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*Twenty-Four Histories*
Twenty-Four Histories
Chinese	二十四史
Hanyu Pinyin
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Èrshísì shǐ
Yue: Cantonese
Jyutping	Ji6sap6sei3 Si2
Southern Min
Hokkien POJ	Jī-cha̍p-sì-sú (col.); Jī-si̍p-sù-sú (lit.)

The Twenty-Four Histories, also known as the Orthodox Histories (正史; Zhèngshǐ), are a collection of official histories detailing the dynasties of China, from the legendary Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors in the 4th millennium BC to the Ming dynasty in the 17th century.

The Han dynasty official Sima Qian established many of the conventions of the genre, but the form was not fixed until much later. Starting with the Tang dynasty, each dynasty established an official office to write the history of its predecessor using official court records, partly in order to establish its own link to the earliest times. As fixed and edited in the Qing dynasty, the whole set contains 3,213 volumes and about 40 million words. It is considered one of the most important sources on Chinese history and culture.^[1]

The title Twenty-Four Histories dates from 1775, which was the 40th year in the reign of the Qianlong Emperor. This was when the last volume, the History of Ming, was reworked and a complete set of the histories was produced.

Collection

Title	Year	Dynasty	Main authors	Series
Shiji 史記	91 BC	Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors Xia Shang Zhou Qin Han until Emperor Wu	Sima Qian (Han)	Early Four Historiographies 前四史
Book of Han 漢書	82 AD	Western Han Xin dynasty	Ban Gu (Han)
Records of the Three Kingdoms 三國誌^[a]	289	Cao Wei Shu Han Eastern Wu	Chen Shou (Western Jin)
Book of the Later Han 後漢書	445	Eastern Han	Fan Ye (Liu Song)
Book of Song 宋書	488	Liu Song	Shen Yue (Liang)	—
Book of Southern Qi 南齊書	537	Southern Qi	Xiao Zixian (Liang)
Book of Wei 魏書	554	Northern Wei Eastern Wei	Wei Shou (Northern Qi)
Book of Liang 梁書	636	Liang	Yao Silian (Tang)	Eight Tang Historiographies 唐初八史
Book of Chen 陳書		Chen	Yao Silian (Tang)
Book of Northern Qi 北齊書		Northern Qi	Li Baiyao (Tang)
Book of Zhou 周書		Western Wei Northern Zhou	Linghu Defen (Tang)
Book of Sui 隋書		Sui	Wei Zheng (Tang)
Book of Jin 晉書	648	Western Jin Eastern Jin	Fang Xuanling (Tang)
History of the Southern Dynasties 南史	659	Liu Song Southern Qi Liang Chen	Li Yanshou (Tang)
History of the Northern Dynasties 北史	659	Northern Wei Eastern Wei Western Wei Northern Qi Northern Zhou Sui	Li Yanshou (Tang)
Old Book of Tang 舊唐書	945	Tang	Liu Xu (Later Jin)	—
Old History of the Five Dynasties 舊五代史	974	Later Liang Later Tang Later Jin Later Han Later Zhou	Xue Juzheng (Song)
Historical Records of the Five Dynasties 五代史記	1053	Later Liang Later Tang Later Jin Later Han Later Zhou	Ouyang Xiu (Song)
New Book of Tang 新唐書	1060	Tang dynasty	Ouyang Xiu (Song)
History of Liao 遼史	1343	Liao Qara Khitai	Toqto'a (Yuan)	Three Yuan Historiographies 元末三史^[2]
History of Jin 金史	1345	Jin dynasty	Toqto'a (Yuan)
History of Song 宋史	1345	Northern Song Southern Song	Toqto'a (Yuan)
History of Yuan 元史	1370	Yuan	Song Lian (Ming)	—
History of Ming 明史	1739	Ming	Zhang Tingyu (Qing)	—

Inheritance works

These works were begun by one historian and completed by an heir, usually of the next generation.

The Shiji, inherited from Sima Tan by Sima Qian
Book of Han, inherited from Ban Biao, Ban Gu by Ban Zhao
Book of Liang and Book of Chen, inherited from Yao Cha (姚察) by Yao Silian
Book of Northern Qi, inherited from Li Delin by Li Baiyao
History of the Southern Dynasties and History of the Northern Dynasties, inherited from Li Dashi by Li Yanshou (李延壽)

Related works

There were attempts at producing new traditional histories after the fall of the Qing dynasty, but they either never gained widespread acceptance as part of the official historical canon or they remain unfinished.

Year	Title	Dynasty	Main authors
New History of Yuan 新元史	1927	Yuan	Ke Shaomin (Republic of China)
Draft History of Qing 清史稿	1920	Qing	Zhao Erxun (Republic of China)

Modern attempts at creating the official Qing history

In 1961, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the declaration of the Republic of China (ROC), the ROC government in Taiwan published the History of Qing, adding 21 supplementary chapters to the Draft History of Qing and revising many existing chapters to denounce the People's Republic of China (PRC) as an illegitimate, impostor regime. It also removed passages that were derogatory towards the Xinhai Revolution.^[3] This edition has not been widely accepted as the official Qing history because it is recognized that it was a rushed job motivated by political objectives. It does not correct most of the errors known to exist in the Draft History of Qing.^[4]

An additional project, attempting to write a New History of Qing incorporating new materials and improvements in historiography, lasted from 1988 to 2000. Only 33 chapters out of the projected 500 were published.^[4] This project was later abandoned following the rise of the Taiwanese nationalist Pan-Green Coalition, which argues that it is not the duty of Taiwan to compile the history of mainland China.

In 1961, the PRC also attempted to complete the Qing history, but historians were prevented from doing so against the backdrop of the Cultural Revolution.^[5]

In 2002, the PRC once again announced that it would complete the History of Qing.^[6] The project was approved in 2002,^[7] and put under the leadership of historian Dai Yi.^[8] Initially planned to be completed in 10 years,^[9] the project suffered multiple delays, pushing completion of the first draft to 2016.^[10] Chinese Social Sciences Today reported in April 2020 that the project's results were being reviewed.^[11] However, in 2023, the manuscript was reportedly rejected,^[12] and there are also rumors that the project has been indefinitely halted.^[13]

Modern editions

In China, the Zhonghua Book Company have edited a number of these histories. They have been collated, edited, and punctuated by Chinese specialists.^[14] From 1991 to 2003, it was translated from Literary Chinese into modern written vernacular Chinese, by Xu Jialu and other scholars.^[15]

Translations

One of the Twenty-Four Histories is in the process of being fully translated into English: Records of the Grand Historian by William Nienhauser, in nine volumes.^[16]

In Korean and Vietnamese, only the Records has been translated. Most of the histories have been translated into Japanese.^{[citation needed]}

Notes

^ Greatly expanded by the later Annotated Records of the Three Kingdoms

References

Citations

^ Ch 49, "Standard Histories", in Endymion Wilkinson. Chinese History: A New Manual. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center, Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph Series, 2012). ISBN 9780674067158. Also see "Standard Histories"
^ Xu Elina-Qian, p. 23.
^ 台灣版《清史》一年速成筆墨官司幾上幾下. Huaxia (in Chinese). Retrieved 12 April 2018.
^ ^a ^b Chen, Hsi-yuan (2004). "Last chapter unfinished: The making of the official Qing History and the crisis of Traditional Chinese Historiography". Historiography East and West. 2 (2): 173–204. doi:10.1163/157018606779068306. ISSN 1570-1867. S2CID 153377177.
^ Wilkinson, Endymion (2012). Chinese history: a new manual. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center. pp. 834–835. ISBN 978-0-674-06715-8.
^ Yue, Huairang (3 April 2019). 新修《清史》已进入稿件通读阶段，预计今年出版问世. Pengpai Xinwen 澎湃新闻 (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 12 April 2019.
^ Mao, Liping; Ma, Zhao (2012). ""Writing History in the Digital Age": The New Qing History Project and the Digitization of Qing Archives". History Compass. 10 (5): 367–374. doi:10.1111/j.1478-0542.2012.00841.x.
^ Chéng, Chóngdé (3 January 2021). 戴逸先生与清史纂修前的准备工作. Guangming 光明 (in Chinese).
^ 两岸学者聚京共商清史纂修大计预计10年完成. 新浪军事 (in Chinese). 26 August 2003.
^ Ren, Mǐn (18 December 2013). Song, Yucheng (ed.). 国家清史编纂工程已完成初稿 [The first draft of the National Qing History Compilation Project has been completed]. Běijīng Xīnwén 北京新闻 (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 19 December 2013.
^ Guo, Fei (21 April 2020). Ma, Yuhong (ed.). "Dai Yi speaks on Qing history national compilation project". Chinese Social Sciences Today. Archived from the original on 14 September 2021.
^ Ji Xiaohua (紀曉華) (2023-11-07). 中國觀察：未通過政審《清史》觸礁 [China Watch: "History of Qing" failed to pass political review and has hit a snag]. Singtao USA (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2023-11-18. Retrieved 2023-11-18.
^ 清史編纂紛擾持續傳未通過中國政審 [Controversy over compilation of Qing history continues, rumored to have failed to pass China’s political review] (in Chinese). Freedom Times. 2023-11-09. Archived from the original on 24 November 2023. Retrieved 2023-11-24.
^ Xu Elina-Qian, p. 19.
^ 二十四史全译 (in Chinese) – via Douban.
^ The Grand Scribe's Records (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994- )