Sima Guang completes Zizhi Tongjian

1084

After nineteen years of work, the Chinese scholar-official presented Emperor Shenzong with a comprehensive chronological history of China from 403 BC to 959 AD, in two hundred ninety-four chapters. The Zizhi Tongjian remains one of the greatest feats of historiography ever undertaken by a single scholar in any culture. Its title, Comprehensive Mirror to Aid in Government, declared its purpose: to teach rulers from the past's mistakes.