Sima Guang

Sima Guang, courtesy name Junshi and style name Yusou, known as Mr. Sushui, was a native of Xia County in Shanzhou (present-day Xia County, Shanxi) during the Northern Song dynasty and was born in Guangshan, Guangzhou. A metropolitan graduate in the first year of the Baoyuan era under Emperor Renzong, he served four reigns—Renzong, Yingzong, Shenzong and Zhezong—and rose to the post of Minister of the Left and Vice Director of the Chancellery. Because he opposed Wang Anshi's reforms, he withdrew to Luoyang for fifteen years, where he directed the compilation of the chronicle Zizhi Tongjian (Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government); his other works include Jigu Lu and Sushui Jiwen. He was posthumously granted the title Grand Preceptor and Duke of Wen, with the posthumous name Wenzheng. His writings focus on history, Eastern philosophy and culture, and are marked by rigorous scholarship and attention to historical facts and the lessons of governance. The Zizhi Tongjian has had a profound influence on later historiography.