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
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 ...
official
Ouyang Xiu in private. It was drafted during Ouyang's exile from 1036 to 1039 but not published until 1073, a year after his death. An abridged English translation by Richard L. Davis was published in 2004.
One of the official
Twenty-Four Histories
The ''Twenty-Four Histories'' (), also known as the ''Orthodox Histories'' (), are the Chinese official dynastic histories covering from the earliest dynasty in 3000 BC to the Ming dynasty in the 17th century.
The Han dynasty official Sima Qia ...
of China, the book is frequently referred to as the ''New History of the Five Dynasties'' (''Xin Wudai Shi'') in order to distinguish it from the ''
Old History of the Five Dynasties'' which was published in 974.
Though both books follow a similar format, Ouyang's book is more concise and markedly more analytical.
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Contents
''New History of the Five Dynasties'' covers the Later Liang, Later Tang
Tang, known in historiography as the Later Tang, was a short-lived imperial dynasty of China and the second of the Five Dynasties during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period in Chinese history.
The first three of the Later Tang's four ...
, Later Jin, Later Han, and Later Zhou
Zhou, known as the Later Zhou (; ) in historiography, was a short-lived Chinese imperial dynasty and the last of the Five Dynasties that controlled most of northern China during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. Founded by Guo Wei ( ...
dynasties. The book consists of 74 chapters total. It includes biographies, annuals, case studies, family histories, genealogies, and coverage about Chinese tribes. The layout of the work was inspired by the style of Li Yanshou (李延寿) and it pulls content from Xue Juzheng's work. It has been described as being more important than the work that Xue Juzheng created and upon its discovery "Xue Juzheng's earlier history was largely forgotten and nearly lost to the world."Eunuch
A eunuch ( ) is a male who has been castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function.
The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2nd millenni ...
s (宦者傳)
*Chapters 39–57: Miscellaneous Biographies (雜傳)
*Chapters 58–59: Treatise on Astronomy (司天考)
*Chapter 60: Treatise on Administrative Geography (職方考)
*Chapter 61: Hereditary House of Wu (吳世家)
*Chapter 62: Hereditary House of Southern Tang
Southern Tang () was a state in Southern China that existed during Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, which proclaimed itself to be the successor of the former Tang dynasty. The capital was located at Nanjing in present-day Jiangsu Province. ...
(南唐世家)
*Chapter 63: Hereditary House of Former Shu
Great Shu (Chinese: 大蜀, Pinyin: Dàshǔ) called in retrospect Former Shu (Chinese: 前蜀, Pinyin: Qiánshǔ) or occasionally Wang Shu (王蜀), was one of the Ten Kingdoms formed during the chaotic period between the rules of the Tang dynas ...
(前蜀世家)
*Chapter 64: Hereditary House of Later Shu
Shu (referred to as Later Shu () to differentiate it from Former Shu, other states named Shu in Chinese history), also known as Meng Shu (), was one of the Ten Kingdoms during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period in China. It was located ...
(後蜀世家)
*Chapter 65: Hereditary House of Southern Han
Southern Han (; 917–971), officially Han (), originally Yue (), was one of the ten kingdoms that existed during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. It was located on China's southern coast, controlling modern Guangdong and Guangxi. The ...
(南漢世家)
*Chapter 66: Hereditary House of Chu (楚世家)
*Chapter 67: Hereditary House of Wuyue (吳越世家)
*Chapter 68: Hereditary House of Min
Min or MIN may refer to:
Places
* Fujian, also called Mǐn, a province of China
** Min Kingdom (909–945), a state in Fujian
* Min County, a county of Dingxi, Gansu province, China
* Min River (Fujian)
* Min River (Sichuan)
* Mineola (Am ...
(閩世家)
*Chapter 69: Hereditary House of Nanping
Nanping (), historically known as Yanping (), is a third-tier prefecture-level city in northwestern Fujian Province, People's Republic of China. It borders Ningde to the east, Sanming to the south, and the provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangxi to ...
(南平世家)
*Chapter 70: Hereditary House of Eastern Han
The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...
(東漢世家)
*Chapter 71: Timeline for the Hereditary Houses of the Ten Kingdoms (十國世家年譜)
*Chapters 72–74: Appendixes on the Four Barbarians (四夷附錄)
The book has been partially translated into English:
*
Derivative works
A couple decades later ( 1090), Wu Zhen published a 3-chapter ''Wudai Shiji Zuanwu'' (五代史記纂誤; "Compendium of Errors in the ''Historical Records of the Five Dynasties''") which was appended to the original. This new work was considered lost in 18th-century Qing dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-spea ...
, but partly recovered by compilers of the '' Siku Quanshu'' from indications quoted in the 15th-century ''Yongle Encyclopedia
The ''Yongle Encyclopedia'' () or ''Yongle Dadian'' () is a largely-lost Chinese ''leishu'' encyclopedia commissioned by the Yongle Emperor of the Ming dynasty in 1403 and completed by 1408. It comprised 22,937 manuscript rolls or chapters, in 1 ...
''. Thereafter, in 1778 Wu Lanting (吳蘭庭) published a 4-chapter ''Wudai Shiji Zuanwu Bu'' (五代史記纂誤補; "An Addendum to the Compendium of Errors in the ''Historical Records of the Five Dynasties''"), and in 1888 Wu Guangyao (吳光耀) published a 6-chapter ''Wudai Shiji Zuanwu Xubu'' (五代史記纂誤續補; "Further Addendum to the Compendium of Errors in the ''Historical Records of the Five Dynasties''").
References
Citations
Sources
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External links
''New Book of Tang'' 《新五代史》
Chinese text with matching English vocabulary
{{Authority control
Twenty-Four Histories
11th-century history books
Song dynasty literature
History books about the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms
11th-century Chinese books