Sima Guang

Life

He passed the jinshi examination in the fifth year of the Jingyou era (1038); another account dates the success to the first year of Baoyuan and specifies the A division of the jinshi examination. He began as a signing judge in Suzhou and, after observing mourning for his father, became signing judge of Wucheng Army. In 1046 Pang Ji recommended him for appointment as a collator in the Palace Library; Pang Ji later recruited him as associate prefect of Bingzhou. Recalled to the capital, he served as judicial aide in Kaifeng Prefecture, drafter of imperial edicts, a Tianzhangge daizhi, and governor of the remonstrance office, and also held the posts of judicial assessor of the Court of Judicial Review, lecturer at the Imperial University, and associate director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices.

When Emperor Renzong had not designated an heir, Sima Guang submitted repeated remonstrances. Under Emperor Yingzong, he became a Longtuge academician and was placed in charge of the personnel office. After Emperor Shenzong's accession, he was promoted to Hanlin academician, served as vice censor-in-chief, and acted as director of the Court of Reviewing Officials. He opposed Wang Anshi's New Policies, maintaining that “the institutions of the ancestors could not be changed”; he repeatedly debated Wang Anshi and Lü Huiqing before the emperor, and was sent out as prefect of Yongxing jun.

Between the third and fourth years of the Xining era, he was sent out as prefect of Yongxing jun and then appointed to supervise the Western Capital Office of the Censorate. In 1073, as Duanming academician concurrently serving as a Hanlin reader-academician, he settled in Luoyang and led the compilation of the Zizhi Tongjian. He devoted fifteen years in retirement at Luoyang to historical writing and refrained entirely from discussing current affairs.

After Emperor Zhezong's accession, with Grand Empress Dowager Gao governing, Sima Guang was recalled as Menxia shilang. In the first year of Yuanyou (1086), he was appointed shangshu zuo puye concurrently with menxia shilang and took charge of the government; he appointed Liu Zhi, Fan Chunren, Fan Zuyu, and Lü Dafang, dismissed the New Faction, abolished the New Policies, and restored the former system, in what became known as the Yuanyou Restoration. He served under Renzong, Yingzong, Shenzong, and Zhezong. He died in the ninth month of that year, aged sixty-eight, after eight months in the chief councillor's position; he was posthumously granted the title Grand Preceptor and Duke of Wenguo and given the posthumous name Wenzheng.

Historical scholarship and writings

Sima Guang first compiled an eight-volume history of events from the Warring States period through the reign of Qin Er Shi, called the Tongzhi. Emperor Yingzong ordered an office established to continue the work, and Emperor Shenzong renamed it the Zizhi Tongjian; it was completed in the seventh year of the Yuanfeng era. The work is a chronological general history in 324 juan, accompanied by a 30-juan Kao Yi.

His other works include the 80-juan Wen guo Wenzheng gong wenji, the 80-juan Tongli, the 20-juan Jigu lu, the 10-juan Sushui jiwen, and the Tongjian juyao li. Other works attributed to him include Qianxu, Fayan jizhu, Jiafan, Jizhu Taixuan jing, Wen gong Yishuo liu juan, Sushui jiayi, Guju xiangqi tu yi juan, Touhu ge yi juan, and Touhu yijie yi juan.

Fourteen juan of his poetry survive, together with poems and fragments collected outside the main collection; three ci lyrics also survive. He also produced commentaries on the Yi, Xiaojing, Laozi, Fayan, and Taixuan.