While this board will include threads dealing with Kaifeng history beyond the Northern Song dynasty, it is named in honor of Sima Guang's 294 volume history of China, which covers the years from the beginning of the Warring States Period in 403 BC to the establishment of the Song dynasty in 959 AD.

Zizhi Tongjian, literally translated as Comprehensive Mirror to Aid in Government, was commisioned in 1066 by Emperor Yingzong, the fifth emperor of the Northern Song dynasty. The final version was presented to Emperor Shenzong in 1084, having taken nineteen years to complete.

This was the first chronological history written in China, and described the rise and fall of the previous regimes. Not only did this history relate the facts, but its author delved into the causes and influences of the decisions and events of the previous emperors, and the effect of these on the ecomomy and daily life. His work included biographies of the emperors, their consorts, noble families and important scholars, as well as geographical information on foreign countries. In the 900 years since its first publication, there have been over seventy versions of this history, and it has greatly influenced subsequent Chinese histories.

Sima Guang came from a wealthy family in Shanxi Province and after easily passing his imperial examinations with the highest ranking of jinshi, or metropolitan graduate, at the age of twenty, he obtained a government post which led to his being able to pursue his interest and talent in historiography.

Not only was he a great scholar, but he was possessed of the virtue of humility, realizing that he was actually no better than anyone else. It was this trait that drew his fellow citizens to ask him for advice. He was also a talented poet and today he is featured in children's books as a hero, because of a story which told of his childhood rescue of one of his friends from drowning in a water tank. Sima Guang died in 1086, just months after he was promoted to Chief Councilor to the emperor.

Read Anecdotes about Sima Guang


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