jizhuanti 紀傳體, biographic-thematic type (of historiography)

The jizhuanti 紀傳體 "biographic-thematic type" is a literary genre in Chinese historiography, where history is presented through biographies and thematic treatises. The standard histories written in this historiographic type are the official dynastic histories (zhengshi 正史), but there are also other histories, mainly dynastic histories, written in this type of history. There are three types of biographies and two types of treatises, namely:

benji 本紀 (short: ji 紀), "imperial annals-biographies" of emperors

shijia 世家, biographies of the houses of the regional rulers and of eminent persons

liezhuan 列傳 (short: zhuan 傳) "normal biographies" of ordinary persons and "collective biographies" like that of empresses, officials, bad ministers, magicians, eunuchs, or reports of foreign countries

biao 表, tables

zhi 志, treatises about state rituals, courtly etiquette, calendar and astronomy, omens, penal law, food and commerce (including taxation), local administration, state offices, the military, literature, and also diplomatic relations

At least imperial annals-biographies (ji) and biographies (zhuan) of eminent and ordinary people had to be included in a jizhuanti-type history book. The treatises can be seen as condensed encyclopaedias on statecraft, but always focusing on one dynasty.

The opposite of this biography-centered type of historiography is chronicles or annals (biannianti 編年體 type).