Sima Guang
| Sima Guang 司馬光 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
November 17, 1019 Guangshan County, Guāng Prefecture, Song Empire |
| Died | October 11, 1086 (aged 66) Kaifeng, Song Empire |
| Spouse(s) | Lady Zhang |
| Children | Sima Kang |
| Father | Sima Chi |
| Courtesy name | Junshi (君實) |
| Art name | Yusou (迂叟) |
| Posthumous name | Wenzheng (文正) |
| Other names | Sushui Xiansheng (涑水先生) |
| Sima Guang | |||||||||||
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| Transcriptions | |
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| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Sīmǎ Guāng |
| Wade–Giles | Ssu1-ma3 Kuang1 |
| IPA | [sɨ́.mà kwáŋ] |
Sima Guang (17 November 1019 – 11 October 1086), courtesy name Junshi, was a high-ranking Song dynasty scholar-official and historian who authored the monumental history book Zizhi Tongjian. Sima was a political conservative who opposed Wang Anshi's reforms.
Sima Guang was named after his birthplace Guāng Prefecture, where his father Sima Chi (司馬池) served as a county magistrate in Guangshan County. The Simas were originally from Xia County in Shǎn Prefecture, and claimed descent from Sima Fu in the 3rd century. A famous anecdote relates how the young Sima Guang once saved a playmate who had fallen into an enormous vat full of water. As other children scattered in panic, Sima Guang calmly picked up a rock and smashed a hole in the base of the pot. Water leaked out, and his friend was saved from drowning.
At age 6, Sima Guang once heard a lecture on the 4th-century BC history book Zuo Zhuan. Fascinated, he was able to retell the stories to his family when he returned home. He became an avid reader, "to the point of not recognizing hunger, thirst, coldness or heat".
Sima Guang obtained early success as a scholar and officer. When he was barely twenty, he passed the Imperial examination with the highest rank of jìnshì (進士 "metropolitan graduate"), and spent the next several years in official positions.
Sima Guang is best remembered for his masterwork, Zizhi Tongjian, and Rafe de Crespigny describes him as "perhaps the greatest of all Chinese historians" (de Crespigny 1973:65).
In 1064, Sima presented to Emperor Yingzong of Song the five-volume () Liniantu (歷年圖 "Chart of Successive Years"). It chronologically summarized events in Chinese history from 403 BCE to 959 CE, and served as a prospectus for sponsorship of his ambitious project in historiography. These dates were chosen because 403 BCE was the beginning of the Warring States period, when the ancient State of Jin was subdivided, which eventually led to the establishment of the Qin Dynasty; and because 959 CE was the end of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period and the beginning of the Song Dynasty.
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