The book begins with the mythological figure of Pangu and ends with Aisin-Gioro Puyi, the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). It records the 996 reigning titles used by 1,262 emperors. The timeline features the name of each dynasty, the first and last year of the dynasty, the name of the emperor, the reigning title, the number of years the emperor was in power, remarks providing additional historical evidence and more. All the dates on the timeline are based upon documentations from historical books and most are specified to the day or the month. It provides evidence for the 6,000 years' history of Chinese civilization, along with works such as The Emperors of Remote Antiquity, Officials and People of Remote Antiquity and A Collection of Huangfu Mi's Works, the latter three of which are soon to be published by the New World Press.

Hi-tech approach

The publication of Zhonghua Shibiao was made possible by the Digitization Project of Ancient Chinese Books initiated by the late scholar Qian. The project built four databases of personal names, calendars, place names and books, in correspondence with the four core elements of history: people, time, places and events. After careful study of these databases, researchers formed a series of digital books including A Calendar of Chinese History, which later evolved into Zhonghua Shibiao, A Dictionary of Chinese Personal Names, which was derived from 400,000 biographies, A Dictionary of Chinese Place Names and An Anthology of 50,000 Authors. This project represented the latest progress in Chinese culture research aided by "big data" and cloud computing.

At the book's release ceremony on July 15, many historians made their comments. Qi Shirong, former President of Beijing's Capital Normal University, said Zhonghua Shibiao represents the tradition of emphasizing chronological studies in Chinese historical research. However, it seems improbable to set the start of Chinese history at such an early period.

The publication of the book represents an innovation in Chinese historical studies, said Zhang Chuanxi, a professor with the Department of History at Peking University (PKU). However, it is unfortunate that the book is based largely on historical documents and lacks a sound archeological or ethnological basis.

Wu Rongzeng, also a professor at the Department of History at PKU, contended that it is still reasonable to assume Chinese history began with Huangdi, also known as the Yellow Emperor, who was believed to have reigned in China 4,500 years ago, and that the new book seeks to reestablish a theory that has already been discarded. For example, Pangu appeared very late in historical documents, not until in The Book of the Later Han, a history of the Eastern Han Dynasty (A.D. 25-220) written in the fifth century.

Lou Yulie, a professor with the Department of Philosophy at PKU, said although there is evidence that Chinese history started with Huangdi, disputes remain. Archeological findings should be incorporated to determine the starting point of Chinese civilization.

Using the timeline format is simple but vague, said Yan Wenming, a professor with the Department of Archeology at PKU. He also suggested that Zhonghua Shibiao should draw on results of the latest archeological research if it is republished.

Answers to the discrepancies above might be found in the three historic works soon to be published by the New World Press. However, there are questions that may not have an immediate solution and call for further research.

The mysteries of history can be unearthed through archeological excavations. However, historical studies cannot rely solely on this field because it is unclear what is buried underground, where it is buried and when it will be discovered. Besides archeological excavations, there are still large numbers of historical documents that aid research in this endeavor. Furthermore, computing technology has made it possible to digitize historical documents and search for historical facts with ease.

It is hoped that this book will renew interest in Chinese history and culture and inspire scholars to reevaluate the contributions of the ancient Chinese to the progress of world civilization. All this is rendered possible by the rich and precious historical documents left by the nation's ancestors. Zhonghua Shibiao is an offspring of the marriage of technology to historical documents and will provide new insights for both cultural and historical studies.