Two Competing Histories from the Southern Dynasties Period: An Initial Comparison of "Historical Discourses" (shilun) in Shen Yue's Song shu and Pei Ziye's Song lüe

Jansen, Thomas (2025) Two Competing Histories from the Southern Dynasties Period: An Initial Comparison of "Historical Discourses" (shilun) in Shen Yue's Song shu and Pei Ziye's Song lüe. Hōsei Riron 法政理論, 57 (4). pp. 63-87. ISSN 02861577

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Abstract

Twenty years after Shen Yue沈約 (441-513) had compiled his Song shu 宋書 (History of the Liu-Song; 488) the conservative antiquarian and historian Pei Ziye裴子野 (469-530) privately compiled his Song lüe 宋略 (Outline history of the Liu-Song; 508). In his work Pei set out to “erase matters of minor importance” in Shen Yue’s representation of Song history and to “show the essential events without self-seeking motives.” The latter remark was a clear blow against Shen Yue’s sugar-coating representation of the undecided attitude that his father had taken during a failed coup d’état by one of the imperial princes in AD 453. Unfortunately, Pei Ziye’s counter-history to the official Song shu has been lost. Fragments of the work, however, including its “summary discussion” (zonglun 總論) and a number of “discussions” (lun 論) by the historian on people or events, have survived in the Zizhi tongjian 資治通鋻, Jiankang shilu 建康實錄, Tongdian 通典, Wenyuan yinghua 文苑英華, or Taiping yulan 太平御覽. In two instances (Zizhi tongjian 128.4038-39; 133.4161-62), Sima Guang 司馬光, the compiler of the Zizhi tongjian, placed the discussions by Shen Yue and Pei Ziye side by side, possibly implying that the two histories are to some extent complementary and are best read together. Basing my paper on an analysis of these two parallel discussions, I seek to examine the differences in the two historians’ interpretation of the recent past. I will show in what ways the evaluation of historical issues was linked to the political issues of the day. My overall aim is, firstly, to shed light on the political and intellectual rivalries at the courts of the Qi and Liang dynasties and how they manifested themselves in historiography. Secondly, my paper is an initial attempt to explore the comparatively uncharted territory of Southern Dynasties historiography through a comparative study of the work of two of its major figures, one of them (Pei Ziye) largely unknown today.

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	C Auxiliary Sciences of History > C Auxiliary sciences of history (General) D History General and Old World > D History (General) > D111 Medieval History D History General and Old World > DS Asia P Language and Literature > PL Languages and literatures of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania
Divisions:	Institutes and Academies > Institute of Education and Humanities > Academic Discipline: Humanities and Social Sciences
Depositing User:	Thomas Jansen
Date Deposited:	17 Apr 2025 13:10
Last Modified:	17 Apr 2025 13:10
URI:	https://repository.uwtsd.ac.uk/id/eprint/3679

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