Sima Guang
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Sīmǎ Guāng (; Wade-Giles: Szuma Kuang, 1019-1086) was a Chinese historian, scholar and statesman of the Song Dynasty.
He was born in 1019 in present day Yuncheng, Shanxi to a wealthy family, and obtained early success as a scholar and officer. He passed the examination for the quasi-doctoral degree, highest in the state, when he was barely twenty, and he spent the next several years in official positions.
In 1064, he presented to the emperor Yingzong a book of five volumes, the Chronicle Chart, a summary of events of China from 403 BC to 959, which may be regarded as a first advertisement and request for sponsorship of his major project. The starting point was chosen from the year that the king of Eastern Zhou acknowledged the division of the ancient hereditary State of Jin (now Shanxi) from the Warring States between three great families, a recognition of usurpers which marked the beginning of the desperate and decisive wars that brought the end of Eastern Zhou and the establishment of the new-style empire of Qin Dynasty. In 1066, he presented a further and more detailed work, the Comprehensive Records, comprising eight volumes chronicling the period from 403 BC to 207 BC, and at this time an edict was issued for the work to be continued. He was granted full access to the imperial libraries, while the emperor undertook to cover all the costs of paper, writing brushes and other equipment required for the compilation. He also allocated funds for research assistants, including the experienced historians Liu Shu and Zhao Junxi. Early in the following year, 1067, Yingzong died, and in November, he attended a seminar at the palace to introduce the work in progress to Shenzong. The new emperor not only confirmed the interest his father had shown, but proclaimed the favour by a preface which changed the title of his work from Comprehensive Records to the more ornamental and impressive Comprehensive Mirror to Aid in Government, which would be completed in 1084. As several modern scholars have observed, the title Mirror may be understood in this context as indicating a work of reference and guidance; so the emperor accepted he as his mentor in the science of history and its application to government, and for decades of his reign he maintained his support for the work.
Such loyalty is notable, and he soon became a leader of the conservative faction at court, resolutely opposed to the reforming policies of emperor's minister Wang Anshi. He presented increasingly bitter memorials of criticism, and in 1070, he refused further appointment and withdrew from the court. In 1071, he took up residence in Luoyang, where he remained with an official sinecure, ample leisure and sufficient resources to continue the work. Indeed, though he and his imperial master were in complete disagreement on policies for the present day, the enforced retirement proved essential for the historian to complete the project in full and final form.
He is still remembered for his work Comprehensive Mirror to Aid in Government and his rivalry with contemporary statesman Wang Anshi.
See also
External links
- [Emperor Huan and Emperor Ling - Extract from the Zizhi Tongjian] Rafe de Crespigny, Internet edition, 1991.
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