History of Song 

(book)
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This article is about the official history of the Song dynasty. For the official
history of the Liu Song, see Book of Song. For a general history of the
Song dynasy, see History of the Song dynasty.

History of Song

Chinese 宋史
showTranscriptions

The History of Song or Song Shi (Chinese: 宋史; pinyin: 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 (960–
1279). It was commissioned in 1343 and compiled under the direction of
First Minister Toqto'a and Prime Minister Alutu (traditional Chinese: 阿魯
圖; simplified Chinese: 阿鲁图) during the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) 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
 1Publication process
 2Content
 3Evaluation
 4Later influence
 5See also
 6Notes
 7References
 7.1Citations
 7.2Sources
 8External links

Publication process[edit]
Kublai Khan endorsed a proposal by Liu Bingzhong and Wang E (王鶚; 
王鹗, 1190–1273) for the compilation of historic records of the Song, Jin,
and Liao dynasties but the compilation effort stalled for some time. [1] In
March 1343, the third year of Ukhaantu Khan, Emperor Huizong of
Yuan's Zhizheng Era (至正年號; 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 鐵木
兒塔識; 铁木儿塔识), He Weiyi, (賀惟一; 贺惟一), Zhang Qiyan (張起巖; 
张起岩), Ouyang Xuan (歐陽玄; 欧阳玄), Li Haowen (李好文), Wang
Yi (王沂) and Yang Zongduan (楊宗端) were given responsibility for the
project[2] with Woyuluntu (斡玉倫徒; 斡玉伦徒), Taibuhua (泰不華; 泰不华),
 Yu Wenzhuan (于文傳; 于文传), Gong Shidao (貢師道; 贡师道), Yu
Que (餘闕; 余阙), Jia Lu (賈魯; 贾鲁) 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 Twenty-
Four Histories.[2] It contains 47 chapters of Imperial biographies, 162
chapters covering Song dynasty records (誌; 志; 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 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 (律曆; 律历), geography,
rivers and water ways, Confucian rites, music, ceremonial weaponry and
bodyguards (儀衛; 仪卫), military dress (輿服; 舆服), 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).
Four chapters are dedicated to Confucian scholars feature individuals
such as Cheng Hao, Cheng Yi, Zhang Zai, Zhou Dunyi, and Zhu Xi.
Chien includes a translation to English of the treatise on the salt
monopoly contained in volumes 181–183.[3] This treatise is the largest of
the treatises in the Finance and Economics (食貨) section. Chien also
includes maps in English corresponding to the main administrative
regions described in volumes 85–90 comprising the Geography (地理)
section.

Evaluation[edit]
The ideology behind the History of Song is that of Neo-Confucianism,
with coverage of the Confucian doctrines of loyalty, righteousness and
ethics regarding the well-known scholars Zhou Dunyi, Cheng Hao, Cheng
Yi, Zhang Zai and Zhu Xi amongst others. No less than 278 individuals
feature in the section on loyalty and righteousness (《忠義傳》; Zhōngyì
Zhuàn). Qing dynasty historian 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 emerging victorious from every battle with the Jin
dynasty,[note 1] yet the History of Jin barely mentions Emperor Taizu of
Jin's capture of Bozhou, Shunchangfu (順昌府),
 Ruzhou and Songzhou (嵩州) when Yue Fei and other commanders
withdrew from the battle. Information in the History of Song regarding Yue
Fei all comes from a work by his descendant Yue Ke's (岳珂) Eguo Jintuo
Zuibian (鄂國金佗稡編, literally: 'Record of the Jin in Hubei'), the reliability
of which is questioned by some sources, for example whether the Battle
of Yancheng (郾城之戰) really was a great victory for the Song[note 2] and if
the claim regarding Yue Fei's twelve gold medals is true. [note
3] Furthermore, there remains the issue of whether Yu Fei's troops left the
people unharmed as is sometimes claimed.[note 4] Qing dynasty poet and
historian 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 was the work of
many editors, it contains a number of unavoidable errors and
contradictions;[2] for example, an individual with two biographical entries
is 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 wrote the history of the overthrown Song they probably just
arranged preexisting Song texts." The 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 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. Chen Xinyuan (陸心源) produced
the 40 chapter Songshi Yi (宋史翼).
In Korea, Jeongjo of Joseon wrote 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 (r. 1735–1796 CE),
historian Shao Jinhan (邵晉涵) along with Qian Daxin (錢大昕) and Zhang
Xuecheng (章學誠) worked 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[edit]
1. ^ 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 (採石) and defeated Yue Fei, Liu Li (劉立)
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
biography 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 did not dare advance and withdrew
after a stalemate lasting several days". (宋將岳飛以兵十萬，號稱百萬，來攻東平。
東平有兵五千，倉卒出御之。時桑柘方茂，昂使多張旗幟於林間，以為疑兵，自以
精兵陣於前。飛不敢動，相持數日而退。)
2. ^ 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 (《岳飛傳》) claims that at the Battle of Yinchang (潁昌決戰), which
took place at modern day 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 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 (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 had already withdrawn his
troops from the battle.
3. ^ Hangzhou and 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.)
4. ^ 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 was furious and
had his soldiers murder all of Han's relatives.

References[edit]
Citations[edit]
1. ^ Chan (2014), pp. 62–64.
2. ^ Jump up to:      "The History of the Song Dynasty". Retrieved September 1, 2010.
a b c

3. ^ Chien (2004), p. 93.

Sources[edit]
 Chan, Hok-lam (2014). "Chinese Official History at the Yuan Court: The Compilation of
the Liao, Chin, and Sung Histories". China Under Mongol Rule. Princeton, New Jersey:
Princeton University Press.
 Chien, Cecilia Lee-fang (2004). Salt and State: An Annotated Translation of the Songshi
Salt Monopoly Treatise. Michigan: Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan.
Attribution
 This article is based on a translation of 宋史 in Chinese Wikipedia

External links[edit]
Chinese Wikisource h
as original text
related to this
article:
History of Song (in
Chinese)

 Chinese Wikiquote has quotations related to: History of Song (in

Chinese)
 "Digitized version of the History of Jin" (in Chinese). Retrieved 2010-
08-23.
 History of Song 《宋史》 Chinese text with matching English
vocabulary

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