Pei Songzhi

Pei Songzhi (372–451), courtesy name Shiqi, was a historian and politician who lived in the late Eastern Jin dynasty and Liu Song dynasty. His ancestral home was in Wenxi, Hedong (present-day Wenxi County, Yuncheng, Shanxi) but he moved to the Jiangnan region later. He is best known for making annotations to the historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguozhi) written by Chen Shou in the third century, providing additional details omitted from the original work. His commentary, completed in 429, became integral to later editions of the Sanguozhi, making the joint work three times as long as the original. Two of his descendants, Pei Yin (裴駰) and Pei Ziye (裴子野), were also well known historians.

Life

Pei was born in a family of politicians who served the Eastern Jin government. His grandfather, Pei Mei (裴昧), served as a guanglu dafu (光祿大夫) while his father, Pei Gui (裴珪), was a zheng yuanwailang (正員外郎). Pei was fond of reading since his childhood, and he was already very familiar with classic texts such as the Analects of Confucius and the Classic of Poetry at the age of eight.

In 391, during the reign of Emperor Xiaowu, Pei became a dianzhong jiangjun (殿中將軍) at the age of 20. In 398, during the reign of Emperor An, Pei's uncle, Yu Kai (庾楷), who was the Governor of Yu Province, allied with Wang Gong (王恭), the Governor of Yan and Qing provinces, to attack the imperial capital, Jiankang. They were defeated. Yu Kai fled to join the warlord Huan Xuan, after which he nominated Pei to be the Administrator of Xinye, but Pei considered the dangers of joining his uncle and refused to move there. War broke out between the warlords later and Yu Kai was killed by Huan Xuan. Pei survived because he did not join Yu Kai.

In the early fifth century, Pei served as a yuanwai sanqi shilang (員外散騎侍郎) and later as the Prefect (縣令) of Guzhang County. He was recalled back to the imperial court later and was promoted to shangshu ci bu lang (尚書祠部郎). In 416, the Jin imperial court ordered Liu Yu, the Duke of Song, to lead a campaign against the state of Later Qin. Pei was serving as a Registrar (主簿) then when he was ordered to join Liu Yu's army. Liu Yu was very impressed with Pei and praised him as a talented person, and then appointed him as zhizhong congshi shi (治中從事史). After Liu Yu's forces occupied Luoyang, Liu Yu appointed Pei as a xianma (洗馬) to assist the heir apparent of his dukedom.

Liu Yu usurped the throne in 420 and ended the Eastern Jin dynasty. He founded the Liu Song dynasty and became historically known as "Emperor Wu of Liu Song". Pei took up various appointments in the Liu Song government, including neishi (內史) of Lingling, guozi boshi (國子博士) and rongcong puye (冗從僕射). In 426, Emperor Wu's successor, Emperor Wen, sent officials to inspect the various provinces. Pei was sent to inspect Xiangzhou (湘州). After returning from his trip, Pei drafted 24 clauses based on his observations. He was promoted to zhongshu shilang (中書侍郎) and da zhongzheng (大中正) of Si and Ji provinces, and received the title of "Marquis of Xi" (西鄉侯).

In his later years, Pei served as the Administrator of Yongjia (永嘉), tongzhi sanqi changshi (通直散騎常侍), and Administrator of South Langya (南琅邪). Pei retired from service at the age of 65 in 437. However, not long later, he was recalled back to the imperial court, and he served as zhong san dafu (中散大夫), guozi boshi (國子博士), and taizhong dafu (太中大夫). He died of illness at the age of 80 in 451.

Works

Emperor Wen of the Liu Song dynasty felt that the historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguozhi), written by Chen Shou in the third century, was too brief, so he commissioned Pei to make annotations to the text. Pei collected various sources, including those previously rejected by Chen Shou, and added them to the Sanguozhi, while making annotations and adding his personal commentary as well. His commentary, completed in 429, became integral to later editions of the Sanguozhi, making the joint work three times as long as the original. Emperor Wen praised his work as "immortal".

Apart from making annotations to the Sanguozhi, Pei also wrote other books such as the Jin Ji (晉紀; History of Jin), Pei Shi Jiazhuan (裴氏家傳; Pei Family Biographies), and Ji Zhu Sang Fu Jing Zhuan (集注喪服經傳).