Lesson plan
Shitong
The Shitong ( ; lit. "Generality of Historiography" or "All about Historiography"), also translated into English as A Thorough Exploration in Historiography, is one of the first Chinese-language works specifically about the theories of history and a detailed examination of historiography. It is deemed to be "the first comprehensive work on historical criticism in any language." The text was compiled by Liu Zhiji between 708 and 710 during the Tang dynasty. The book discusses the general pattern of the past official dynastic historiography on structure, method, order of arrangement, sequence, caption and commentary back to the pre-Qin era. Shitong is divided into 39 inner chapters and 13 outer chapters. Three of the inner chapters had been lost since the times of Ouyang Xiu, while the rest managed to survive. The inner chapters, the principal part of the book, provided information on the types, forms, rules, layout, the collecting of historical materials, outline, and the principle of historiography. The outer chapters describe the official system of the historiographer, origin and development of histories, and the success and failure of past historians. The printed copies from the Song dynasty are no longer available, while the printed editions of the Ming dynasty are.…
Article summary
The Shitong ( ; lit. "Generality of Historiography" or "All about Historiography"), also translated into English as A Thorough Exploration in Historiography, is one of the first Chinese-language works specifically about the theories of history and a detailed examination of historiography. It is deemed to be "the first comprehensive work on historical criticism in any language." The text was compiled by Liu Zhiji between 708 and 710 during the Tang dynasty. The book discusses the general pattern of the past official dynastic historiography on structure, method, order of arrangement, sequence, caption and commentary back to the pre-Qin era. Shitong is divided into 39 inner chapters and 13 outer chapters. Three of the inner chapters had been lost since the times of Ouyang Xiu, while the rest managed to survive. The inner chapters, the principal part of the book, provided information on the types, forms, rules, layout, the collecting of historical materials, outline, and the principle of historiography. The outer chapters describe the official system of the historiographer, origin and development of histories, and the success and failure of past historians. The printed copies from the Song dynasty are no longer available, while the printed editions of the Ming dynasty are.…
Key claims
- publication date: 1961 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- The record states that the publication date is "1961". What evidence would count against this claim?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
- Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1372263108
Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.