Sima Guang

字号： 大 中 小

司马光(公元1019-1086年)，北宋 政治家、史学家，陕州夏县人(今属山西省)，出生在一个官僚的家庭，曾经做过宰相。
Sima Guang (1019-1086) was a statesman and historian of the Northern Song Dynasty. He was born in today's Shanxi Province into an official's family. He served as a prime minister for the Song court at one time.
司马光平生最大的成就 之一就是主持编写了《资治通鉴》。司马光认为治理国家的人一定要了解 历史 ，他用了两年的时间，写成了一部从战国到秦末的史书，名叫《通志》。后来他把《通志》拿给宋英宗看，宋英宗很满意 ，让他把这本书编下去。宋英宗允许司马光自己挑选编写人员，阅读官府藏书。司马光非常高兴 ，马上成立书局，邀请当时许多著名 史学家做助手，共同编写通史。他们收集 了大量材料，其中有很多在以前的历史书中都没有见到过的历史资料，非常珍贵 。为了编写这本书，司马光花费了大量心血 。 为了防止自己睡觉过多，耽误编书，他还特意请人用圆木做了一个枕头。睡觉时，只要一翻身，枕头就会滚掉，人也就醒了。这个枕头被称为“警枕”。司马光用了 19年完成了这部历史巨著。继位的宋神宗觉得很好，定名为《资治通鉴》。《资治通鉴》是一部编年体通史，记载了从公元前403到公元959年间1,362 年的历史，共294卷，300多万字，材料详细真实，文字优美通畅，是后人编写编年体史书的典范 ，也是中国古代宝贵的文化遗产 。

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Sima Guang was convinced that those governing the country should be well versed in history. He spent a total of 19 years writing a history of China covering 1,362 years-from 403 BC to 959 AD. This magnum opus work comprises 294 volumes containing more than 3,000,000 words. Sima Guang had the encouragement of first Emperor Yingzong and then his successor Emperor Shenzong. He also had the assistance of many famous scholars. Sima Guang was so absorbed in his work that he even invented an "alarm pillow “which prevented him from sleeping too long. The wooden pillow was designed to slip from under his head whenever he turned over. It was Emperor Shenzong who gave Sima Guang's history its title of Zizhitongjian (Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government).

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