|
|
 |
The Xin Wudaishi 新五代史 "The new history of the Five Dynasties" is the second official dynastic history of the Five Dynasties 五代 (907-960). It was compiled by Ouyang Xiu 歐陽修 and comprises 74 chapters (juan, "scrolls"), of which 12 are imperial biographies (benji 本紀), 45 normal and collective biographies (liezhuan 列傳), and 3 treatises (kao 考), as well as 11 hereditary biographies (shijia 世家) and 3 collective biographies of barbarians, i. e. foreign countries and peoples. The original title of the book was Wudai shiji 五代史記, but it was soon renamed Xin Wudaishi in order to distinguish it from the older Wudaishi 五代史 written by Xue Juzheng 薛居正, which was then accordingly renamed Jiu Wudaishi 舊五代史.
The Xin Wudaishi is the last of the 24 dynastic histories compiled by one single person. While Xue Juzheng arranged his history of the Five Dynasties as a series of five practically separate books (the original title was therefore Liang-Tang-Jin-Han-Zhou shu 梁唐晉漢周書), Ouyang Xiu saw his new history as a compact single book.
Compared to the Jiutangshu Ouyang Xiu rigidly abbreviated the chapters, eliminated quotations from imperial decrees and shortened the narrative parts. His new book is therefore considerably shorter than the Jiu Wudaishi. Although Ouyang Xiu wrote his history as a single entity he arranged different groups of persons under headings pointing at their affiliation to one of the five subsequent ruling dynasties. The normal and collective biographies thus begin with the members of the imperial house of the Liang (13 Liang jiaren zhuan 梁家人傳), then that of the Tang, the Jin, and so on. The chapters proceed with the ministers of the Liang dynasty (21-23 Liang chen zhuan 梁臣傳), then that of the Tang, etc. Chapters 31 to 38 are collective biographies of persons with a certain social status or moral behaviour. One exception is chapter 35 which only contains subjects of the Tang dynasty (35 Tang liuchen zhuan 唐六臣傳). Chapters 39 to 57 are miscellaneous biographies (zazhuan 雜傳). The hereditary biographies deal with the Ten States 十國 (902-979) that ruled over southern China during that time. Chapter 71 is a chronologic overview (nianpu 年譜).
The Xin Wudaishi is the only one of the dynastic histories that used the term kao "investigations" for the treatises, and not zhi 志 "record".
Ouyang Xiu tried to follow the pattern established in the ancient classic Chunqiu 春秋 "Spring and Autumn annals" , where persons acting in history were blamed or praised for their behaviour. Ouyang’s language is plain and straighforward, thanks to his support of a simplicity in language, like it had supposedly been common in antiquity (the guwen 古文 "old syle").
From 1207 on the Xin Wudaishi became one of the dynastic histories, by decree of the Jin dynasty 金 (1115-1234) emperor Zhangzong 金章宗 1189-1208. There was an old commentary to the Xin Wudaishi written by Xu Wudang 徐無黨, and a textual critique pointing to errors written by Wu Zhen 吳縝, the Wudaishi zuanwu 五代史纂誤, of which only 3 juan survive. The Qing period 清 (1644-1911) scholars Peng Yuanrui 彭元瑞 and Liu Fenghao 劉鳳 浩 wrote a further commentary, the Wudai shiji zhu 五代史記注. In 1974 the Zhonghua shuju press 中華書局 published a modern punctated edition.
Source: Liu Naihe 劉乃和 (1992). "Xin Wudaishi 新五代史", in: Zhongguo da baike quanshu 中國大百科全書, Zhongguo lishi 中國歷史, vol. 3, p. 1325. Beijing/Shanghai: Zhongguo da baike quanshu chubanshe.
|
|
|
Chinese literature according to the four-category system
|
|
