Different mirrors of the past

This dissertation examines the transformation of historical knowledge, or a paradigm change, that took place during the Southern Song, from the knowledge for maintaining a balanced hierarchical political power relations in the government to that for training literati to make moral decisions in real historical contexts, and the significance of this transformation in Chinese history. Through in-depth studies on five chronological works directly or indirectly related to Sima Guang's influential Comprehensive Mirror to Aid for the Government, the dissertation argues that the narrative structures of these chronological works were designed to analyze and explain history in specific ways. These works were not simply collections of historical data, but "historical models" (or "paradigm candidates") that provided specific world views and competed others to dominate the field of the study of history. They demonstrate the diversity and vitality of the study of history in the Southern Song, and, when put in chronological order, signified the aforementioned paradigm change in the study of history, which transferred the authority over leadership from the government to the morally cultivated literati, and thus went together with the "localist turn" transformation in Chinese history. Chapter one discusses how Li Tao's Xu Zizhi tongjian changbian followed Sima Guang's paradigm that argues for a hierarchical political power structure with a well-regulated delegation of authority. Chapter two discusses how Zhu Xi and his disciples' Zizhi tongjian gangmu redefined historical knowledge as the knowledge for training the literati to make moral decisions in real historical contexts. Chapter three discusses how Lü Zugian's Dashiji integrated the Daoxue approach with the statecraft approach, but in the end turned moral principles into the means to achieve political goals. Chapter four discusses how Li Xinchuan's Jianyan yilai xi'nian yaolu integrated the Daoxue approach with Sima Guang's paradigm, regarding maintaining proper political power relations as the means to achieve Daoxue's moral goals. Chapter five discussed how Jin Lüxiang's Zizhi tongjian qianbian followed the model of the Outline and Details, and asked the government to take the responsibility of establishing a proper world order based on moral principles, representing the ascendancy of the Doaxue discourse.