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Chongguang huishi 重廣會史

Aug 15, 2025 © Ulrich Theobald

Chongguang huishi 重廣會史 "Newly enlarged collection of [stories] from history" is a compilation of biographies and other historical material compiled during the Northern Song period 北宋 (960-1126) by an unknown person.

The book, with a length of 100 juan, primarily compiles material from the biographical sections of the official dynastic histories, from the Shiji 史記 through the Xintangshu 新唐書, but excluding the Jiutangshu 舊唐書 and the histories of the Five Dynasties 五代 (907-960). In addition, several dozen entries are drawn from the Classic Zuozhuan 左傳 and various philosophical works.

It aims to imitate the style and intention of the statecraft encyclopaedia Cefu yuangui 冊府元龜, gathering the essence of the sixteen dynastic histories and arranging them by category, so that those who wish to consult issues in antiquity can easily locate information. Instead of organizing by broad sections, the collection is divided directly into 553 topical headings. Under each heading, historical events of the exact nature are grouped, with the title of the source work indicated.

The Chongguang huishi is of great help to compare the transmitted versions of the official dynastic history with the quoted, "original" versions. It was printed during the Northern Song period, but no copy survived in China. There is only one single copy (guben 孤本) surviving, which came to Japan via Korea. It was reproduced in 1928 by the Ikutoku Zaidan 育徳財団 in Tōkyō.

Sources:
Lu Lei 陸磊. 2013. "Chongguang huishi jianzheng buzheng 《重廣會史箋證》補正." Liuzhou Shizhuan xuebao 柳州師專學報 28 (1): 36-39.
Mou Zongjie 牟宗傑. 2014. "Chongguang huishi qian jingyan yin kaobian 《重廣會史》鈐“經筵”印考辨." Wenxian 文獻 2014 (1): 11-13.
Wu Feng 吳楓, ed. 1987. Jianming Zhongguo guji cidian 簡明中國古籍辭典, 634. Changchun: Jilin wenshi chubanshe.