New History of the Five Dynasties

The Historical Records of the Five Dynasties (Wudai Shiji) is a Chinese history book on the Five Dynasties period (907–960), written by the Song dynasty official Ouyang Xiu in private. It was drafted during Ouyang's exile from 1036 to 1039 but not published until 1073, a year after his death. An abridged English translation by Richard L. Davis was published in 2004. One of the official Twenty-Four Histories of China, the book is frequently referred to as the New History of the Five Dynasties (Xin Wudai Shi) in order to distinguish it from the Old History of the Five Dynasties which was published in 974. Though both books follow a similar format, Ouyang's book is more concise and markedly more analytical. Contents New History of the Five Dynasties covers the Later Liang, Later Tang, Later Jin, Later Han, and Later Zhou dynasties. The book consists of 74 chapters total. It includes biographies, annuals, case studies, family histories, genealogies, and coverage about Chinese tribes. The layout of the work was inspired by the style of Li Yanshou (李延寿) and it pulls content from Xue Juzheng's work. It has been described as being more important than the work that Xue Juzheng created and upon its discovery "Xue Juzheng's earlier history was largely forgotten and nearly lost to the world."