Records of The Three Kingdoms - Pei Songzhi's Annotations

Pei Songzhi's Annotations

In the 5th century, the work was further annotated by Pei Songzhi (372-451), who was born in present-day Yuncheng, Shanxi. After leaving his native land, he became the Gentleman of Texts under Liu Song of the Southern Dynasties, and was given the assignment of editing the book, which was completed in 429. This became the official history of the Three Kingdoms period, under the title Sanguozhi zhu (zhu meaning "notes"). He went about providing detailed explanations to some of the geography and other elements mentioned in the original. More importantly, he made corrections to the work, in consultation with records he collected of the period. In regard to historical events and figures, as well as Chen Shou's opinions, he added his own commentary. From his broad research, he was able to create a history which was relatively complete, without many of the loose ends of the original. Some of the added material was colorful and of questionable authenticity, possibly fictional. All the additional material made for a book three times the length of the original.