Old Book of Tang

The Old Book of Tang, also called the Book of Tang, is an important old book about the Tang dynasty. It has 200 chapters and is one of the Twenty-Four Histories. People made it during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period in the 10th century AD.

Even though a man named Liu Xu is said to have put the book together, most of the work was done by a man who worked before him named Zhao Ying. Other people who helped write it were Zhang Zhao, Jia Wei, and Zhao Xi. Later, another book called the New Book of Tang was made during the Song dynasty, but the Old Book of Tang is still valued today.

Structure

The Old Book of Tang has 200 volumes. The first 20 volumes tell stories about the Tang emperors. These stories have the most details about the early and middle years of the Tang dynasty, with less information from the later years.

Volumes 21 to 50 describe many topics, such as ceremonies, music, the calendar, astronomy, and government jobs. The part about ceremonies is the longest, showing how important special events and traditions were. There are also sections about the land, people, and natural events like earthquakes and floods.

The last 150 volumes, from 51 to 200, share stories about important people, including empresses, families of the emperors, and people from lands near the Tang empire.

History

The Old Book of Tang started when the ruler of the Later Jin, Shi Jingtang, asked Zhao Ying to begin writing it in 941. Zhao Ying led the project at first. By the time it was finished, Liu Xu had taken over and became the main editor. The book was completed and given to Emperor Chu of Jin on July 12, 945.

The Old Book of Tang was written quickly and used information from older records that are now gone. It included many stories and biographies. But later, people thought it was not very well organized and had too many small details. In 1044, a new book about the Tang dynasty was created called the New Book of Tang. After this new book was made, the Old Book of Tang was not used much and became rare. But during the Ming dynasty, copies were found and the book was published again, becoming one of the Twenty-Four Histories.