The ''Book of Zhou'' () records the official history of the

Xianbei The Xianbei (; ) were an ancient nomadic people that once resided in the eastern Eurasian steppes in what is today Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, and Northeastern China. The Xianbei were likely not of a single ethnicity, but rather a multiling ...

-led

Western Wei Wei (), known in historiography as the Western Wei (), was an imperial dynasty of China that followed the disintegration of the Northern Wei. One of the Northern dynasties during the era of the Northern and Southern dynasties, it ruled the weste ...

and

Northern Zhou Zhou (), known in historiography as the Northern Zhou (), was a Xianbei-led Dynasties in Chinese history, dynasty of China that lasted from 557 to 581. One of the Northern and Southern dynasties#Northern dynasties, Northern dynasties of China's ...

dynasties of China, and ranks among the official Twenty-Four Histories of imperial China. Compiled by the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

historian Linghu Defen, the work was completed in 636 CE and consists of 50 chapters, some of which have been lost and replaced from other sources. The book was criticised by Liu Zhiji for its attempt to glorify the ancestors of Tang dynasty officials of the time.

Sources

Compilation began with Liu Qiu 柳虯 (502-555) in the Western Wei, who was vice-director of the Palace Library. Liu Qiu was assigned to compile the imperial diary in 550. Liu Qiu was succeeded by Niu Hong 牛弘 (545-610) who also worked on the imperial diary and later became Director of the Palace Library. Niu Hong compiled an incomplete history of the Western Wei and Northern Zhou. In 629, Emperor Taizong of Tang appointed a team headed by Linghu Defen to work on compiling the ''Book of Zhou''. The other team members were Cen Weben and Cui Renshi.

Translations

Two partial translations have been published. Dien provides a translation of volume 11 on the biography of Yuwen Hu. Miller provides a partial translation of volume 50 on accounts of Western nations.

Annals (帝紀)

Biographies (列傳)

References

Footnotes

Works cited

* * *

External links

* Text of the ''Book of Zhou'', available fro
National Sun Yat-sen University

Chinese text with matching English vocabulary Twenty-Four Histories 7th-century history books Northern Zhou History books about the Northern and Southern dynasties Tang dynasty literature 7th-century Chinese books {{China-hist-book-stub