Twenty-Four Histories
The Twenty-Four Histories (Chinese: 二十四史; pinyin: Èrshísì shǐ; Wade–Giles: Erh-shih-szu shih), also known as the Standard Histories (zhengshi 正史) are the Chinese official historical books covering a period from 3000 BC to the Ming dynasty in the 17th century. The Han dynasty official Sima Qian established many of the conventions of the genre, but the form was not fixed until much later. Starting with the Tang dynasty, each dynasty established an official office to write the history of its predecessor using official court records. As fixed and edited in the Qing dynasty, the whole set contains 3213 volumes and about 40 million words. It is considered one of the most important sources on Chinese history and culture.
The title "Twenty-Four Histories" dates from 1775 which was the 40th year in the reign of the Qianlong Emperor. This was when the last volume, the History of Ming was reworked and a complete set of the histories produced.
Books of the Twenty-Four Histories
- Records of the Grand Historian (史記, Shǐ Jì), compiled by Sima Qian 司馬遷 in 91 BC
- Book of Han (漢書, Hàn Shū), compiled by Ban Gu 班固 in 82
- Records of the Three Kingdoms (三國志, Sānguó Zhì), compiled by Chen Shou 陳壽 in 289
- Book of Later Han (後漢書, Hòuhàn Shū), compiled by Fan Ye 范曄 in 445
Twenty-Four
Well, I never felt this way at twenty-four
With the fiends and ghouls and darkness at my door
But I can substantiate that you’re my friend
I will try to leave all my suspicious ways
And the presence of my demons every day
Things you might not want to know anyway
And they might just complicate this new life that we
create
But I’m trying every day to improve and not conform
Stick with what we’re fighting for
Like the simple times before, at twenty-four
There are cowards that our public has elected
Killers, thieves and things that I could never be
And I never claimed perfection, but seriously
You can bet they’ll chalk it up to their religion
You can bet they won’t acknowledge you or me
Dirty deeds in SUV’s, that ain’t me
So I’m calling all the ones that I have loved
Heroes, confidants and all my enemies
Hold it strong a little longer, that’s the key
And for you that stood beside be at beginning
And for you that might escort me to my end
