The
History of Song or Song Shi (Sòng Shǐ) is one of the official
Chinese historical works known as the
Twenty-Four Histories of China
that records the history of the
Song dynasty

Song dynasty (960–1279). It was
commissioned in 1343 and compiled under the direction of First
Minister Toqto'a and Prime Minister Alutu (阿鲁图/阿魯圖) during
the
Yuan dynasty

Yuan dynasty (1279–1368) at the same time as the History of Liao
and the History of Jin. Running to a total of 496 chapters, the
History of Song includes biographies of the Song Emperors along with
contemporary records and biographical sketches of Song dynasty
politicians, soldiers and philosophers.
Contents
1 Publication process
2 Content
3 Evaluation
4 Later influence
5 See also
6 Notes and references
7 External links
Publication process[edit]
During the early years of the Yuan dynasty, its progenitor Kublai Khan
ordered the compilation of a History of the
Song dynasty

Song dynasty but due to
style issues, this was not completed during his reign as emperor. In
March 1343, the third year of Ukhaantu Khan, Emperor Huizong of Yuan's
Zhizheng Era (至正年号), an Imperial edict ordered the creation of
histories of the Song, Liao and Jin Dynasties. Under the overall
supervision of Toktogan, Temür Daš (Chinese Tiemuertashi
铁木儿塔识/鐵木兒塔識), He Weiyi, (贺惟一/賀惟一),
Zhang Qiyan (张起岩/張起巖), Ouyang Xuan (欧阳玄/ 歐陽玄)
Li Haowen (李好文), Wang Yi (王沂) and Yang Zongduan (楊宗端)
were given responsibility for the project[1] with Woyuluntu
(斡玉伦徒/斡玉倫徒), Tai Buhua ( 泰不华/泰不華), Yu
Wenzhuan (于文传/于文傳), Gong Shidao (贡师道/貢師道), Yu
Que (余阙/餘闕),
Jia Lu

Jia Lu (贾鲁/賈魯) Wei Su (危素) and 23
others appointed as historiographers. Toktogan resigned in May 1344 to
be replaced on the project by Prime Minister Alutu, even though the
latter was not familiar with Chinese characters. The final book took
only two and a half years to produce and was published in Zhejiang
Province in 1346, the sixth year of the Zhizheng Era.
Content[edit]
The
History of Song with its 496 chapters is the largest of the 24
Dynastic Histories.[1] It contains 47 chapters of Imperial
biographies, 162 chapters covering
Song dynasty

Song dynasty records (志/誌
Zhì), 32 chapters of tables (showing genealogy etc.) and 255 chapters
of historical biographies. A work of enormous breadth, the History of
Song contains more than 2,000 individual historical biographies, more
than twice as many as the
Old Book of Tang

Old Book of Tang that chronicles the history
of the Early Tang dynasty. In the section of the book covering Song
dynasty records there are fifteen separate categories viz: astronomy,
the system of five phases known as Wu Xing, the legal calendar
(律历/律曆), geography, rivers and water ways,
Confucian

Confucian rites,
music, ceremonial weaponry and bodyguards (仪卫/儀衛), military
dress (舆服/輿服), elections, government positions, consumer
goods, the army and punishment together with art and culture.
Altogether these chapters make up one third of the work. The
historical biographies section of the
History of Song is unsurpassed
by any of the other Dynastic Histories; there are detailed
descriptions of Song government structures from the central down to
the local level. Sections covering consumer goods and the army are
also well written with much more detail than found in the other
Dynastic Histories. The fourteen chapters on consumer goods contain
seven times the amount of information as the corresponding chapters of
the Book of Tang. A total of seven chapters contain biographies of
traitors and rebels including Cai Jing, Huang Qianshan (黃潛善),
Qin Hui, Zhang Bangchang (張邦昌) and Liu Yu (劉豫) whilst the
four chapters on
Confucian

Confucian scholars feature individuals such as Zhou
Dunyi, Cheng Hao, Cheng Yi,
Zhang Zai

Zhang Zai and Zhu Xi
Evaluation[edit]
The ideology behind the
History of Song is that of Neo-confucianism,
with coverage of the
Confucian

Confucian doctrines of loyalty, righteousness and
ethics regarding the well-known scholars Zhou Dunyi, Cheng Hao, Cheng
Yi,
Zhang Zai

Zhang Zai and
Zhu Xi

Zhu Xi amongst others. No less than 278 individuals
feature in the section on loyalty and righteousness (忠義傳
Zhōngyì Zhuàn).
Qing dynasty
.svg/250px-Flag_of_the_Qing_Dynasty_(1862-1889).svg.png)
Qing dynasty historian
Qian Daxin

Qian Daxin (錢大昕) once
said: "The
History of Song esteems neo-confucianism, especially the
school of Zhu Xi". Its compilation follows the principles of Confucian
life. Fine logic and language is used to convey morality whilst
eschewing utilitarianism. The book's style is also highly regarded and
considered a model example. Wang Anshi's Xining Reforms (熙寧變法)
are rejected by the
History of Song whilst political reform
campaigners including Lu Huiqing (呂惠卿), Zeng Bu (曾布) and
Zhang Dun (章惇) feature in the section on traitors and rebels, Shi
Miyuan (史彌遠) however, despite his involvement in the suicide of
Emperor Ningzong of Song's eldest heir, does not feature in this
section or indeed the entire History of Song. Famous general Wang
Jianzai (王堅在), regardless of his valiant combat record, is also
omitted as are many other individuals involved in Mongol defeats by
the Song.
Despite both the
History of Song and the
History of Jin being
completed at the same time they are different in many ways. the
History of Song records
Yue Fei

Yue Fei emerging victorious from every battle
with the Jin dynasty,[2] yet the
History of Jin barely mentions
Emperor Taizu of Jin's capture of Bozhou, Shunchangfu (顺昌府),
Ruzhou and Songzhou (嵩州) when
Yue Fei

Yue Fei and other commanders
withdrew from the battle. Information in the
History of Song regarding
Yue Fei

Yue Fei all comes from a work by his descendant Yue Ke's (岳珂) Eguo
Jintuo Zuibian (鄂國金佗稡编 literally: Record of the Jin in
Hubei), the reliability of which is questioned by some sources, for
example whether the
Battle of Yancheng

Battle of Yancheng (郾城之戰) really was a
great victory for the Song[3] and if the claim regarding Yue Fei's
twelve gold medals is true.[4] Furthermore, there remains the issue of
whether Yu Fei's troops left the people unharmed as is sometimes
claimed.[5]
Qing dynasty
.svg/250px-Flag_of_the_Qing_Dynasty_(1862-1889).svg.png)
Qing dynasty poet and historian
Zhao Yi

Zhao Yi (趙翼) covers
this in his Twenty-two Historical Sketches (二十二史劄記) under
a section regarding observations on the Song and Jin armies
(宋金用兵需參觀二史).
Because the
History of Song was prepared in a hurry and is the work of
many editing it contains a number of unavoidable errors and
contradictions;[1] for example an individual with two biographical
entries such as Li Xijing (李熙靖) who appears in chapter 116 of
the historical biographies section then again in chapter 222. The work
also covers the Northern and Early Southern Song Dynasties in detail
with only an outline of the later Southern Song dynasty. There are
more biographies of individuals from the Northern Song period, for
example the Wenyuan Zhuan (文苑傳) covers a total of 96 people of
which only 11 are from the Southern Song era. The
History of Song is
also considered the most disordered of the 24 Dynastic Histories. Zhao
Yi comments: “When the
Yuan dynasty

Yuan dynasty wrote the history of the
overthrown Song they probably just arranged preexisting Song texts.”
The
Qing dynasty
.svg/250px-Flag_of_the_Qing_Dynasty_(1862-1889).svg.png)
Qing dynasty Siku Quanshu (四庫全書總目) collection of books
says that the “main purpose of the
History of Song is as a tribute
to the Song emperors and their Confucianism. Attention is not paid to
other matters so there are a great number of errors”. In 1977,
Zhonghua Publishing issued a new version of the
History of Song with
corrections to the punctuation.
Later influence[edit]
Since the time of its publication, successive dynasties have produced
commentaries on the History of Song. In 1546,
Ming dynasty
.svg/500px-Ming_Empire_cca_1580_(en).svg.png)
Ming dynasty author Wang
Zhu (王洙) completed his 100 chapter Supplement to the History of
Song to be followed in 1561 by Ke Weiqi's (柯維祺) 200 chapter
Songshi Xinbian (宋史新編) and the 250 chapter Songshi Ji
(宋史記) written by Wang Weijian (王惟儉). During the Qing
dynasty, Chen Huangzhong (陳黃中) wrote the Songshi Gao (宋史稿)
running to 219 chapters whilst Chen Xinyuan (陸心源) produced the
40 chapterSongshi Yi (宋史翼). In
Korea

Korea Li Suan (李算) of the
Joseon Dynasty
.svg/250px-Flag_of_the_King_of_Joseon_(fringeless).svg.png)
Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910 CE) penned the Songshi Qian (宋史筌) with
148 chapters. All these works correct some of the shortcomings of the
History of Song but are no substitute for the original.
During the final years of the Qing
Qianlong Emperor

Qianlong Emperor (r. 1735-1796 CE),
historian Shao Jinhan (邵晉涵) along with
Qian Daxin

Qian Daxin (錢大昕)
and
Zhang Xuecheng

Zhang Xuecheng (章學誠) worked hard to revamp the History of
Song. Shao produced his Biographical sketch of the Southern Song
(南都事略) then went back to work on the
History of Song but died
before it was completed.
See also[edit]
History of the Song dynasty
Notes and references[edit]
^ a b c "The History of the Song Dynasty". Retrieved September 1,
2010.
^ However, the
History of Jin refers on many occasions to defeats
suffered by Yue Fei's army at the hands of the Jin , for example in
Wang Bolong's (王伯龍) biography: "The soldiers crossed Caishi
(采石) and defeated Yue Fei, Liu Li (刘立) and
Lu Shang (路尚)
amongst others, going on to capture a huge quantity of provisions."
(軍渡採石,擊敗岳飛、劉立、路尚等兵,获芻糧數百萬計).
The biograpraphy of Wanyan Ang (完顔昂) records: "General Yue Fei,
with a claimed force of millions of troops, came to attack Dongping
(東平). There were five thousand soldiers stationed at Dongping who
quickly counter attacked. Many flags were raised in the woods, giving
the impression that there were troops hidden within then elite troops
moved to the front.
Yue Fei

Yue Fei did not dare advance and withdrew after a
stalemate lasting several days".
(宋将岳飞以兵十万,号称百万,来攻东平。东平有兵五千,仓卒出御之。时桑柘方茂,昂使多张旗帜于林间,以为疑兵,自以精兵阵于前。飞不敢动,相持数日而退)
^ Yue Fei's biography in the
History of Song quotes Yue Ke's version
of events from his Ewang Xingshi Biannian (鄂王行實編年)
regarding the "slaughter of the 5,000 enemy ". Chinese historian Deng
Guangming (鄧廣銘) in his Biography of
Yue Fei

Yue Fei (岳飛傳) claims
that at the Battle of Yinchang (潁昌決戰), which took place at
modern day
Xuchang

Xuchang City in Henan Province, only 500 of the enemy were
killed. Another historian, Wang Cengyu (王曾瑜) supports the idea
of 5,000 deaths given that in such a fierce battle it would be
impossible for casualties to number only 500. Wang Cengyu further
argues in section three of chapter nine of his
Yue Fei

Yue Fei and the Early
Southern Song – Politics & the Military
(岳飛和南宋前期政治與軍事研究)that the Battle of
Yancheng

Yancheng (郾城之戰) was a decisive victory for the Song. On the
other hand Wang also points out that even before he received the order
from Emperor Gaozong of Song,
Yue Fei

Yue Fei had already withdrawn his troops
from the battle.
^
Hangzhou

Hangzhou and
Yancheng

Yancheng are separated by a distance of more than two
thousand Chinese miles. Even a forced march would require a period of
eight days to travel from one to the other but both Deng Guoming and
Wang Cengyu believe that this was possible (see referenced works
above)
^ The Sanchao Beimeng Huibian (三朝北盟會編) notes: When Han
Shunfu (韓順夫) attacked Caocheng (曹成) he “often pitched
camp, removed his armour and consorted with captive local women”.
After Han’s defeat,
Yue Fei

Yue Fei was furious and had his soldiers murder
all of Han’s relatives.
External links[edit]
(In Chinese) "Digitized version of the History of Jin". Retrieved
August 23, 2010.
Chinese
Wikisource

Wikisource has original text related to this article:
History of Song (in Chinese)
Chinese
Wikiquote
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Wikiquote has quotations related to:
History of Song (in
Chinese)
This article is based on a translation of 宋史 in Chinese
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