Old Book of Tang

Old Book of Tang

The Old Book of Tang is a 10th-century Chinese dynastic history covering the Tang dynasty from 618 to 907. Compiled under the Later Jin regime of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period by a team led by Liu Xu and completed in 945, it became one of the Twenty-Four Histories recognized in imperial canons. The work records emperors, chancellors, generals, foreign envoys, and institutions, influencing subsequent historiography such as the New Book of Tang.

Composition and Compilation

The compilation was ordered by the Later Jin emperor Shi Jingtang and conducted by officials including Liu Xu, Zhu Zhen, Fang Xuanling (note: different person from the earlier Tang chancellor of the same name), Zheng Qiao, and Guo Wei-associated scholars. Compilers drew on court archives of the Tang court, annalistic records from the Tang imperial chancery, biographies from private collections owned by figures like Liu Zhiji and Sima Guang's predecessors, and materials taken from archives in Chang'an, Luoyang, Kaifeng, and regional prefectural offices such as Jingnan Circuit and Hunan administrations. The project occurred in the milieu of dynastic transition involving the Later Tang, Later Jin (Five Dynasties), and contemporaneous polities like Wu (Ten Kingdoms), Chu (Ten Kingdoms), and Southern Tang; these political pressures shaped personnel, deadlines, and access to sources. The compilers worked under the auspices of the Later Jin's Secretariat and Censorate, with patronage linked to the Khitan-led Liao dynasty's regional influence over northern China.

Structure and Contents

The work follows the traditional Twenty-Four Histories format with annals (紀), treatises (志), and biographies (傳). It comprises imperial ji (紀)-style chronologies for emperors from Gaozu of Tang to Ai of Tang; treatises on rites, music, law, the Bureau of Astronomy, geography entries for circuits and prefectures such as Fanyang and Xichuan, and administrative offices including the Three Departments and Six Ministries. Biographical volumes profile ministers and officials like Li Shimin, Wei Zheng, Pei Du, and generals such as Li Jing and Guang Yanjun; they also include entries on foreign peoples and states such as the Tubo (Tibet), Nanzhao, Silla, Balhae, Uyghur Khaganate, and An Lushan-era rebels including An Lushan and Shi Siming. The compilation arranges officials under ranks and posts, grouping eunuchs, consorts, poets like Li Bai and Du Fu, and regional warlords such as Zhu Wen into systematic biographies that interlink with annalistic events like the Gaozong campaigns and the An Lushan Rebellion.

Historical Sources and Methodology

Compilers used an array of primary materials: imperial edicts preserved in the Palace Library, memorials to the throne, court diaries kept by Chang Po, local gazetteers from circuits like Hebei and Jiangnan, and previous works such as the Book of Sui and fragmentary Tang-era chronicles. The methodology combined chronological annals with prosopographical biography, employing source collation techniques reminiscent of Sima Qian and later refined by Ban Gu traditions. Editors cross-checked epitaphs, stele inscriptions from sites like Qianling, and monastic records from Mount Wutai and Mount Tai temples. However, constraints—lost archives during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, political priorities of the Later Jin court, and time pressures—shaped selection, leading to editorial decisions in attribution, paraphrase, and omission.

Reception and Criticism

Contemporaries and later historians debated the Old Book of Tang's reliability and style. Critics like Ouyang Xiu and Song Shi editors argued for frequent errors, disordered arrangement, and reliance on corrupted sources, prompting the 11th-century commission that produced the New Book of Tang under Emperor Renzong of Song and editors including Ouyang Xiu and Song Qi. Scholars such as Liu Zhiji praised certain biographies while noting chronological lapses; others in the Yuan dynasty and Ming dynasty compiled commentaries pointing out discrepancies with epitaphs and archival records in Kaifeng and Nanjing. Modern sinologists compare its textual variants with the New Book of Tang and surviving Tang-era inscriptions, debating interpolations and whether compilers intentionally omitted politically sensitive figures like Zhu Wen or sanitized episodes from the An Lushan Rebellion and Huang Chao Rebellion.

Influence and Legacy

Despite criticisms, the Old Book of Tang shaped official perceptions of Tang institutions and personalities, influencing later dynastic histories such as the Song Shi, Ming Shilu chronologies, and compilations by Zhu Xi-era scholars. Its biographies preserved unique material on poets Wang Wei and Bai Juyi, diplomats interacting with Sogdians and Hephthalites, and administrative practice affecting legalists in the Five Dynasties. The work provided source material for regional gazetteers commissioned by the Song dynasty and informed Qing-era genealogies and epitaph collections. In modern scholarship, textual critics use it alongside the New Book of Tang and archaeological finds from Dunhuang and Xi'an to reconstruct Tang political culture, diplomatic networks with Central Asia, and military campaigns such as those against the Gokturks and Tibetans.

Category:Twenty-Four Histories