Old Book of Tang

The Old Book of Tang (simplified Chinese: 旧唐书; traditional Chinese: 舊唐書; pinyin: Jiù Tángshū), or simply the Book of Tang (simplified Chinese: 唐书; traditional Chinese: 唐書; pinyin: Tángshū; Wade–Giles: T'ang-shu), is the first classic historical work about the Tang dynasty, comprising 200 chapters, and is one of the Twenty-Four Histories. Originally compiled during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, it was superseded by the New Book of Tang which was compiled in the Song dynasty, but later regained acceptance.

History

The book began when Later Jin's founding emperor Shi Jingtang ordered its compilation in 941. The original chief editor was Zhao Ying (趙瑩), who was also the chancellor then. However, by the time of its completion, Liu Xu had become chancellor and taken over the work of organisation; as a result he was credited as chief editor when the work was presented in 945 to Emperor Chu of Jin.

Being a relatively quickly compiled work of official history, the Old Book of Tang was a compilation of earlier annals, now lost; it further incorporates other monographs and biographies, using as sources (for instance) the Tongdian of Du You.^[1] These sources were often directly copied from records and earlier histories, and the result would be severely criticised during the Northern Song dynasty; Emperor Renzong of Song, for example, called the book 'poorly organised, burdened with unimportant details, wanting in style and poorly researched'. These errors even included duplicated biographies of characters.

Because of these criticisms, in 1044 a new history of the Tang dynasty was commissioned; with Ouyang Xiu and Song Qi as editors, the New Book of Tang was then produced. After the New Book was presented, the original Old Book of Tang went out of print, and over centuries it became very rare. It was during the Ming dynasty when the remaining copies were gathered and the book was once again published, eventually becoming canonised as one of the Twenty-Four Histories.

References

↑ Denis Crispin Twitchett (1992). The Writing of Official History Under the Tʻang. ISBN 978-0-521-41348-0.

Twenty-Four Histories

Records of the Grand Historian (Sima Qian)
Book of Han (Ban Gu)
Book of the Later Han (Fan Ye)
Records of the Three Kingdoms (Chen Shou)
Book of Jin (Fang Xuanling et al.)
Book of Song (Shen Yue)
Book of Qi (Xiao Zixian)
Book of Liang (Yao Silian)
Book of Chen (Yao Silian)
Book of Wei (Wei Shou)
Book of Northern Qi (Li Baiyao)
Book of Zhou (Linghu Defen et al.)
Book of Sui (Wei Zheng et al.)
History of the Southern Dynasties (Li Yanshou)
History of the Northern Dynasties (Li Yanshou)
Old Book of Tang (Liu Xu et al.)
New Book of Tang (Ouyang Xiu et al.)
Old History of the Five Dynasties (Xue Juzheng et al.)
New History of the Five Dynasties (Ouyang Xiu)
History of Song (Toqto'a et al.)
History of Liao (Toqto'a et al.)
History of Jin (Toqto'a et al.)
History of Yuan (Song Lian et al.)
History of Ming (Zhang Tingyu et al.)

Tang dynasty topics

History	Transition from Sui to Tang Xuanwu Gate Incident Tang–Eastern Turks War Tang–Xueyantuo War Goguryeo–Tang War Baekje–Tang War Silla–Tang War Sino-Tibetan relations during the Tang dynasty Tang–Western Turks War States of the Western Regions Karakhoja Karasahr Kucha Conquest Battle of Talas An Lushan Rebellion Niu–Li factional strife Sweet Dew Incident

Society and culture	Art Poetry Three Hundred Tang Poems Poets Official headwear Old Book of Tang New Book of Tang Li Bai Du Fu Islam during the Tang dynasty

Government	Emperor List Family tree Three Departments and Six Ministries Imperial guards Administrative divisions Jimi system Jiedushi Four Garrisons of Anxi Imperial examinations Turkic generals

Military expansion	Protectorate General to Pacify the West Protectorate General to Pacify the North Protectorate General to Pacify the East Protectorate General to Pacify the South Protectorate General to Pacify Beiting Tang dynasty in Inner Asia Third Chinese domination of Vietnam

Science and technology	Flying cash Woodblock printing Yi Xing

Economy	Salt Industry Commission

Xia → Shang → Zhou → Qin → Han → 3 Kingdoms → Jìn / 16 Kingdoms → N. & S. Dynasties → Sui → Tang → 5 Dynasties & 10 Kingdoms → Liao / Song / W. Xia / Jīn → Yuan → Ming → Qing → Modern China

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