Jinshu 晉書

Jinshu 晉書 "Book of the Jin" is the official dynastic history (zhengshi 正史) of the Jin dynasty 晉 (265-420). A such was long overdue when the 130-juan long Jinshu was finished in 648.

Already during the second half of the Jin period, the Eastern Jin 東晉 (317-420), historiographers had compiled histories of the Western Jin period 西晉 (265-316; see Table 1). Including all the histories of the Jin dynasty that were written during the Southern and Northern dynasties period 南北朝 (300~600), the early Tang period 唐 (618-907) archives stored 18 histories of the Jin dynasty. All of these books, except Zang Rongxu's 臧榮緒 (415–488) Jinshu, did not include annals of the Eastern Jin period or only covered a few decades of it. In 646 therefore, Emperor Taizong 唐太宗 (r. 626–649) of the Tang dynasty decreed the compilation of an official dynastic history of the Jin.

The compilation team was quite large. It was headed by Fang Xuanling 房玄齡 (579–648) and Chu Suiliang 褚遂良 (596–658), and the final redaction was organized by Linghu Defen 令狐德棻 (583–666). The main primary source for the Tang-made Jinshu was Zang Rongxu's Jinshu, but also the other histories of the Jin were made useful, as well as quite a few literary sources, like the collection Shishuo xinyu 世說新語, Gan Bao's 干寶 Soushenji 搜神記, and the Shiliuguo chunqiu 十六國春秋, the annals of the Sixteen States 五胡十六國 (300~430) in the north of China.

The Jinshi consists of 10 imperial annals-biography (diji 帝紀), 20 treatises (zhi 志), 70 normal and collective biographies (liezhuan 列傳), and 30 biographies of independent houses (zaiji 載記) for the rulers of the "barbarian" dynasties in the north. These parallel empires posed a great problem for historians as they are polities existing synchronously to the "legally" ruling dynasty that do not deserve own official histories because they were "rebels" or "usurpers", and because they were "barbarians".

The problem was solved in the same manner as in the first of official histories, the Shiji 史記 by Sima Qian 司馬遷: He had created a special type of biography for the regional rulers called shijia 世家 "hereditary house of...". In the Jinshu, these dynastic histories were written as biographies, like that of Liu Yuanhai 劉元海 (Liu Yuan 劉淵, r. 304–309) and his sons Liu He 劉和 (r. 309) and Liu Xuan 劉宣 (Jinshu 101), of Liu Cong 劉聰 (r. 309–317), his son Liu Can 劉粲 (r. 317), and Chen Yuanda 陳元達 (Jinshu 102), and of Liu Yao 劉曜 (r. 318–329; Jinshu 103), which were the rulers of the Former Zhao Dynasty 前趙 (304–329) and their closest supporters.

Two persons were surprisingly not granted such a special biography, namely Zhang Gui 張軌 (chapter 86), founder of the Former Liang dynasty 前涼 (314-376), and Li Xiansheng 李玄盛 (Li Gao 李暠), founder of the Western Liang 西涼 (400-421; chapter 87). The reason for this might be that the two were Chinese, while the zaiji category was reserved for "barbarian" founders of states (while the Chinese Feng Ba 馮跋, ruler of the Northern Yan 北燕, 409-436, is found in chapter 125).

The treatises include reports on astronomy (11-13 Tianwen zhi 天文志), administrative geography (14-15 Dili zhi 地理志), musical tuning and calendar (16-18 Lüli zhi 律曆志), state rituals (19-21 Li zhi 禮志), court music (22-23 Yue zhiZhiguan zhi 職官志), state coaches and court robes (25 Yufu zhi 輿服志), food and commerce (26 Shihuo zhi 食貨志), the Five Agents (27-29 Wuxing zhi 五行志), and the penal law (30 Xingfa zhi 刑法志).

The personal biographies (liezhuan) do not simply tell the history of the particular persons but also include a great deal of their literary works that have been preserved in this way and otherwise would have been lost, for instance, Ji Kang's 嵇康 discussion on a ruler's altruistic attitude (49).

The biographic chapters include collective biographies on the imperial consorts (31-32 Houfei liezhuan 后妃列傳), the imperial house (37 Zongshi liezhuan 宗室列傳, 38, 53, 59, 64, 87), persons of filial and friendly conduct (88 Xiaoyou liezhuan 孝友列傳), such of loyal conduct (89 忠義列傳), benevolent officials (90 Liangli liezhuan 良吏列傳), Confucian scholars (91 Rulin liezhuan 儒林列傳), writers (92 Wenyuan liezhuan 文苑列傳), kinsmen of imperial consorts (93 Waiqi liezhuan 外戚列傳), scholars living in seclusion (94 Yinyi liezhuan 隱逸列傳), magicians and diviners (95 Yishu liezhuan 藝術列傳), outstanding women (96 Lienü liezhuan 列女列傳), and the "barbarians" of the four directions (97 Siyi liezhuan 四夷列傳).

Rebels and obstreperous subjects are placed at the end of biographies (98-100).

In comparison with the Shiji and Hanshu, where biographies are much more individual, those of the Jinshu can already be seen as short histories of families (genealogies). The biography of the writer and philosopher Fu Xuan 傅玄 (47), for instance, also includes that of his sons Fu Xian 傅咸 and Fu Fu 傅敷, the younger brother of Xian's paternal uncle, Fu Zhi 傅祗, and the latter's sons Fu Xuan 傅宣 and Fu Chang 傅暢; that of the calligrapher Wang Xizhi 王羲之 (80) his sons Wang Xuanzhi 王玄之, Wang Ningzhi 王凝之 and Wang Huizhi 王徽之, and the latter's sons Wang Zhenzhi 王楨之, Wang Caozhi 王操之 and Wang Xianzhi 王獻之.

The first historical critique of China, Liu Zhiji's 劉知幾 Shitong 史通, criticised the Jinshu for having neglected the difference between phantastic tales or anecdotes as taken from the Soushenji and Shishuo xinyu, and real history. In his eyes—and that of many other scholars—the Jinshu did not deserve to be incorporated into the official dynastic histories.

After the compilation of the Jinshu as the official dynastic history of the Jin period, all other histories of the Jin were eclipsed by this standard history and were only "rediscovered" by Qing period 清 (1644-1911) scholars. Unfortunately many of these older Jinshu are only preserved in fragments. They were collected and published under the title Jiujia jiu Jinshu 九家舊晉書 "The nine old histories of the Jin dynasty" by Tang Qiu 湯球 (1804-1881) and republished in the Commercial Press 商務印書館 in 1936. Tang Qiu also collected fragments of other histories on the Jin period that are assembled in a series of series. Some of these were biographically arranged, others as chronicles.

The commentary to the bibliographic chapter Jingji zhi 經籍志 in the dynastic history Suishu 隋書 explains that Liang period 梁 (502-557) catalogues also included a 7-juan long book Jinshu written by Zheng Zhong 鄭忠, and a text of the same size called Dongjin xinshu 東晉新書 "New book of the Eastern Jin", written by Yu Xian 庾銑. These two were already lost at that time, along with Shen Yue's 沈約 Jinshu. The list of chronicles on the Jin period includes furthermore Wang Shaozhi's 王韶之 Jinji 晉紀 (10 juan), Xu Guang's 徐廣 Jinji (45 juan) and Guo Jichan's 郭季產 Xujinji 續晉紀 (5 juan; in Jiutangshu 舊唐書 and Xintangshu 新唐書 called Jinxuji 晉續記).

The bibliographic chapter in the Jiutangshu lists a 130-juan long Jinshu written by Xu Jingzong 許敬宗 and others, and a further chronicle by Deng Can 鄧粲 (besides his Jinji), the 22-juan long Jinyang chunqiu 晉陽春秋. A 5-juan long text called Jinlu 晉錄 is listed in the Xintangshu bibliography and that of the Tongzhi 通志. The latter also lists a Jinshu, written by Gan Bao, and Xun Chuo's 荀綽 Jin houlüe 晉後略 (5 juan).