Xue Juzheng
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This is a Chinese name; the family name is Xue.
Xue Jucheng (薛居正)(912-981) was a Chinese scholar-historian who served under the Song Dynasty, as well as four of the Five Dynasties that preceded the Song Dynasty. Xue is best known for compiling the Five Dynasties History 五代史 which was put together in the 960s and 970s.
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[edit] Early Career
Xue Juzheng was born during the Later Liang Dynasty, the first of the Five Dynasties. He received his jinshi examination degree during the Later Tang Dynasty (923-936.) He continued to serve the remaining three dynasties of the Five Dynasties, the Later Jin Dynasty, Later Han Dynasty, and the Later Zhou Dynasty.
[edit] Five Dynasties History
When the Song Dynasty conquered the Later Zhou Dynasty in 960, Xue took service with the new dynasty as he had with dynasties prior to the new rulers of northern China. During the first two decades of the Song Dynasty, Xue set about to compiling a history of the Five Dynasties.
Entitled Five Dynasties History 五代史, the main purpose of the work was to reinforce the claim of the Song Dynasty to the Mandate of Heaven from the Tang Dynasty through the Five Dynasties to the reigning Song Dynasty.
[edit] Death and Legacy
Xue Juzheng did not live much longer than the completion of his compilation of the Five Dynasties History, dying in 981, the 21st year of the Song Dynasty of China. However, his legacy of writing a history of a previous era of Chinese history for the purpose of bolstering the current patron dynasty would be repreated later in Chinese history, notably with the Yuan Dynasty’s writing of the Liao History.
[edit] Work Referenced
Mote, F.W. (1999). Imperial China 900-1800. Harvard University Press.
