Jīgǔ lù 稽古錄
A Record of Investigating Antiquity by 司馬光 (Sīmǎ Guāng, 1019–1086, zhuàn 撰)
About the work
A 20-juan condensed universal chronicle from the legendary Fúxī to the end of Yīngzōng’s Zhìpíng reign (1067), composed by Sīmǎ Guāng alongside (and as a kind of digest of) the Zī zhì tōng jiàn (KR2b0007). Presented to the throne in early Yuányòu (1086).
Tiyao
Jīgǔ lù, 20 juǎn. (Held in the home of Lù Xíxióng, Guānglù sì qīng.) By Sīmǎ Guāng of the Sòng. After Guāng compiled the Zī zhì tōng jiàn and its Mù lù and Kǎo yì, he made the Jǔyào lì (now lost), the Lì nián tú (Yearly Diagram), and the Bǎiguān biǎo (Officials’ Table). The Lì nián tú still followed the Tōng jiàn, beginning at the partition of Jìn and ending in Xiǎndé; the Bǎiguān biǎo recorded only the Sòng. This work, however, traces back to Fúxī and ends at the close of Yīngzōng Zhìpíng — yet runs to no more than 20 juǎn. Apparently, finding the various other works heavy in volume, and the Lì nián tú having been printed by others with possible additions and emendations disordering the juan-numbers, he pruned the disorder and condensed it to this. Yet the discussions remain those of the old Lì nián tú. Presented to the court in early Yuányòu (1086).
Chén Zhènsūn’s Shū lù jiě tí: the Yuè edition gathers the discussions in one juan; the Tán edition disperses them after each dynasty. The present printing follows the Tán arrangement — easier for the reader. Zhūzǐ’s yǔ lù: “the Jīgǔ lù is fit for use in the imperial-tutorial chamber. After children finish reading the Six Classics, it is also good to have them read this. The closing table — its words are like the shī and the guī, every one of them confirmed.” Looking at his discussions: on the causes of dynastic rise and fall, of order and chaos, with repeated exposition, all penetrate to the heart of gain and loss — truly a clear mirror for those who hold state and family, of deepest service to the rule of governance. Therefore even though not of the Luò school, Zhūzǐ could not but esteem him. Sufficient evidence that this work cannot be effaced.
After the Crossing-South, Gōng Yízhèng once continued the work; the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn still has a complete copy. But its right-and-wrong wandered far from public opinion; Chén Zhènsūn would have none of it. Apparently neither his cast of mind nor his learning could stand comparison with Guāng’s; so the rectitude of his discussions also fell short.
Abstract
The Jīgǔ lù is Sīmǎ Guāng’s most condensed historical-survey work, a 20-juan synoptic chronicle from the legendary Fúxī to the close of the Yīngzōng Zhìpíng era (1067). It was composed alongside the Tōng jiàn — drawing partly on the now-lost Jǔyào lì 舉要曆 and Lì nián tú 歷年圖 — and presented to Zhézōng’s court in Yuányòu 1 (1086), within months of Sīmǎ Guāng’s death.
The work is structurally divided into two unequal parts: (a) a brief abridged chronicle of pre-Sòng history (juǎn 1–16, from Fúxī to the Five Dynasties), broadly synchronised with the Tōng jiàn but extending in both directions beyond it; and (b) a substantially fuller treatment of the Sòng founding through Yīngzōng (juǎn 17–20). The closing juǎn is a synoptic table-and-discussion of Sòng dynastic affairs from Tàizǔ to Yīngzōng — the segment Zhū Xī described in his yǔ lù as “every word like the shī and the guī, every one of them confirmed.”
The work’s institutional purpose was educational: explicitly conceived (per Zhū Xī) as a jiǎng yán 講筵 (imperial-tutorial-chamber) text and as a child’s primer for those who had completed the Six Classics. In that respect it is the principal precedent for Zhū Xī’s later Tōng jiàn gāng mù, which inherits its summary-and-evaluation form. The two main early printings are the Yuè edition (with the discussions gathered in a single closing juǎn) and the Tán edition (with the discussions dispersed after each dynasty); the WYG follows the Tán format. The standard modern edition is the Beijing Zhōnghuá Shūjú edition in the Zhōngguó shǐxué jīběn diǎn jí cóng kān series (Sūn Xǐzhì 孫熹之 et al., 2008).
A Southern-Sòng continuation by Gōng Yízhèng 龔頤正 (Guō Yízhèng) survives in the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn but, as the Sìkù tíyào notes (citing Chén Zhènsūn), was widely judged inferior in judgment.
The dating bracket is set to the principal compositional period of the Tōng jiàn and its companion works (1066–1085, with presentation to the throne in 1086 by Sīmǎ Kāng on his father’s behalf).
Translations and research
- Hilde de Weerdt, “What Did Su Che See in the North? Publishing Regulations, State Security, and Politics in the Northern Song,” T’oung Pao 92 (2006): 466–494 — discusses the Jīgǔ lù in the context of Northern Sòng historical pedagogy.
- Charles Hartman, The Making of Song Dynasty History (CUP, 2021), index s.v. Jīgǔ lù.
- Treatment in Xiao-bin Ji, Politics and Conservatism in Northern Song China (CUHK, 2005), as part of the broader Sīmǎ Guāng historical project.
- Sūn Xǐ-zhì 孫熹之, Jīgǔ lù jiào zhù 稽古錄校注 (Zhōnghuá, 2008) — standard punctuated critical edition.
Other points of interest
The work is the principal mediation between Sīmǎ Guāng’s full Tōng jiàn and the late-imperial summary-evaluative form of universal history canonised in Zhū Xī’s Tōng jiàn gāng mù. Its closing Sòng-dynasty section is also a primary documentary source for Sīmǎ Guāng’s own historical assessment of his dynasty up to his own time.
Links
- Wikidata Q11108068
- ctext.org: Jigu Lu
- Kyoto Zinbun Sìkù tíyào 0103302.
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual §49.5.