Wu Zhen ( 11th century),

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 ...

Tingzhen, was a

Song dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...

historian from

Chengdu Chengdu (, ; Simplified Chinese characters, simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively Romanization of Chi ...

who wrote 2 books enumerating mistakes found in ''

New Book of Tang The ''New Book of Tang'', generally translated as the "New History of the Tang" or "New Tang History", is a work of official history covering the Tang dynasty in ten volumes and 225 chapters. The work was compiled by a team of scholars of the So ...

'' and ''

Historical Records of the Five Dynasties The ''Historical Records of the Five Dynasties'' (''Wudai Shiji'') is a Chinese history book on the Five Dynasties period (907–960), written by the Song dynasty official Ouyang Xiu in private. It was drafted during Ouyang's exile from 1036 to ...

'', both history books by

Ouyang Xiu Ouyang Xiu (; 1007 – 1072 CE), courtesy name Yongshu, also known by his art names Zuiweng () and Liu Yi Jushi (), was a Chinese historian, calligrapher, epigrapher, essayist, poet, and politician of the Song dynasty. He was a renowned writer a ...

(Ouyang had several co-authors with ''New Book of Tang''). As pointed out in the 18th-century '' Siku Quanshu'', Wu Zhen was "inclined to criticise for the sake of criticism".

Works

Although he apparently wrote other works (including a monograph on the

Five Dynasties period The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (), from 907 to 979, was an era of political upheaval and division in 10th-century Imperial China. Five dynastic states quickly succeeded one another in the Central Plain, and more than a dozen concu ...

Later Liang dynasty), Wu Zhen's only 2 surviving books are: *''Xin Tang Shu Jiumiu'' (新唐書紏謬; "Correcting Mistakes in the ''

''"), published in 1089, in 20 chapters. It enumerated 400 mistakes of the ''New Book of Tang''. *''Wudai Shiji Zuanwu'' (五代史記纂誤; "Compendium of Errors in the ''

''"), published 1090, in 3 chapters, later lost but partly recovered in the 18th century. It enumerated 200 mistakes of the ''Historical Records of the Five Dynasties'', but the recovered version only contained 112. Both were published after Ouyang Xiu's death in 1072. In the first book's preface, Wu Zhen blasted the ''New Book of Tang'' as the worst

official history An official history is a work of history which is sponsored, authorised or endorsed by its subject. The term is most commonly used for histories which are produced for a government. The term also applies to commissions from non-state bodies includin ...

book ever written.

References

11th-century Chinese historians Song dynasty historians Writers from Chengdu Historians from Sichuan {{china-historian-stub