Purple Tongzhi Sword began in the 23rd year of King Weilie Zhou (403 BC) and ended in the 6th year of Zhou Shizong's showing virtue after the Five Dynasties (959 BC). * * * records the history of 16 dynasties, and was edited in 19 BC.
He said in Zi Zhi Tong Jian: "I am so tired now, my eyes are dim, my teeth are missing, and my knowledge is exhausted. So-called, I forgot right away. My energy is on this book. " Sima Guang devoted himself to this book all his life, and died of overwork in less than two years. From the publication of Zi Tongzhi Jian to the abridgement and finalization of Zi Tongzhi Jian, Sima Guang actually wrote it himself, not without the help of others. Wang Mingsheng, a scholar in Qing Dynasty, said, "This book is indispensable between heaven and earth, and it is also a must-read book for scholars.
As a Mirror, Zi Tong Zhi Jian is a famous historical work in ancient China, which has always been valued and read by people. This book was edited by Sima Guang in the Northern Song Dynasty. After a long-term melee since the mid-Tang Dynasty, the Northern Song Dynasty achieved national unity, social economy recovered and developed, and academic culture flourished. At the same time, the internal affairs are full of disadvantages, the imperial army is weak and the situation is unstable. This is an era full of vitality, depression, progress and weakness. At that time, the monarch and his subjects, people with lofty ideals and common people mostly considered how to live and how to find a way out. Therefore, some people advocate "judo" to rule the world, saying that the law of ancestors cannot be changed; Some are determined to reform and implement political reform; Living a hard life, I was forced to take risks and revolt. People who master cultural knowledge, especially historians, such as Ouyang Xiu, Sima Guang and Fan Zuyu, often review history in the face of reality, trying to sum up historical experience and lessons, taking history as a mirror, so as to help govern the country and secure the country and better solve realistic contradictions. Among them, the purpose of Tong Jian edited by Sima Guang is the most prominent and representative. It is named after "judging the rise and fall of past lives and measuring the gains and losses of today".
When editing Zi Tong Zhi Jian, Sima Guang not only properly combined the biographical style with the chronological style, but also combined the details of the biographical style with the simplicity of the chronological style. Because of its long history, China ancient chronological history books have no title or catalogue, and can only be searched by year. Sima Guang broke through this old example, and integrated the chronology, imperial history, calendar, astronomical phenomena, catalogue, contents and index into one, which created a new style of multi-functional catalogue of chronological history books, made the History as a Mirror more perfect, and pushed the historical compilation of China to a new height.
Sima Guang's thoughts, ways and methods of document arrangement in Zi Tong Zhi Jian not only produced fruitful results and enriched China's classical philology theory, but also had a far-reaching impact on the development of philology.