Annotations to Records of the Three Kingdoms () by Pei Songzhi (372-451) is an annotation completed in the 5th century of the 3rd century historical text ''

Records of the Three Kingdoms The ''Records or History of the Three Kingdoms'', also known by its Chinese name as the Sanguo Zhi, is a Chinese historical text which covers the history of the late Eastern Han dynasty (c. 184–220 AD) and the Three Kingdoms period (220� ...

'', compiled by

Chen Shou Chen Shou (; 233–297), courtesy name Chengzuo (), was a Chinese historian, politician, and writer who lived during the Three Kingdoms period and Jin dynasty of China. Chen Shou is most known for his most celebrated work, the '' Records of ...

. After leaving his native land, Pei Songzhi became the Gentleman of Texts under the

Liu Song Dynasty Song, known as Liu Song (), Former Song (前宋) or Song of (the) Southern Dynasty (南朝宋) in historiography, was an imperial dynasty of China and the first of the four Southern dynasties during the Northern and Southern dynasties ...

, and was given the assignment of editing the book, which was completed in 429. This became the official history of the

Three Kingdoms The Three Kingdoms () from 220 to 280 AD was the tripartite division of China among the dynastic states of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu. The Three Kingdoms period was preceded by the Eastern Han dynasty and was followed by the West ...

period, under the title ''Sanguozhi zhu'' (''zhu'' meaning "notes"). He went about providing detailed explanations to some of the geography and other elements mentioned in the original. More importantly, he made corrections to the work, in consultation with records he collected of the period. In regard to historical events and figures, as well as Chen Shou's opinions, he added his own commentary. From his broad research, he was able to create a history which was relatively complete, without many of the loose ends of the original. Some of the added material was colourful and of questionable authenticity, possibly fictional. All the additional material made the book close to twice the length of the original. Pei Songzhi scrupulously cited his sources, and always introduced his opinion as such.

List of texts used in Pei Songzhi's annotations

Official and private histories

Government documents

Individual, family, and group biographies

Encyclopoediae, dictionaries, and references

Poetry, essays, philosophy, and literature

Correspondence

Classics

Quoting classics was an inescapable reality of Chinese political and academic life as early as the Eastern Zhou period. Pei Songzhi often cites classics in order to contextualize quotations made by speakers in Chen Shou's original text, and occasionally to explain the philosophy or background behind a person's actions. These works do not constitute historical sources for Pei Songzhi's purposes, but are included here for sake of completeness.

Texts of uncertain identity or disputable citation

Other sources

Pei Songzhi occasionally quotes other historians without citing any book or document title. Sun Sheng, Gan Bao, and Xi Zuochi are especially common. These may have been marginal notes in Pei's copy of ''Records of the Three Kingdoms'', or personal notes to which he had access. Rarely, Pei Songzhi will report hearsay without any attribution.For the first example of Pei Songzhi quoting a former historian directly, see 1.11 n 2. For an example of Pei Songzhi reporting hearsay, see 47.1144.

Notes

References

Bibliography

*Crump, J.I., Jr., transl. ''Chan-Kuo Ts'e''. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971. * Fang Xuanling inter al., eds. 晉書 (''

Book of Jin The ''Book of Jin'' is an official Chinese historical text covering the history of the Jin dynasty from 266 to 420. It was compiled in 648 by a number of officials commissioned by the imperial court of the Tang dynasty, with chancellor Fang ...

''), 648. Beijing: Zhonghua Publishing, 1974. 10 vols. *Gao Min (高敏), 《三國志》裴松之注引書考 ("Books Used by Pei Songzhi on Noting of ''History of the Three Kingdoms''"). ''Journal of Henan University of Science and Technology (Social Science)'', 25.3 (June 2007), pp 5–21. * Lu Ji, 陸機集 (''Collected Works of Lu Ji''), Jin Taosheng (金濤聲), ed. Beijing: Zhonghua Publishing, 1982. *Lu Yaodong (逯耀東), 裴松之三國志注引雜傳集釋 ("Collected Explanations of Various Biographies Cited in Pei Songzhi's Annotation of ''Records of the Three Kingdoms''"). ''台大歷史學報'', 1 (May 1974), pp 1–18. * Pei Songzhi, 三國志注 (''Annotated Records of the Three Kingdoms''). 429. Hong Kong: Zhonghua Publishing, 1971. 5 vols. * Qian Daxin, 廿二史考異 (''Examination of Discrepancies in the Twenty-Two Histories''). 1797. Cited in Gao. *Schaberg, David, ''A Patterned Past: Form and Thought in Early Chinese Historiography''. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2001. *

Shen Jiaben Shen Jiaben (, 1840 – 1913), alias Jiyi (), was a Late Qing Chinese politician and jurist from Huzhou, Zhejiang province. Shen became a jinshi in 1883. He had been once the Prefect of Tianjin during 1893–7, then the Vice Minister of Ju ...

, 沉簃籍先生遺書乙篇 (''Mr Shen Yiji's Leftover Documents, Volume Two''). 1910s. Cited in Gao. *Wang Zuyi (王祖彝), 三國志人名錄 (''List of Personal Names in Records of the Three Kingdoms''). Commercial Press, 1956. Cited in Gao. * Wei Zheng inter al., eds. 隋書 (''

Book of Sui The ''Book of Sui'' (''Suí Shū'') is the official history of the Sui dynasty. It ranks among the official Twenty-Four Histories of imperial China. It was written by Yan Shigu, Kong Yingda, and Zhangsun Wuji, with Wei Zheng as the lead author. ...

''), 636. Beijing: Zhonghua Publishing, 1973. 6 vols. *

Zhao Yi Zhao Yi (; 1727–1814) was a poet, historian, and critic during the Qing dynasty in China. Zhao is notable for his innovative poetry, his historical writings (including ''Notes on the Twenty-Two Dynastic Histories''), and for espousing unconve ...

, 廿二史劄記 (''Notebook of the Twenty-Two Histories''). 1770s. Cited in Gao.

External links

{{wikisourcelang, zh, 三國志, ''Records of the Three Kingdoms with annotations by Pei Songzhi'' (in Chinese)
Records of the Three Kingdoms 《三國志》
Chinese text compiled by

with annotations by Pei Songzhi and matching English vocabulary 5th-century history books Chinese history texts History books about the Three Kingdoms