A Study Of The Historical Sources Of The Western Jin Dynasty

Zizhi Tongjian is an outstanding historical work written by Sima Guang duringSong dynasty.This paper is concentrated on the original materials of Xi Jin part of thisfamous work.The mainly original materials of Zizhi Tongjian are official historicaldocuments,such as biographical and annalistic style, sometimes there is a smallquantity of materials that get from other historical books.The numble of thisreference books is twenty.The compiling technique of Xi Jin part of Zizhi Tongjian is variety, includingcopy,omission and supplement.Among them,omission is the most commonway.From Sima Guang`s dispose, Zizhi Tongjian has not so many words but morecomprehensive aspects. There is no denying that this omission has some certainproblems. As a serious historians, Sima Guang also supplement many importanthistorical data, including time,place, character and decemvirate,etc. We should paymore attention to this supplement data.Zizhi Tongjian strike literary grace and has distinctive features.The Xi Jin part ofZizhi Tongjian save a wealth of historical data for us.This data can correct mistakesand supplement materials defects for other historical books. Of course, we shouldrecognize the value of Xi Jin part of Zizhi Tongjian,at the same time, we also shouldacknowledge that it has its own disadvantages. Only in this way can we referenceZizhi Tongjian more objectively and accurately.