40 Facts About Sima Guang

Sima Guang, courtesy name Junshi, was a Chinese historian, politician, and writer.

Sima Guang was a high-ranking Song dynasty scholar-official who authored the Zizhi Tongjian, a monumental work of history.

Sima Guang's criticisms led to his removal from political office when reformists held power.

Sima Guang spent years compiling and editing the Zizhi Tongjian, which he presented to Emperor Shenzong in 1084.

Sima Guang was named after Guang Prefecture, his birthplace, and where his father Sima Chi served as a county magistrate.

The Sima Guang family were originally from Xia County in Shan Prefecture, and claimed descent from the 3rd century Cao Wei official Sima Guang Fu.

At the age of 6, Sima Guang heard a lecture concerning the Zuo Zhuan, a work of history dating to the 4th century BC.

Sima Guang became an avid reader, "to the point of not recognizing hunger, thirst, coldness or heat".

Sima Guang believed that civilization was created when the sage kings transformed humans from their original animal state using hierarchical order, property rights, moral instruction, and penal law.

Sima Guang believed that the problem with government was not in its structure, but rather in the people that ran it.

Sima Guang wrote multiple memorials detailing how to make the government more effective and argued that his views were in accord with history and Heaven-and-Earth.

For Sima Guang, to be ethical was to accept one's social status, and personal cultivation meant exercising restraint; indeed Sima Guang interpreted the "investigation of things", a fundamental tenet of the Cheng-Zhu school of Neo-confucianism, as "restraining things".

Sima Guang agreed with Xunzi's postulation that humans were inherently evil and wrote a work called "Doubting Mencius" that criticized Mencius' encouraging of the overthrow of hierarchy.

Sima Guang did the same thing in 1061, but his proposals were more conservative.

Sima Guang himself believed that priority should be given to Renzong since he was the emperor's ritual father.

Sima Guang opposed Shenzong's irridentism and favored a defensive stance towards the Uyghurs, Tibetans, Western Xia, and Liao dynasty.

Sima Guang hoped that the "barbarians" would commend the Song dynasty's good government.

Conservatives like Sima Guang advocated for a smaller government budget and gradual reform.

Sima Guang argued that more state revenue would mean less money for farmers and that the government was immoral for competing with merchants.

Frustrated with Wang Anshi's dominance over court and despite Shenzong's urging for him to stay, Sima Guang retired to Luoyang in 1071, which would become the center of the conservative opposition.

Sima Guang was disturbed by the New Policy's control over the dynasty's people and resources.

Massive famines and droughts fueled resentment towards Wang Anshi and garnered support for Sima Guang, contributing to the conservative restoration of 1085.

However, Sima Guang was not restored to power following the unpopular Wang's retirement in 1076 since Shenzong took personal control over the New Policies.

Cai nonetheless ingratiated him to the influential Sima Guang by appointing Sima Guang's disciple, Xing Shu, as a scholar.

Sima Guang was an old and tired man in Luoyang and was reluctant to return to the capital, but Cheng Hao convinced him to do so.

When Sima Guang arrived in Kaifeng, a large crowd swarmed to touch his horse, and palace guardsmen saluted him as "Prime Minister Sima Guang".

Sima Guang encouraged people to openly express their grievances about the New Policies.

Sima Guang was made chief councilor by Empress Dowager Gao, the regent for Emperor Zhezong and herself a staunch conservative.

Sima Guang criticized the system's detracting from agricultural productivity and its potential for creating bandits.

Sima Guang argued that the law was simply another tax imposed on the commoners.

Zhang Dun continued to resist and pointed out Sima Guang's hypocrisy regarding the law: in early 1086, Sima Guang said that rich households were harmed by the law, while just 14 days later he said that rich households benefitted from their preferential treatment under the law.

Sima Guang is best remembered for his masterwork, Zizhi Tongjian, and the Australian sinologist Rafe de Crespigny describes him as "perhaps the greatest of all Chinese historians".

In 1064, Sima Guang presented to Emperor Yingzong of Song the five-volume.

Sima Guang presented increasingly critical memorials to the throne until 1070, when he refused further appointment and withdrew from court.

Sima Guang rejected the roles of the dynastic cycle and Five Phases in legitimizing dynastic succession.

Sima Guang believed that history was a "mirror" for the present and could provide the government with historical context for their current situation.

Sima Guang's histories are structured in a way that promotes these theories.

Emperor Shenzong died in 1085, shortly after Sima Guang had submitted Zizhi Tongjian to the throne.

Sima Guang was recalled to court and appointed to lead the government under Emperor Zhezong of Song.

Sima Guang used this time in power to repeal many of the New Policies, but he died the following year, in 1086.