New Book of Tang

New Book of Tang
Unknown authorUnknown author · Public domain · source
Name	New Book of Tang
Title orig	舊唐書 (formerly) / 新唐書 (current title)
Author	Ouyang Xiu and Song dynasty scholars
Country	Song dynasty China
Language	Classical Chinese
Subject	Tang dynasty history
Genre	Official dynastic history
Publisher	Song Imperial Academy
Pub date	1060

New Book of Tang The New Book of Tang is a thirteenth-century title often used for the Song dynasty recension completed under imperial auspices in 1060 that reworked earlier Tang histories into an official dynastic annal. It sought to supersede earlier Tang histories produced in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period and the early Song dynasty era by revising biographies, tables, and chronicles while engaging with the historiographical traditions of Sima Qian, Ban Gu, and later compilers. Commissioned amid debates at the Song Imperial Academy and examined by officials in the Northern Song dynasty, the work influenced subsequent historiography, scholarly commentaries, and imperial compilations across East Asia.

Background and Compilation

The project emerged during the reign of Emperor Renzong of Song and was driven by officials reacting to perceived shortcomings in prior Tang histories assembled during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms turmoil and the early Song dynasty consolidation. Imperial summons to scholars in the Hanlin Academy, the Bureau of Historiography, and the Imperial Secretariat framed an editorial program informed by precedents like Book of Han, Book of Later Han, and the History of the Northern Dynasties. Debates involving figures associated with the Wang Anshi reforms, adherents of the Old Policy faction, and members of the Qingli Reforms circle shaped the selection of materials and the adopted historiographical principles. The compilation responded to political uses of history in court rituals at the Temple of Rites and in examinations at the Imperial Examination.

Authorship and Sources

Principal editors included prominent scholars from the Song dynasty such as Ouyang Xiu and Song Qi, supported by the Hanlin Academy and court historiographers drawn from families with traditions of service dating to the Tang dynasty and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. Sources integrated materials from the earlier Old Book of Tang produced in the aftermath of the An Lushan Rebellion era, archival memorials held in the Palace Secretariat, epitaph collections linked to the Tang tomb inscriptions, and local gazetteers from circuits like Hebei Circuit and Jiangnan Circuit. Compilers consulted works attributed to Du You, Li Bai? (poet)-era anthologies, memorials associated with Wei Zheng, genealogical rolls tied to the Li family (Tang emperors), and epitaphs collected by scholars such as Bai Juyi and Han Yu. Correspondence and previously unpublished documents from the Chancellery and regional Jiedushi archives were also employed.

Contents and Structure

The canonized recension rearranged traditional components—imperial annals (本紀), treatises (志), tables (表), and biographies (列傳)—mirroring models like the Twenty-Four Histories and earlier works by Sima Qian and Ban Gu. It contains chronological annals of Tang sovereigns including entries related to events like the An Lushan Rebellion, discussions of foreign relations involving envoys to Tubo and exchanges with Nanzhao, and treatises on rites influenced by sources compiled under officials associated with the Ministry of Rites. Tables charted succession and official rosters with reference points to offices such as the Three Departments and Six Ministries. Biographies profile ministers, generals, literati, and regional commanders linked to episodes such as the Huang Chao rebellion and the careers of figures associated with the Imperial Examination like Han Yu and Liu Zongyuan. The work also reworked earlier musical and calendrical treatises citing traditions from the Taichang Si and calendrical scholars connected to the Tang astronomical bureau.

Historical Accuracy and Criticism

Scholars in later dynasties, including commentators in the Yuan dynasty and Ming dynasty, debated the recension's emendations, questioning interpolations and omissions vis-à-vis the earlier compilation produced shortly after the Tang collapse. Critics pointed to editorial choices by Ouyang Xiu and associates that imposed Song-era moral judgments and rhetorical standards derived from Neo-Confucian thinkers connected to the Cheng-Zhu school. Debates among historians like adherents of the Sungshi school and later Qing philologists scrutinized chronology, prosopography, and the accuracy of administrative lists referencing the Tang fiscal system and regional military commands such as the Fanyang Jiedushi. Modern sinologists have reassessed these critiques using comparative analysis with epigraphic sources from Dunhuang manuscripts, stone inscriptions in Shaanxi, and archival finds from Xinjiang and Hebei.

Textual Transmission and Editions

The recension underwent circulation through block-printed editions produced in the Song dynasty and later reprints in the Yuan dynasty, Ming dynasty, and Qing dynasty courts, with commentarial layers added by scholars in the Hanlin Academy and provincial academies in Jiangxi and Zhejiang. Woodblock copies, hand-copied manuscripts, and later movable type issues preserved variant readings; major collections in repositories such as the Imperial Library in Beijing and academies in Nanjing and Hangzhou became centers for collating textual variants. Scholars of the Kangxi Emperor era and Qing philologists undertook philological collation against stele rubbings from Luoyang and Chang'an to establish critical editions. Overseas collections in Tokyo, Kyoto, and London later contributed to comparative textual studies.

Influence and Legacy

The recension influenced subsequent dynastic histories in Korea and Japan, where courts in Goryeo and the Heian period engaged Tang historiographical models; it shaped biographical writing, official curriculum at the Imperial Academy, and Qing-era historiography spearheaded by figures connected to the Kangxi Emperor's scholarly projects. Its reorganization of biographies and treatises informed later compilations within the Twenty-Four Histories corpus and provided source material for scholars studying Tang poetry and prose by writers like Li Bai, Du Fu, Bai Juyi, and Wang Wei. The work remains a focal point for modern research in Sinology, comparative historiography, and the study of medieval East Asian political culture.

Category:Chinese history books Category:Song dynasty literature Category:Twenty-Four Histories