Chapter 8 Section 1 The Old and New Books of Tang with Different Lengths

"Old Tang Book", (Fig. 13) written by Liu Yan [xu Xu] of the Later Jin Dynasty.The book consists of 20 volumes of Benji, 30 volumes of Chronicles, and 150 volumes of biographies, totaling 200 volumes, with about 1.9 million words.From the first year of Tang Gaozu Wude (AD 618) to the fourth year of Tang Aidi Tianyou (AD 907), it records the history of the Tang Dynasty for 290 years.The original name was "Book of Tang". When the new "Book of Tang" compiled by Ouyang Xiu and Song Qi in the Northern Song Dynasty came out, later generations added the words "old" and "new" respectively for the convenience of distinction.

"Old Tang Book" was first written in the sixth year of Tianfu (AD 941) in the Later Jin Dynasty, and it was completed in June of the second year of Kaiyun (AD 945).When the book was written, it happened not long after Liu's new residence, so he took the lead in playing it as a supervisor.Liu Wei deserves a false name but has no contribution at all. In fact, the main authors of the book are Zhang Zhaoyuan, Jia Wei and others, and the supervisor is Zhao Ying. "Old Tang Book" is the earliest existing important historical book that systematically records the history of the Tang Dynasty.

The Tang Dynasty attached great importance to the compilation of history, all dynasties compiled real records, and compiled national history on the basis of real records.Famous historians, such as Wu Jing, Wei Shu, Liu Fang, Yu Xiulie, Linghu Yao [Huanhuan], etc. have successively written official national histories of the Tang Dynasty. The historical records from the early Tang Dynasty to the Daizong period are relatively detailed and complete, and have been Written in the form of biography, in addition to Tang Gaozu to Tang Wenzong's records of various dynasties are well preserved.As for the late Tang Dynasty, due to social turmoil and military chaos, only Wu Zong Dynasty had a volume of veritable records, and the others were omitted. The editors of "Old Tang Book" lived not far from the Tang Dynasty, and they had access to a large number of original materials such as the official history and real records of the Tang Dynasty, and studied and utilized them.Due to the fact that the historical materials it relies on are different in detail and roughness, and the book was written in a hurry, the appearance of "Old Tang Book" appears to be good in the first half and poor in the second half.In the early and middle periods, they generally directly copied the old texts of the official national history and real records of the Tang Dynasty. The historical materials are detailed and specific, and the writing is neat and clear. Words such as “今上” and “今日” and so on, some annals and biographies still retain the names of Tang Dynasty historians impressively, such as “Shichen Han Yuyue”, “Shichen Jiang Xiyue”, “Shichen Wei Shuyue” Wait.Since Wuzong’s subsequent dynasties had no old history to rely on, they all relied on the editors to search, collect and edit materials, slightly patch them up, and perfunctoryly write them into articles.There are many omissions about the characters in the late Tang Dynasty. Even if there are biographies, the records are only the resumes and titles, and there are not many actual facts.Due to the mixed hands and old-fashioned theories, the historical viewpoints in the book are also messy and fragmented.The above situation shows that the compilation work of "Old Book of Tang" was rough and sloppy.

Even so, the historical value of "Old Tang Book" is relatively high.It narrates historical facts in detail and preserves rich and complete historical materials, which is convenient for readers to understand the progress and specific conditions of historical events, so it is valued by future generations of historians.Sima Guang in the Song Dynasty wrote more "Old Tang Books" in the "Tang Ji" part, because it records more detailed and clear events. "Old Book of Tang" preserves many materials with historical value.For example, "Lu Cai Zhuan" included his texts on house scriptures, life, and burial books, and "Lu Zang Yong Zhuan" included his "Analysis of Hysteresis", etc., all of which are important materials against secular superstition in the history of ancient Chinese thought. "Jia Dan Zhuan" records his compilation and drawing of geographical maps, and contains the two tables he put on when he entered the map, which is also an important document in the history of Chinese geography.Many memorials in the biographies of Wei Zheng, Ma Zhou and others are important political documents with great historical influence.Even though the later Benji seems to be rather messy in general, it still preserves many valuable historical materials. For example, the records of Pang Xun Uprising and Huangchao Uprising in "Benji of Yizong" and "Benji of Xizong" are more detailed and precious.The two chapters of Emperor Zhaozong and Emperor Ai also recorded the arrogance and domineering of some towns and eunuchs in the late Tang Dynasty more vividly and concretely, which is a true reflection of a certain aspect of social reality in the late Tang Dynasty.Most of the historical materials preserved in the book are relatively vivid and original, without any traces of artificial carving, and the characters are relatively natural and simple.In short, the historical value of the "Old Book of Tang" cannot be covered up and replaced by the "New Book of Tang", which deliberately pursues cutting and carving.

"New Tang Book" (Figure 14), written by Song Ouyang Xiu, Song Qi, etc.The whole book has 10 volumes of Ji, 50 volumes of records, 15 volumes of tables, and 150 volumes of biographies, totaling 225 volumes and about 1.75 million characters. The time range of the description is the same as that of "Old Tang Book". A treatise on contemporary history. "New Book of Tang" was compiled in the fourth year of Qingli (AD 1044) when it was compiled by Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty. It lasted 17 years and was completed in the fifth year of Jiayou (AD 1060). Zeng Gongliang played as a supervisor.The people who participated in the compilation changed a lot, including Ouyang Xiu, Song Qi, Fan Zhen, Wang Chou, Song Minqiu, Lu Xiaqing, Liu Xisou and so on.In the early stage, Song Qi presided over the compilation and completed 150 volumes of biographies. Later, Fan Zhen and Lu Xiaqing were in charge of compiling the annals and tables, while Ouyang Xiu participated in the middle.From the analysis of writing style, the 10 volumes of this Ji and the prefaces of Zan, Zhi and Biao, as well as "Electoral Records" and "Yiwei Zhi" were all written by Ouyang Xiu.In particular, the praise and preface he wrote are almost replicas of his political articles, reflecting his view of history.When reviewing and approving the complete book, Ouyang Xiu regarded Song Qi as his senior and respected him very much. Not only did he not make any changes to the biography, but he insisted on signing Song Qi's name.The biographies and Ji Zhibiao were inscribed by Song Qi and Ouyang Xiu respectively. This is a unique and special case in the Twenty-Four Histories, and it has become a good story in the history of historiography.

The "New Book of Tang" was written more than a hundred years later than the "Old Book of Tang". During this period, the society was relatively stable, and many new materials about Tang history were discovered one after another, and some new achievements in the study of Tang history came out. "New Book of Tang" took advantage of the above-mentioned favorable conditions to update and supplement many important historical facts that were missing in "Old Book of Tang".Especially for the annals, the author has put in a lot of effort, and the quality is much higher than that of "Old Book of Tang".For example, "Shi Huo Zhi" has been increased from two volumes to five volumes, adding more things in the middle and late period, and the content about farming, Hebu (di Di), minerals, employment, salary and other aspects are newly added, which is relatively systematic and complete A large number of socio-economic historical materials are well preserved. "Geography" has been increased from four volumes to eight volumes, focusing on the evolution of geography in the Tang Dynasty, recording the development and waste of water conservancy, the distribution of products, the establishment of military offices, and external road traffic, etc. omission. "Tianwenzhi" and "Lizhi" are more than three times longer than "Old Tang Book" in length, comprehensively recording the seven popular calendars in the Tang Dynasty. have important value. The bibliography in "Yiwenzhi" has increased a lot, and it has made a lot of additions to the works of Tang people after the middle Tang that are missing in "Old Tang Book·Jingjizhi", which is very important and valuable. The "Bing Zhi", "Xuan Zhi" and "Yi Wei Zhi" in "New Book of Tang" are not found in previous histories, and they are of pioneering significance, and they have been followed by all histories after "Song History".Although its "Bing Zhi" and "Electoral Records" are not systematic and complete, they still provide convenience for us to understand the Tang Dynasty imperial examination system, official selection, and the evolution of the military system. "New Book of Tang" restored the fine tradition of setting tables in "Historical Records" and "Hanshu", and compiled four tables: "Prime Minister Table", "Fang Zhen Table", "Clan Lineage Table", and "Prime Minister's Lineage Table".Although there are some mistakes and omissions in it, it is well organized, clear and easy to check and use. "New Book of Tang" deleted 61 biographies of "Old Book of Tang", added 331 new biographies, and added many biographies of late Tang Dynasty figures.Most of the historical facts added to the biographies are based on my own chapters or the records of later generations, and a lot of inscriptions and stone inscriptions, biographical genealogy, miscellaneous history notes and other materials have been collected. "New Book of Tang" adhering to the intention of Confucius to revise "Spring and Autumn" to make officials and thieves fearful, criticizes "Old Book of Tang" for its lack of records. Wait for the biography, and adjust the order of the biography, and list "loyalty" as the first.Its views on the history of the Tang Dynasty basically reflected the political views of the ruling group in the Northern Song Dynasty. For example, it depreciated the feudal towns and eunuchs, which showed a clear difference from the "Old Tang Book".

When "New Book of Tang" supplemented and corrected the flaws of "Old Book of Tang", it made the mistake of overcorrecting, and it deleted too briefly in terms of biography. The "Old Book of Tang" originally had about 300,000 characters in this chapter, but the "New Book of Tang" has been compressed to less than 100,000 characters, and some chapters have been compressed to 1/10 of the original length. "Old Book of Tang" recorded too many edicts and memorials, which was originally a problem, but "New Book of Tang" greatly deleted it, including Di Renjie's "Admonishment to the Empress Dowager Ying Daxiang Shu" and Lu Zhi's "Dai Dezong's Edict of Guilt". All the edicts with great historical influence were deleted, resulting in the loss of many valuable historical materials.As writers, Ouyang Xiu and Song Qi paid more attention to writing skills than objective historical facts.Originally recorded history should have clear and specific narratives or descriptions of basic elements such as time, place, person, event, and quantity. In order to save words, "New Book of Tang" often uses general and general statements. Although the space is saved, the historical facts Instead, it's ambiguous.In order to ascertain the truth of history, people sometimes have to go back and look up the "Old Book of Tang".Some vivid biographies, such as "Biography of Feng Changqing" and "Biography of Gao Xianzhi", have been cut and compressed and become dull.Song Qi's writing of biographies and Ouyang Xiu's writing of Ji Zhibiao were originally not a planned division of labor, nor did they undergo serious unified processing later, so there were many contradictions and disconnections between Ji Biography.Both of them advocated ancient prose and opposed parallel prose, and the edicts of the Tang Dynasty favored parallel prose, which was the fashion at that time. The author of "New Book of Tang" did not respect history and preserve the original appearance, but made a choice based on personal likes and dislikes. Regardless of whether it has historical value or not, it was deleted and not recorded, or the historical documents were tampered with to suit his own ideas, and parallel prose was rewritten in prose to achieve The replacement of original characters with ancient characters has seriously damaged the inherent value of some historical documents.

To sum up, "Old Book of Tang" and "New Book of Tang" have their own strengths and weaknesses but complement each other. They are both books that people who study Tang history must read.After the Southern Song Dynasty, due to the prevalence of Neo-Confucianism, the "New Book of Tang" was widely circulated, while the "Old Book of Tang" was less engraved.It was not until the study of textual research and factual research in the Qing Dynasty that the value of the "Old Tang Book" was re-emphasized.For these two books, the old version is the rare edition of the Commercial Press, and the new version is the proofread edition of the Zhonghua Book Company, which is easier to read.