China is famous for keeping compiling historical works without interruption for more than two thousand years. Why did historical knowledge matter? What was its function?

With the understanding that the answers may have changed with time, this paper takes Li Tao, a literatus in the early Southern Song (1127- 1276), as an example to examine the nature of historical knowledge in the second half of 12th century, and how it inherited the legacy of the historical study of the previous dynasty (Northern Song, 960-1126) and Continue reading →