Pei Songzhi, courtesy name Shiqi, was a Chinese historian and politician who lived in the late Eastern Jin dynasty and the Liu Song dynasty.
19 Facts About Pei Songzhi
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Pei Songzhi is best known for making annotations to the historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms written by Chen Shou in the third century, providing additional details omitted from the original work.
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Pei Songzhi's commentary, completed in 429, became integral to later editions of the Sanguozhi, making the joint work three times as long as the original.
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Pei Songzhi's grandfather, Pei Mei, served as a Household Counsellor while his father, Pei Gui, was a zheng yuanwailang.
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Pei Songzhi 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.
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In 391, during the reign of Emperor Xiaowu, Pei Songzhi became a Palace General at the age of 20.
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Yu Kai fled to join the warlord Huan Xuan, after which he nominated Pei Songzhi to be the Administrator of Xinye, but Pei Songzhi considered the dangers of joining his uncle and refused to move there.
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Pei Songzhi was recalled to the imperial court later and was promoted to shangshu ci bu lang.
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Pei Songzhi was serving as a registrar then when he was ordered to join Liu Yu's army.
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Liu Yu was very impressed with Pei Songzhi and praised him as a talented person, and then appointed him as zhizhong congshi shi.
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Pei Songzhi founded the Liu Song dynasty and became historically known as "Emperor Wu of Song".
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Pei Songzhi took up various appointments in the Liu Song government, including Secretary of the Interior of Lingling, State Academician and rongcong puye.
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Pei Songzhi was promoted to Palace Gentleman Writer and Grand Judge of Si and Ji provinces, and was enfeoffed as the Marquis of Xi District.
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Pei Songzhi died of illness at the age of 80 in 451.
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Emperor Wen of the Liu Song dynasty felt that the historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms, written by Chen Shou in the third century, was too brief, so he commissioned Pei Songzhi to make annotations to the text.
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Pei Songzhi 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.
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Pei Songzhi's commentary, completed in 429, became integral to later editions of the Sanguozhi, making the joint work three times as long as the original.
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Apart from making annotations to the Sanguozhi, Pei Songzhi wrote other books such as the Jin Ji, Pei Songzhi Shi Jiazhuan, and Ji Zhu Sang Fu Jing Zhuan.
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Pei Songzhi is a member of the Pei clan of Hedong.