A Thorough Exploration in Historiography / ShitongThe definitive translation of a masterpiece in ancient Chinese historiography In the early eighth century, frustrated with the authorities but still hoping to gain immortality through his future oeuvre, the Tang court historian Liu Zhiji set out to write Shitong, in which he would rigorously explore the tradition of historical writing in China. Liu scrutinized hundreds of texts from antiquity to the early Tang dynasty (618907) and evaluated their