Chinese Canon - Based on Si Ku - "Histories"

On Histories, my initial selection is more expansion:

 

Must Include:

1. Historical Records 史記 by Sima Qian - Official beginning of Histories as a literary category, first in the series of 24 Official Histories in the Chronicle-Prosography genre

2. Comprehensive Mirror for Government by Sima Guang 資治通鋻- Best known work in the Chronicle Genre, integrates most prior histories; chronicles run for ~1500 years

(These included in the World Canonical Texts List of 36 texts)

3. Tong Dian 通典 by Du You - First in the series of histories written with focus on Institutions

 

Likely to include:

4. Records of the Three Kingdoms (with Commentaries) 三國志- One of the First Four Official Histories, Records plus Commentaries both considered key works written between Han and Tang dynasties

5. Ming Ru Xue An 明儒學案 by Huang Zongxi - A intellectual history work that captures Ming Confucian intellectual history focused around the figure of Wang Yangming

6. Records of the Western Regions 大唐西域記 by dictated by Xuanzhuang - normally in my criteria I don't include titles on geographies. But this is a special case in that Xuanzhuang is one of the very few trusted source of India's age of cultural efflorescence. He also was the sectarian founder of the Yogacara Sect in China (one of the 4 philosophical sects or one of the 8 Buddhist sects in China). His stories of going west was the source for the novel Journey to the West.

 

Potentially include:

7. Book of Early Han 漢書- One of the First Four Official History, the one starting to write histories on a Dynastic Basis. Early on this is more reputable work than Sima Qian's Shi Ji.

8. Book of Later Han 後漢書 - The last written of the first Four Official History

9. Book of Sui 隋書- One of the most reputable later Official Histories, compiled in early Tang.

10. Tong Jian Ji Shi Ben Mo 通鋻紀事本末- Recast of Sima Guang's work based on key Events

11. Tong Zhi 通志- Try to do a second Shi Ji across dynasties, from earliest time through Sui; most famous for its sections on Institutions

12. Zhen Guan Zheng Yao 貞觀政要 - Work documenting the reign of the 2nd emperor of Tang Dynasty

13. Hua Yang Guo Zhi 華陽國志 - Most famous regional histories, focusing on area now known as Sichuan

14. Wen Xian Tong Kao 文獻通考 - A continuation and expansion of Tong Dian through Song dynasty 

15. Zi Zhi Tong Jian Gang Mu 資治通鋻綱目- Recast of Sima Guang's work by Zhu Xi, supposed to be a new Zuo Commentaries

 

There are also other important works of course. Particularly I have excluded the explicitly historiographical work Shi Tong 史通 by Liu Zhiji as my current selection criteria excludes historiographical theories or literary theories. Other works I excluded are the other 19 Official Histories, two worthy Chronicles on Han, some extensions of  Zi Zhi Tong Jian, very early (but less canonized historical works), some regional histories (including some on Vietnam and Korea), some comprehensive geography works, and a travelogue by Xu Xiake 徐霞客. 

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