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Jinyang qiu 晉陽秋

Oct 1, 2013 © Ulrich Theobald

Jinyang qiu 晉陽秋 "A Chronicle of Jinyang" was a history of the Jin dynasty 晉 (265-420) written by the Eastern Jin period 東晉 (317-420) writer Sun Sheng 孫盛 (302-373), courtesy name Sun Guo'an 孫安國. He came from the region of modern Taiyuan 太原, Shanxi and was assistant editorial director (zuo zhuzuolang 佐著作郎), then director of the Palace Library (mishujian 秘書監) and then supervising secretary (jishizhong 給事中). Another writing by him is Weishi chunqiu 魏氏春秋.

According to the imperial bibliography Jingjizhi 經籍志 in the official dynastic history Suishu 隋書, the book was 22-juan long. It was a chronological history of the Jin dynasty down to the rule of Emperor Ai 晉哀帝 (r. 361-365). When general Huan Wen 桓溫 (312-373) won the battle of Fangtou 枋頭 against the empire of the Former Yan 前燕 (337-370), Sun Sheng was ordered to alter his history, so that there were two different versions of it.

The book was lost during the Song period 宋 (960-1279). The Qing-period 清 (1644-1911) scholar Tang Qiu 湯球 (1804-1881) collected all surviving fragments, with a length of 3 juan and the title Sun Sheng Jinyang qiu 孫盛晉陽秋. It is included in the series Guangya shuju congshu 廣雅書局叢書.

Source:
Li Xueqin 李學勤, Lü Wenyu 呂文鬰 (ed. 1996), Siku da cidian 四庫大辭典 (Changchun: Jilin daxue chubanshe), Vol. 1, p. 898.