Book of Nanqi
The Xiao Qi Dynasty of the Southern Dynasty only existed for 23 years in history, and it was a very short feudal dynasty in Chinese history. Xiao Zixian, who wrote the history of the Xiao Qi Dynasty, that is, the Book of Southern Qi, was the grandson of Emperor Xiao Daocheng of Qi. A historian who writes the history of this dynasty in the capacity that he was once a clan has no other among the many authors of the Twenty-Five History.
Xiao Zixian (487-537), whose name is Jingyang, was a native of Lanling in Liangnan (now northwest of Wujin, Jiangsu) in the Southern Dynasty. When he was thirteen years old, the Xiao Qi Dynasty was overthrown by Xiao Yan. Xiao Yan's father, Xiao Shunzhi, was the younger brother of Emperor Xiao Daocheng of Qi. Xiao Yan established the Liang Dynasty, and he is the famous Emperor Wu of Liang in history. In the Liang Dynasty, Xiao Zixian was courteous and trusted by Emperor Wu of Liang with his talent, demeanor, and outstanding conversation. Historiography is Xiao Zixian's favorite career, and in his 49-year life history, he has written five historical works: 100 volumes of the Later Han Dynasty, 30 volumes of Jin Shicao, 60 volumes of Qi Shu, 5 volumes of the Ordinary Northern Expedition, and 30 volumes of Guijian Biography. He wrote the book to Emperor Wu of Liang for instructions and was approved by Emperor Wu of Liang. In addition to the Book of Qi, Xiao Zixian's other works, including the 20 volumes of the Anthology, no longer exist. In order to distinguish Xiao Zixian's Book of Qi from the Book of Qi written by Li Baiyao in the early Tang Dynasty, later generations called the former the Book of Southern Qi and the latter the Book of Northern Qi. In the process of writing the book of Nanqi, Xiao Zixian still has a lot of literature and ideas that can be referenced. As early as the reign of Emperor Ming of Qi, the historians Tan Chao and Jiang Yan Feng Zhao revised the history of the dynasty, and they formulated the style of the history of Qi, but did not finally complete the revision work. In addition, there are Qi Dian written by Xiong Xiang, Qi Ji written by Shen Yue, Qi Chunqiu written by Wu Jun and Ten Chronicles of Qi History written by Jiang Yan. Xiao Zixian's writing work is "superb, submerged in the old and slightly changed" in the style of historical books; Drawing on the achievements of various families in historical materials, he finally wrote 60 volumes of the Southern Qi Book.
The Book of Southern Qi contains: eight volumes of the Imperial Chronicle, in addition to recounting Xiao Daocheng's political activities in the last years of the Liu and Song dynasties, mainly recording the historical events of the 23 years of the Xiao Qi Dynasty (479-502). There are eight chapters and eleven volumes of the Zhi, some of which inherit Liu Song, and some of which start from Xiao Qi's founding of the country, and the disconnection is relatively obvious. The 40 volumes of biography, many of which record the history of ethnic minority areas, and the biography of Wei Lu to record the history of the Northern Wei Dynasty is the same in nature as the biography of the Song Shu Suolu. The preface to a volume, Liu Zhiji, has never seen it, indicating that it was very early, so the whole book is now preserved in 59 volumes. The book of the Southern Qi Dynasty is not large, and the age contained is very short, and it has even written eight chronicles, which is indeed rare. This undoubtedly includes Jiang Yan's pioneering work. There are some biographies in the Book of Nanqi, which shows Xiao Zixian's talent in historical expression. For example, in Chu Yuan's biography, he first wrote that Chu Yuan was trusted when Emperor Song Ming was dying, and when Emperor Song Ming was dying, he wrote that he also participated in the "plot to abolish the establishment", which went against the will of Emperor Song Ming; In the biography of Wang Yan, he first described his close relationship with Emperor Qi Gao and Emperor Wu of Qi, and then wrote that he also participated in the "abolition of the establishment" after the death of Emperor Wu of Qi; Yu Xiao Chen passed on the biography, first said that he was trusted by Emperor Wu of Qi and King Yulin, and then wrote that he actually led troops to lead troops in the coup d'état that assisted Emperor Qi Ming to seize the throne of King Yulin; In the biography of Xiao Tan, he first showed that he was trusted by King Yulin, so that he "had to enter to see the queen", and then wrote that he became a key figure in abolishing King Yulin and supporting Emperor Ming; Wait a minute. When Xiao Zixian writes about these events and characters, he does not directly make comments, but reveals the character of the characters through the comparison of historical events before and after. Qing Dynasty historian Zhao Yi commented: "These legends all have the same intention, and they are not discussed, and their character is self-evident, and they also have a good history." In Gu Yanwu's words, this method of writing historical figures is called "allegorical judgment in the preface", and Sima Qian is the best at using this method when writing historical records. It is natural that Xiao Zixian learned Sima Qian's method of expressing history and achieved certain achievements, and was called "good history" by later generations of historians. Like the Book of Song, the Books of the Southern Qi Dynasty preach mystical thoughts, the profundity of Buddhism, and the excessive emphasis on flowery rhetoric, which is their shortcoming and the mark left by that era.
〈Source: Beijing People's Education Press〉