during the early Eastern Zhou period, the forerunner for this type of historiography, clearly a simple chronological style is much better for giving a context for historical causes and results. It is strictly chronological and lists the events of every year under the respective season or the month. This type of historiography is called chronological style ( 编年体 ) － linking year after year.
Sima Guang decided to compile a universal history in this style that reached from the Warring States period to begin of Song Dynasty. Although the biographical style of historiography was in use until the end of Qing Dynasty ( 清朝 ) , the new "comprehensive mirror" type became so popular that people of the next generations and centuries wrote sequels of the great opus of Sima Guang, and even filled the time back until the year when Sima Guang let his book begin.
 Sima Guang was a Chinese historian and statesman during the Song Dynasty who was born in Shanxi province. In 1064, Sima Guang presented to Emperor Yingzong a book of five chapters, entitled Chronicle Table, a summary of events from 403 BC to 959 AD, which may be regarded as a first advertisement and request for sponsorship of his major project. The starting point was chosen from the year that the King of Zhou acknowledged the division of the ancient hereditary state of Jin between three great families, a recognition of usurpers which marked the beginning of the desperate and decisive wars that brought the end of Zhou and the establishment of the new-style empire of Qin. And the history was halted a hundred years before Sima Guang's own time, at the very beginning of the Northern Song dynasty which he served.
Two years later, in 1066, Sima Guang presented a further and more detailed work, comprising eight chapters chronicling the period from 403 to 207 BC, and at this time an edict was issued for the work to be continued.
Early in the following year, 1067, Emperor Yingzong died, and in the tenth Chinese month Sima Guang attended a seminar at the palace to introduce the work in progress to Emperor Shenzong. The new ruler not only confirmed the interest his father had shown, but proclaimed the favour by a preface which changed the title from Comprehensive Record to the more ornamental and impressive Zizhi tongjian . The character jian "mirror" may be understood in this context as indicating a work of reference and guidance, so the emperor accepted Sima Guang as his mentor in the science of history and its application to government, and for the seventeen years of his reign he maintained his support for the work.
Such loyalty is notable, for Sima Guang soon became a leader of the conservative faction at court, resolutely opposed to the reforming policies of Shenzong's minister Wang Anshi ( 王安石 ) . He presented increasingly bitter memorials of criticism, and in 1070 he refused further appointment and withdrew from the court. In 1071 he took up residence in Luoyang , where he remained with an official sinecure, ample leisure and sufficient resources to continue the work. Indeed, though Sima Guang and his imperial master were in complete disagreement on policies for the present day, the enforced retirement proved essential for the historian to complete the project in full and final form. |
