The term zhengshi first appears in the imperial bibliography Jingjizhi 經籍志 in the official dynastic history Suishu 隋書. The Siku quanshu includes all zhengshi histories from the Shiji 史記 to the Mingshi 明史, in total 24 books (called Ershisi shi 二十四史), together with commentaries and notes 38 books.
The first universal history of China was the Shiji 史記 "Records of the Grand Scribe", written by Sima Tan 司馬談 (d. ca. 110 BCE) and his son Sima Qian 司馬遷 (145-86 BCE), who both were "court astrologers" (taishi 太史) under the Former Han Dynasty (206 BCE-8 CE).
The pattern of Sima Qian's historiographic work was unique and should serve as model for the official standard histories (zhengshi 正史) of the imperial dynasties for the next two thousand years. The official histories of China are collected in the corpus of the "Twenty-four histories" (Ershisi shi 二十四史). After the end of imperial China in 1911 the Qingshigao 清史稿 "Draft to a history of the Qing dynasty" (1644-1911) was added to this corpus. The Qingshigao is of course not an "offical" dynastic history because there was no emperor any more promulgating it as a such. These are the "Twenty-five histories" (Ershiwu shi 二十五史). A further history came into this collection with the Xin Yuanshi 新元史 "New history of the Yuan dynasty" (1279-1368), leading to the title of "Twenty-six histories" Ershiliu shi 二十六史.
Sima Qian used a biographic-thematic type (jizhuanti 紀傳體) of historiography instead of a more "natural" annalistic year-by-year type (biannianti 編年體). This has to do with the high value of persons and genealogies in Chinese history. The history of a dynasty is in first line the history of a family and not that of a country.
Additionally to three different types of biographies Sima Qian added tables and treatises. His book consequently consists of five types of chapters:
- 本紀 benji (short: ji 紀) Imperial biographies of rulers/emperors
- 表 biao Tables
- 書 shu (later called zhi 志, sometimes kao 考) Treatises
- 世家 shijia Biographies of the houses of the feudal lords, competitor dynasties and of eminent persons
- 列傳 liezhuan (short: zhuan 傳) Biographies of ordinary persons and collective biographies like that of empresses, officials, scholars, usurpers, or reports of foreign countries
The themes of the treatises multiply in the course of the centuries; these chapters are the basis for the upcome of encyclopedias (leishu 類書) and the overviews of the political-administrative system of the dynasties (huiyao 會要). The themes of the treatises range from rituals and state offerings to ritual music, imperial robes and carriages, official measures and the calendar, river conservancy, political economy, penal law, central and local administration, the military, description of strange phenological events, bibliographies, as well as the description of the recruitment system and the state examinations. The Qingshigao is the only one of the official dynastic histories providing treatises about communications (149-152 交通志 Jiaotong zhi) and foreign relations (153-160 邦交志 Bangjiao zhi).
The types of treatises are:
- 禮 li Rites
- 樂 yue Ritual music
- 儀衛 yiwei Courtly etiquette
- 律 lü Measures
- 曆 li Calendar
- 天文 tianwen Astronomy
- 封禪 fengshan Offerings to Heaven and Earth
- 符瑞 furui Omina and portents
- 五行 wuxing The five processes
- 河渠 hequ River conservancy
- 平準 pingzhun Agronomical matters
- 刑法 xingfa Penal law
- 食貨 shihuo Food and commerce
- 祭祀 jisi State offerings
- 地理 dili Local administration
- 選舉 xuanju State examinations
- 百官 baiguan State offices
- 兵 bing Military
- 營衛 yingwei Garrisons
- 輿服 yufu Chariots and robes
- 藝文 yiwen Literature
- 釋老 Shi-Lao Buddhism and Daoism
- 交通 jiaotong Traffic and communication
- 邦交 bangjiao Diplomatic relations
Although each of the northern and southern dynasties during the time of division have their distinct dynastic history (except the Western Wei 西魏 [535-556] and Eastern Wei 東魏 [534-550] whose history is included in the Weishu 魏書 "Book of the [Northern] Wei dynasty" [386-534]) there are two compound histories for the Southern Dynasties (Nanshi) and the Northern Dynasties (Beishi). The so-called Sixteen Barbarian States (Shiliuguo 十六國 [300~430]) were not officially granted the status of dynasties and are dealt with in the hereditary biographies of the Jinshu and the Weishu. The so-called Ten States (Shiguo 十國 [902~979]) face the same fate and their history is dealt with in the hereditary biographies of the Jiu Wudaishi and the Xin Wudaishi.
According to politial circumstances the "barbarian" dynasties of the Liao 遼 (907-1125, Khitans) and Jin 金 (1115-1234, Jurchens) were treated with as equal to the Chinese Song dynasty and were written an official dynastic history (Liaoshi 遼史 "The history of the Liao dynasty" and Jinshi 金史 "The history of the Jin dynasty"). Surprisingly this was not done for the Western Xia dynasty (Xixia 西夏, Tanguts, 1038-1227).
The Song period scholar Ouyang Xiu 歐陽修 has rearranged the histories of the Tang and the Five Dynasties, for which therefore an old version and a new version exists (Jiutangshu 舊唐書, Xintangshu 新唐書, Jiu Wudaishi 舊五代史, Xin Wudaishi 新五代史), which in some points differ significantly. From the great Song dynasty on the official histories were called shi 史 "history" instead of shu 書 "book", like before, probably in order to distinguish the history of the great Song from that of the small southern Liu-Song. The titles of the two Wudaishi are of a later date. The original titles were Liang-Tang-Jin-Han-Zhou shu 梁唐晉漢周書 and Wudai shiji 五代史記, respectively.
Overview of the treatises (pdf).
Overview of the normal biographies (pdf).
| The 25 (26) Official Dynastic Histories | |||||
| no | book | size (juan) | author/compiler | date of completion | meaning of title and remarks |
| 1 | 史記 Shiji | 130 卷 | (Han) 司馬談 Sima Tan and his son 司馬遷 Sima Qian | 93 BCE | "Records of the Grand Scribe" (a universal history that begins with the mythical "Yellow emperor" Huangdi 黃帝 and ends in 93 BC) |
| 2 | 漢書 Hanshu | 100 卷 | (Han) 班彪 Ban Biao and his son 班固 Ban Gu | 83 AD | The book of the (Former) Han dynasty |
| 3 | 後漢書 Houhanshu | 90+30 (120 卷) | (Liu-Song) 范曄 Fan Ye | 445 | The book of the Later Han dynasty |
| 4 | 三國志 Sanguozhi | 30+15+20 (65 卷) | (Jin) 陳壽 Chen Shou | 289 | Records of the Three Kingdoms (consisting of the three books of Weizhi 魏志 "The records of Wei", Wuzhi 吳志 "The records of Wu" and Shuzhi 蜀志 "The records of Shu" which are sometimes treated as separate books) |
| 5 | 晉書 Jinshu | 130 卷 | (Tang) 房玄齡 Fang Xuanling | 648 | The book of the Jin dynasty (also includes the history of the Sixteen Barbarian States in northern China) |
| 6 | 宋書 Songshu | 100 卷 | 沈約 (Liang) Shen Yue | 488 | The book of the (Liu-)Song dynasty (one of the Southern Dynasties) |
| 7 | 南齊書 Nanqishu | 59 卷 | (Liang) 蕭子顯 Xiao Zixian | 524 | The book of the Southern Qi dynasty |
| 8 | 梁書 Liangshu | 56 卷 | (Tang) 姚思廉 Yao Silian | 635 | The book of the Liang dynasty |
| 9 | 陳書 Chenshu | 36 卷 | (Tang) 姚思廉 Yao Silian | 636 | The book of the Chen dynasty |
| 10 | 魏書 Weishu | 124 卷 | (Northern Qi) 魏收 Wei Shou | 554 | The book of the Northern Wei dynasty (and the short-lived successor dynasties of Eastern and Western Wei) |
| 11 | 北齊書 Beiqishu | 50 卷 | (Tang) 李德林 Li Delin and his son 李百藥 Li Baiyao | 636 | The book of the Northern Qi dynasty |
| 12 | 周書 Zhoushu | 50 卷 | (Tang) 令狐德棻 Linghu Defen | 636 | The book of Northern Zhou dynasty |
| 13 | 隋書 Suishu | 85 卷 | (Tang) 魏征 Wei Zheng | 636 | The book of the Sui dynasty |
| 14 | 南史 Nanshi | 80 卷 | (Tang) 李延壽 Li Yanshou | 659 | History of the Southern Dynasties (covering the history of Liu-Song, Qi, Liang and Chen dynasties) |
| 15 | 北史 Beishi | 100 卷 | (Tang) 李延壽 Li Yanshou | 659 | History of the Northern Dynasties (covering the history of Northern-Wei, Eastern and Western Wei, Northern Qi and Northern Zhou) |
| 16 | 舊唐書 Jiutangshu | 200 卷 | (Later Jin) 劉昫 Liu Xu | 945 | The old book of the Tang dynasty |
| 17 | 舊五代史 Jiu Wudaishi | 150 卷 | (Song) 薛居正 Xue Juzheng | 974 | The old history of the Five Dynasties (also includes the history of the Ten States in Southern China) |
| 18 | 新唐書 Xintangshu | 225 卷 | (Song) 歐陽修 Ouyang Xiu etc. | 1061 | The new book of the Tang dynasty |
| 19 | 新五代史 Xin Wudaishi | 74 卷 | (Song) 歐陽修 Ouyang Xiu etc. | 1072 | The new history of the Five Dynasties |
| 20 | 宋史 Songshi | 296 卷 | (Yuan) 脫脫 Tuo Tuo (Toktoghan) etc. | 1345 | The history of the Song dynasty |
| 21 | 遼史 Liaoshi | 116 卷 | (Yuan) 脫脫 Tuo Tuo (Toktoghan) etc. | 1344 | The history of the Liao dynasty (Khitans) |
| 22 | 金史 Jinshi | 135 卷 | (Yuan) 脫脫 Tuo Tuo (Toktoghan) etc. | 1344 | The history of the Jin dynasty (Jurchens) |
| 23 | 元史 Yuanshi | 210 卷 | (Ming) 宋濂 Song Lian etc. | 1370 | The history of the Yuan dynasty (Mongols) |
| 24 | 明史 Mingshi | 332 卷 | (Qing) 張廷玉 Zhang Tingyu etc. | 1739 | The history of the Ming dynasty |
| 25 | 清史稿 Qingshigao | 529 卷 | (Rep) 趙爾巽 Zhao Erxun | 1927 | Draft to a history of the Qing dynasty (Manchus) |
| (26) | 新元史 Xin Yuanshi | 257 卷 | (Rep) 柯邵忞 Ke Shaomin | 1920 | The new history of the Yuan dynasty |
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