Chén Shòu 陳壽
Zì Chéngzuò 承祚. Native of Ānhàn 安漢 in Bājùn 巴郡 (modern Nánchōng 南充, Sìchuān). Born 233 in the ShǔHàn 蜀漢 kingdom under Liú Bèi 劉備’s regime; died 297 under the Western Jìn.
A pupil of the ShǔHàn historian Qiáo Zhōu 譙周 (199–270), under whom he learned the Shàngshū and the Chūnqiū sānzhuàn. Held minor posts in Shǔ; after the conquest of Shǔ by Wèi in 263 and the founding of the Western Jìn in 265, he was recommended into the Jìn bureaucracy by Zhāng Huà 張華 and held Zhùzuò láng 著作郎 (Drafter), Zhì shū jiàn 治書監 (Director of the Imperial Library), and various provincial posts.
His major surviving work is the Sānguó zhì 三國志 (KR2a0012), in 65 juǎn, composed after the conquest of Wú in 280 and complete by his death. Earlier works include the Yìbù qíjiù zhuàn 益部耆舊傳 (Biographies of elders of the Yì region; partly preserved in citations) and a substantial collection of memorials and edicts. After his death, his student Fàn Wǔ 范頵 collected and presented his unpublished writings to the throne, leading to a posthumous appointment of his son Chén Lú 陳屢 to office.
His biography is in Jìnshū 82 (KR2a0015). The slander that he refused to write a biography of Dīng Yí 丁儀 because he had demanded silver from Dīng’s family — repeated by Liú Zhījī in the Shǐtōng — is treated by modern scholars (notably Chén Yínkè 陳寅恪) as fabricated.