How is the official history compiled

When it comes to the compilation of official history, we have to mention the historian system that China has been independent of the world for thousands of years.

The ancient historiographer system in China originated very early. There is reliable evidence that, at least in Shang Dynasty, the system of historians' notes appeared in China. In the Western Zhou Dynasty, there were more and more historical posts, and names such as Taishi, Zhong Shi and Neishi appeared. Thus, the historiographer system of the whole Huaxia region from the Zhou Dynasty to the vassal States was formed.

The responsibilities of ancient historians are very extensive, but recording historical events is undoubtedly one of their basic tasks. "Mandarin" said: "It is a historical dereliction of duty not to write." "Book of Rites" also has "history as a pen, big books as a strategy, and small things as simplicity"; "Actions are left to history books, words are left to history books" and so on.

What is the most important thing for historians to compile official history?

The so-called "official history" usually refers to biographical history books with the nature of national history recognized by ancient officials. Although its systematic compilation is closely related to the historiographer system, it was not a direct product of this system at first. Because the early historian's duty of keeping records was mainly to preserve historical materials, not to write history. This situation remained until the Western Han Dynasty. The imperial edicts of Qin and Han Dynasties are mainly composed of ephemeris, notes and library materials, and no revision of history is required. It was not until Sima Qian took advantage of the convenience of being in charge of the royal collection of the Golden Chamber of Stone Chambers and consciously created the book Historical Records that the compilation of national history opened up a new world. Until today, it is still the most basic historical material for us to study the history from pre-Qin to early Han Dynasty.

Historical books have established biographical history books; Put forward a series of progressive historical views; Establish a good style of history management. Later, Ben and his son wrote China's first dynastic history, Hanshu. Although written privately, it is more suitable for rulers than Sima Qian's Historical Records, which is why it was officially recognized by the Han Dynasty as soon as it came out.

The occurrence of this case of "privately changing national history" obviously promoted the attention of the Eastern Han court to the compilation and revision of national history. By the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the sages had compiled The History of Oriental View. This is the first biographical contemporary history compiled by an official collective in China.

Although Hanshu Dongguan History is an official version, it does not mean that the government has a permanent organization to sort out and edit national history. When Wei Mingdi Taihe Zhao Zhong was appointed as a writer, there was only one official permanent historian specializing in compiling national history. But at the end of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the main goal of official control was still the compilation of contemporary history. As for the history of the previous dynasties, most of them were compiled by folk people, such as the History of the Three Kingdoms and the Book of the Later Han Dynasty. After the Sui and Tang Dynasties, with the increasing control of the imperial court over the compilation of national history, the compilation of the history of the former dynasty was also included in the official history revision system, so most of the "official history" written after the Tang Dynasty was officially revised.

In the traditional classification of historical books in China, it is generally recognized that there are 24 official histories, and this concept has gradually formed in the long-term historical process. The name "official history" first appeared in the Sui Dynasty. It was not until the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty that the Twenty-four History appeared.

Here, we should also explain why the Official History adopts biographical style instead of other genres. Someone once thought: "Chronology and biographies are official history, but what is not listed as official history is written by Ban Ma. The integration of chronology may not make the times continue, so it is meaningless to ignore them." But this is not the case.

Since ancient times, historians' chronicles have been handed down from generation to generation, and official chronicles have appeared very early;

After the Han Dynasty, Cuju became popular.

After the Southern Dynasties, it was recorded;

By the Tang Dynasty, official records had been customized.