Liu Zhiji (; 661–721),

courtesy name A courtesy name (), also known as a style name, is a name bestowed upon one at adulthood in addition to one's given name. This practice is a tradition in the East Asian cultural sphere, including China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.Ulrich Theobald ...

Zixuan (), was a Chinese historian and politician of the Tang dynasty. Well known as the author of ''

Shitong The ''Shitong'' () is the first Chinese-language work about historiography compiled by Liu Zhiji between 708 and 710. The book describes the general pattern of the past official dynastic historiography on structure, method, order of arrangement, ...

'', he was born in present-day Xuzhou, Jiangsu, during the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

. Liu's father Liu Zangqi and elder brother Liu Zhirou were officials, famous for their literary compositions. He received his

imperial examination The imperial examination (; lit. "subject recommendation") refers to a civil-service examination system in Imperial China, administered for the purpose of selecting candidates for the state bureaucracy. The concept of choosing bureaucrats by ...

degree in 680, and began working on several compilations with others in the court in 699. In 708, he decided to resign himself and started compiling the ''Shitong''. Stephen W. Durrant calls Liu Zhiji "one of ancient China's most critical and brilliant readers" (''The Cloudy Mirror'', 71–72: Liu is quoted criticizing

Sima Qian Sima Qian (; ; ) was a Chinese historian of the early Han dynasty (206AD220). He is considered the father of Chinese historiography for his ''Records of the Grand Historian'', a general history of China covering more than two thousand years b ...

's style for verbosity and deliberately setting apart the chronologically close accounts).

References

* Li, Wenli.
Liu Zhiji Shitong Tixian De Biandao Sixiang He Biandao Yuanze (The Editing Thought and Principle in Liu Zhiji's Shitong)
'. Tangdu Journal. 2006-05. pp. 34–36. ISSN 1001-0300. * Qu, Lintong
"Shitong" ("Generality of Historiography")
''

Encyclopedia of China The ''Encyclopedia of China'' () is the first large-entry modern encyclopedia in the Chinese language. The compilation began in 1978. Published by the Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, the encyclopedia was issued one volume at a time, begin ...

'' (1st ed.). {{DEFAULTSORT:Liu, Zhiji 661 births 721 deaths 8th-century Chinese historians Historians from Jiangsu Politicians from Xuzhou Tang dynasty historians Tang dynasty politicians from Jiangsu Writers from Xuzhou