Xiu Ouyang (1007–1072)

So far I have only begun this, but it is a translation of what is considered a classic of traditional Chinese historiography, a history of the five brief dynasties who claimed to rule China (chiefly northern China) in the roughly 60 years between the fall of the Tang and the rise of the Song. Itt also includes some material on the "Ten Kingdoms" who ruled in the south. I regret the decision of the translator to omit the chapters on the non-Chinese peoples of the northern and western regions. This history
is the last "official dynasty history" (as defined by later rulers) to be written by one man, the famously independent-minded brilliant stylist Xiu Ouyang. most later histories were written by committees of scholars, and in fact an earlier history of the five dynasties had been written by such a committee, but Xiu's version became so popular that it superseded the earlier version which only partially survives. Xiu insisted on treating as "legitimate" rulers some men other scholars rejected as usurpers. but at he same time he added highly personal "laments" on what he saw as the timeserving and treachery of the times.… (mer)