Annotations to Records of the Three Kingdoms
Annotations to Records of the Three Kingdoms by Pei Songzhi is an annotation completed in the 5th century of the 3rd century historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms, compiled by Chen Shou. After leaving his native land, Pei Songzhi became the Gentleman of Texts under the Liu Song Dynasty, and was given the assignment of editing the book, which was completed in 429. This became the official history of the Three Kingdoms period, under the title Sanguozhi zhu. He went about providing detailed explanations to some of the geography and other elements mentioned in the original. More importantly, he made corrections to the work, in consultation with records he collected of the period. In regard to historical events and figures, as well as Chen Shou's opinions, he added his own commentary. From his broad research, he was able to create a history which was relatively complete, without many of the loose ends of the original. Some of the added material was colourful and of questionable authenticity, possibly fictional. All the additional material made the book close to twice the length of the original.
List of texts used in Pei Songzhi's annotations
Official and private histories
Government documents
Individual, family, and group biographies
Encyclopoediae, dictionaries, and references
Poetry, essays, philosophy, and literature
Correspondence
Classics
Quoting classics was an inescapable reality of Chinese political and academic life as early as the Eastern Zhou period. Pei Songzhi often cites classics in order to contextualize quotations made by speakers in Chen Shou's original text, and occasionally to explain the philosophy or background behind a person's actions. These works do not constitute historical sources for Pei Songzhi's purposes, but are included here for sake of completeness.| Title | Translation | Author / Compiler | Notes | Locus of First Citation |
| 春秋公羊傳解詁 Chunqiu Gongyang Zhuan Jiegu | Exegesis of the Gongyang Zhuan | Gongyang Gao ; He Xiu, annotation | Commentary to the Spring and Autumn Annals. Extant. | 1.40, n 2; 5.161 |
| 春秋左氏傳集解 Chunqiu Zuo Shi Zhuan Jijie | Collected Exegesis of the Zuo Zhuan | Du Yu, annotation | Ruist historical tradition of heterogenous origin attached to the Spring and Autumn Annals. Extant. | 24.678; biography of Han Ji |
| 管子 Guanzi | Deeds and philosophy of Guan Zhong, prime minister of the state of Qi who brought Duke Huan of Qi to the position of hegemony. Extant. | 2.60 | ||
| 國語 Guoyu | Sayings of the States | Wei Zhao, annotation | Speeches and rhetoric of the Eastern Zhou period. Extant. | 1.40, n 8 |
| 淮南子 Huainanzi | Philosophical and scientific encyclopoedia, usually classified as a Daoist text. Extant. | 42.1038 | ||
| 禮記注 Liji Zhu | Annotated Record of Rites | Zheng Xuan, annotation | Prescriptive ritual text. Extant. | 3.108, n 2 |
| 論語 Lunyu | Analects | Kong Qiu | Confucian foundational text. Extant | 38.974 |
| 呂氏春秋 Lüshi Chunqiu | Mr Lü's Spring and Autumn Annals | Lü Buwei | Encyclopoedia. Extant. | 2.82, n 2 |
| 孟子 Mengzi | Mencius | Meng Ke | Confucian foundational text. Extant. | 24.682 |
| 尚書注 Shangshu Zhu | Annotated Book of Documents | Zheng Xuan, annotation | Records of persons, speeches, and events in the Western Zhou period. Extant. | 1.40, nn 3, 5, 6, 7 |
| 詩經 Shijing | Book of Odes | Poetry of the Zhou culture, from the pre-dynastic period to the Eastern Zhou period. Extant. | 1.40, n 5 | |
| 孫子兵法 Sunzi Bingfa | The Art of War | Treatise on military strategy and tactics. Extant. | 27.744; biography of Wang Xu | |
| 戰國策 Zhan Guo Ce | Strategies of the Warring States | Liu Xiang | Fictional tales and exercises in persuasive rhetoric. Extant. | 21.615, n 3 |
| 莊子 Zhuangzi | Partially attributed to Zhuang Zhou | Daoist foundational text. Extant. | 11.366 |