Abstract
In his Shitong 史通 (Generalities on History), composed at the beginning of the eighth century ce, Liu Zhiji 劉知幾, an official historian, evaluates, comments and criticises numerous historical texts, among which are many standard histories. He dedicates a whole chapter of his work to the treatises that these histories contain, and offers his perspective about their nature, their types and the information that they should, in his opinion, contain. Notably, Liu Zhiji’s focus is on the Han shu, and he argues that the ‘heavenly patterns’ (tianwen 天文), bibliography and ‘five phases’ (wuxing 五行) treatises must go, offering capitals, clans and regional/foreign products as more deserving alternatives. As a near contemporary of the Sui shu treatise project, Liu’s critical take on the Han shu treatise model at the core of said project provides us interesting food for thought about the tension between tradition and innovation in this genre and how it was received and modified in later times.
Résumé
Dans son Shitong 史通 (Traité de l’historien parfait), composé au début du VIIIe siècle de notre ère, Liu Zhiji 劉知幾, historien officiel, évalue, commente et critique de nombreux textes historiques, parmi lesquels des histoires officielles. Il consacre un chapitre entier de son traité aux traités contenus dans ces histoires et offre diverses opinions sur leur nature, leurs types et les informations qu’elles devraient fournir selon lui. Liu Zhiji s’intéresse en particulier au Han shu 漢書, et affirme que les traités sur les Signes célestes (« Tianwen zhi » 天文志), sur les livres (« Jingji zhi » 經籍志) et sur les Cinq phases (« Wuxing zhi » 五行志) devraient disparaître, au profit de chapitres sur les capitales, les clans et les produits régionaux ou étrangers. Étant presque contemporaine de la composition du Sui shu 隋書, l’approche critique de Liu Zhiji sur le Han shu en tant que modèle offre une perspective intéressante pour comprendre les rapports entre tradition et innovation dans le genre des traités et la façon dont ce dernier fut reçu et modifié au cours du temps.
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Notes
- 1.
For a general introduction to Liu Zhiji’s Shitong, see my complete translation of the inner chapters in Chaussende (2014: xiii–xcviii).
- 2.
Liu Zhiji’s autobiography is found in Shitong, Chap. 36.
- 3.
Note that the Shitong originally contained fifty-two chapters, but that three are now missing.
- 4.
See Chap. 10, this volume.
- 5.
Note that, this aside, Liu Zhiji otherwise holds the Han shu in high esteem; see Tian (1999).
- 6.
Shitong tongshi, 6.158–159.
- 7.
Shitong tongshi, 10.256.
- 8.
Despite his sound knowledge of historical sources, Liu Zhiji seems to ignore that in the Hou Han shu biography of Ban Zhao 班昭 (Hou Han shu, 84.2784–2785), Ban Gu’s sister, it is said that she is the one who began to write the tables and the ‘Tianwen zhi’, and that these part were finished by Ma Xu 馬續 (fl. 111–141). In the treatise on heavenly patterns, Ma Xu is said to be the compiler of the ‘Tianwen zhi’ (Hou Han shu, 3215). So, who is to blame after all? My thanks to Daniel P. Morgan for this information.
- 9.
Shitong tongshi, 4.89.
- 10.
See outer Chap. 2, Shitong tongshi, 12.345.
- 11.
The question of the repetitiveness of the ‘Tianwen zhi’ genre is taken up in Chap. 6, this volume, which largely agrees with Liu Zhiji’s diagnosis.
- 12.
Shitong tongshi, 3.53.
- 13.
班固因循, 復以天文作志, 志無漢事而隸入『漢書』, Shitong tongshi, 3.53. Note that, here again, Liu Zhiji is not being entirely fair: though it is true that the Han shu ‘Tianwen zhi’ is taken almost word for word from the Shiji ‘Tianguan shu’, the following annals of observed and interpreted anomalies continues past the cut-off date of the Shiji (154 BCE) to 2 BCE. On the constituent elements of the ‘Tianwen zhi’ genre, see Chap. 6, this volume.
- 14.
Pi Zao, Zi Shen and Jing Fang are classical omen experts that get cited in the Han shu ‘Wuxing zhi’, and Li He is an official who memorialised on five-phases omens around the time of the Han shu’s composition. Note that the names that Liu Zhiji is listing here are not at all standard references in ‘heavenly patterns’ omenology, for a list of which see Chap. 6, Note 73, this volume.
- 15.
Shitong tongshi, 3.53–54. The difference, in more concrete terms, is that Yuan Shansong, Shen Yue, Xiao Zixian and Wei Shou did not include a star catalogue in their respective ‘Tianwen zhi’, leaving (with the exception of Shen Yue, see Note 16) only an annals of phenomena observed and interpreted over the period in question.
- 16.
Note that Cai Yong’s specific suggestion was that such treatises be expanded to include a section on tianti 天體 ‘heaven’s form’ cosmology, which is realised in the Song shu, Sui shu and Jin shu (see Chap. 6, this volume). Of these, Liu nonetheless praises Shen Yue’s Song shu for its concision.
- 17.
Shitong tongshi, 9.231.
- 18.
Shitong tongshi, 3.56.
- 19.
See Han shu, 30.1701, and Sui shu, 32.908, cf. Chap. 11, this volume.
- 20.
Shitong tongshi, 3.58.
- 21.
Shitong tongshi, 19.498.
- 22.
Citing Han shu, 27BB.1487.
- 23.
Shitong tongshi, 19.525.
- 24.
Shitong tongshi, 3.61.
- 25.
See Zuozhuan, Zhao 17, 524 BCE.
- 26.
Zhao Da was a diviner during the Three Kingdoms period. The origin of the reference is unknown.
- 27.
See Hou Han shu, 82B.2733.
- 28.
See Jin shu, 94.2435.
- 29.
Shitong tongshi, 8.62.
- 30.
Shitong tongshi, 19.517–518.
- 31.
- 32.
Shitong tongshi, 3.66–67.
- 33.
These are chapters of the Shangshu 尚書 and Yi Zhoushu 逸周書, respectively.
- 34.
- 35.
These two books are Liu shi jia shi 劉氏家史 (History of the Liu Family), in 15 juan, and Liu shi pukao 劉氏譜考 (Genealogy of the Liu Clan), in 3 juan.
- 36.
Shitong tongshi, 3.67–68.
- 37.
Respectively juan 35–36, 46–47, and 37 of the Jiu Tang shu and juan 31–33, 57–59 and 34–36 of the Xin Tang shu.
- 38.
More specifically, Li Chunfeng’s Jin shu ‘Wuxing zhi’ juxtaposes the interpretive formulae of Dong Zhongshu, Jing Fang, Liu Xiang, Liu Xin, Guan Lu 管輅 (209–256), Gan Bao 干寶 (286–336), and a variety of Classics and early texts on at least 28 occasions to provide the sort of alternate readings of a particular event in such a way that Liu Zhiji considers ‘clutter’ in the Han shu. Such ‘clutter’ is, however, exceedingly rare beyond the Ban Gu and Li Chunfeng ‘Wuxing zhi’. On the situation of Li’s Sui shu ‘Wuxing zhi’, see Chap. 7, this volume.
- 39.
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Acknowledgement
I would like to thank Daniel P. Morgan for his outstanding editing work on this chapter and for helping me with some of the details of the omenological portion of it.
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Chaussende, D. (2019). Epilogue: Treatises According to Tang Historian Liu Zhiji. In: Morgan, D., Chaussende, D. (eds) Monographs in Tang Official Historiography. Why the Sciences of the Ancient World Matter, vol 3. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18038-6_12
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