The recent popular historical drama, Swords Into Plowshares, set during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (907-960) era, has sparked growing public interest in this once little-known period of Chinese history.

Wedged between the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) dynasties, two of China's most celebrated periods, the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms era has long been regarded as one of the most obscure and complex chapters in Chinese history. Marked by political fragmentation, the period saw five dynasties rise and fall in quick succession while coexisting with 10 regional kingdoms.

Reflecting the greater attention being given to this period, researchers at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Ancient History have recompiled the official history of those times. Their work won first prize in the academy's 12th Outstanding Research Achievements Awards recently announced in Beijing.

It was customary in ancient China for a newly established dynasty to commission an official history of the dynasty it had replaced. This tradition produced the authoritative Twenty-Four Histories, a collection of historical texts detailing the dynasties of China. Among them, however, the original Old History of the Five Dynasties compiled under the auspices of Zhao Kuangyin, the founding emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127), was the only one that was lost over the course of history.

According to Kang Peng at the Institute of Ancient History, the version of the text that existed was "messy and incomplete" as it was compiled by Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) officials who reconstructed it using sources from Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) literature, and it contained materials that were not part of the original work.

As early as the 1930s, historian Chen Yuan began studies on the Qing version of the book and pointed out the mistakes. He originally hoped to compile a new and more reliable edition, but was unable to complete the project. Six decades later, his grandson Chen Zhichao, a historian at the academy, took up the challenge, determined to fulfill his grandfather's ambition.

The team first conducted textual research to identify the complete texts, which could then serve as standardized reference material for revising other texts.

More importantly, they found many ancient classics that were directly related to the book. For example, the chronicles covering the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period in Zizhi Tongjian (Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government) — a comprehensive historical text spanning the 5th century BC to the 10th century AD — were found to have been written based on the original version. Therefore, through close textual comparisons of such documents, scholars could find the missing parts in the Qing version of the period's history.

The team then reorganized the new materials in the writing style of official history books, corrected the mistakes and produced a new version comprising 4.5 million characters. This new version is nearly three times the length of its Qing counterpart and was published in 2021.

"Through textual restoration, supplementation of historical materials and standardization of the writing style, we hope the new version will become a fundamental resource for the study of the Five Dynasties period," Kang says."It provides scholars with more authentic historical materials and can help promote deeper research into political institutions, ethnic relations, and social and economic development during that era."

Zhao Rui, deputy director of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, says this compilation and the many other award-winning academic achievements demonstrate the dedication of the academy's researchers, which reflects decades of sustained scholarly exploration.

"The giant volumes bring together Chen Zhichao's decades of academic dedication. Their value lies not only in restoring the appearance of the original historical document, but also in sustaining the continuity of China's cultural heritage," says Kang.

"It allows the historical memory of the Five Dynasties to be preserved in a more complete form, enabling the wisdom of ancient Chinese classics to continue to shine across the centuries."