The Study Of The Categorical List Of Historical Facts In Song Dynasty

The categorical list of historical facts in Song dynasty is a book compiled by Jiang Shaoyu in Song dynasty. It was completed in Twenty-five year of Shaoxing(1145) , Southern Song dynasty. Perceiving the peace and grace of Northern Song dynasty,in order to keep facts and learn from Northern Song dynasty and compensate this regret that the letters which recorded the facts of Northern Song dynasty were mostly dispersed in many books, Jiang Shaoyu compiled the book The categorical list of historical facts in Song dynasty. This book is a book of collection and compilation. It drew materials from beautiful anecdotes from the period of Song Taizu to the period of Song Shenzong in North Song dynasty, which were exactly quoted, clearly classified and scrupulously compiled. Owing to the peculiarity of The categorical list of historical facts in Song dynasty in style and drawing material, most scholars in every dynasty regard it as a literary sketch, a type book ,a history book or a miscellaneous compilation. However, after precise comparison, The categorical list of historical facts in Song dynasty is different from literary sketches, type books and history books. I think it's more scientific to classify it into the category of miscellanea. The categorical list of historical facts in Song dynasty has two editions. One has seventy-eight volumes and the other sixty-three volumes. The seventy-eight volume edition was circulated in Japan for a long time. It didn't reappear in China until the end of Qing dynasty. The sixty-three volume edition is mainly circulated in the form of manuscripts in China. Moreover, there are records of twenty-six volume edition in the catalogic works of every dynasty. According to the basic research, the twenty-six volume edition and the seventy-eight volume edition are with the same content, only different in the division of volumes, while the sixty-three volume edition is expurgated and revised on the basis of the seventy-eight volume edition. Due to that the time of the crystallization of The categorical list of historical facts in Song dynasty is close to the time of its quoting books and its quotations are very tenable, it authentically preserves the original appearance of its quoting materials and possesses relatively high value of compilation and revision. Some of the lost articles were only quoted by The categorical list of historical facts in Song dynasty exclusively while some entries can't be testified from elsewhere, thus they are all in possession of high historical values. Of course, The categorical list of historical facts in Song dynastyalso possesses some shortcomings in drawing materials, compilation and values.