The Facts of the Song Dynasty

A comprehensive institutional history compiled by Li You of the Southern Song dynasty. Originally in sixty volumes, it records the institutions, political affairs, and current events of the Northern Song dynasty from the Jianlong to Xuanhe eras.

The original work has been lost. The twenty-volume edition available today was compiled during the Qing dynasty from the Yongle Encyclopedia.

The work is arranged by topic and contains twenty-five sections, including the generations of the founding emperors, amnesties upon accession, era names, edicts, imperial studies, imperial writings, suburban sacrifices and amnesties, temple institutions, official posts, meritorious officials, the appointment and dismissal of chief ministers, ceremonial procedures, examinations, music and pitch standards, the calendar and astronomy, finance, military affairs and penal law, the promotion and demotion of prefectures and counties, and campaigns to recover Youzhou and Yanjing.

The book preserves a wealth of Northern Song edicts, legal and calendrical systems, court ceremonies, and statutes.

Its historical value lies chiefly in filling gaps in records found in works such as the History of Song and correcting errors in those accounts.