Gradually formed the concept of "twenty-four histories". Before the Tang Dynasty, Sima Qian's Historical Records, Ban Gu's Hanshu and Ye Fan's Houhanshu were often called "three histories". Later, Chen Shou's History of the Three Kingdoms was added, which was called "Four History" or "The First Four History". Jin Shu, Song Shu, South Shu Qi, Liang Shu, Chen Shu, Shu Wei, North Shu Qi, Zhou Shu, Sui Shu, Southern History, Northern History, New Tang Shu and New Five Dynasties History were added in the Northern Song Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, History of Song Dynasty, History of Liao Dynasty, History of Jin Dynasty and History of Yuan Dynasty were added, which were collectively called "Twenty-one History". During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, Ming history was added, which was collectively called "Twenty-two History". Soon after, it was added to the Book of the Old Tang Dynasty and the History of the Old Five Dynasties, and was named "Twenty-four History" by Emperor Qianlong. Twenty-four History does not include the history of Qing Dynasty. After Zhao Erxun's draft of Qing history was completed, it was merged into Twenty-four History, collectively known as Twenty-Five History. Later, it was added with the New Yuan History written by his close friend Ke Shaowen, which eventually became the Twenty-six History.
Twenty-four History is honored as the official history. The Annals of Sui Shu's Classics said: "Since there are works in the world, they are all written by Ban Gu and Ma Qian, thinking that they are' official history'." So there is the theory of "official history".
Twenty-four History belongs to biographical history books, that is, it takes the characters as the center, focuses on the life stories of relevant characters, and historical events are attached to biographies. Biography has four styles: discipline, expression, ambition and biography: discipline (or discipline) records the national events that happened year by year when the emperor was in office; "Table" briefly lists all kinds of complicated historical facts; The "record" (or "book" and "examination") system for recording various laws and regulations; Biography (or Biography) focuses on the life of historical figures; There is also a kind of "aristocratic family" in Historical Records and History of the New Five Dynasties, which is a combination of Ji surname and Chuan surname. The four styles complement each other and complement each other. * * * shows a magnificent historical picture.