Pei Songzhi

Pei Songzhi
裴松之
BornFamily name: Pei (裴)
Given name: Songzhi (松之)
Courtesy name: Shiqi (世期)

372
Wenxi County, Shanxi
Died451 (aged 78–79)
OccupationHistorian, politician
Years active5th century
Notable works
Relatives
  • Pei Mei (grandfather)
  • Pei Gui (father)
  • Lady Yu (mother; granddaughter of Yu Liang, daughter of Yu Xi and sister of Yu Kai[1])
  • Pei Yin (son)
  • Pei Ziye (great-grandson)

Pei Songzhi (372–451[2]), courtesy name Shiqi, was a Chinese historian and politician who lived in the late Eastern Jin dynasty and the Liu Song dynasty. His ancestral home was in Wenxi County, 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.[3] His son, Pei Yin (裴駰), and great-grandson Pei Ziye (裴子野), were also well-known historians.

  1. ^ (庾楷,征西将军亮之孙,会稽内史羲小子也) Jin Shu, vol.84
  2. ^ [(元嘉)二十八年,卒,时年八十] Song Shu, vol.64
  3. ^ Yuet Keung Lo, "Pei Songzhi", in A Global Encyclopedia of Historical Writing, edited by D. R. Woolf (Garland Reference Library, 1998), p. 701.