The New History of the Five Dynasties by OUYANG Xiu took an important place in Chinese history of classical literary biography as one of the literaryflavoured works among The Twentyfour Histories. As the author deliberately followed the stylistic traditions of The Records of the Historian, the work presented very similar stylistic distinctions to the former. He both succeeded the old tradition and added his innovative practice by starting his historical comments with a characteristic “alas” as a leading form of expressing the author’s emotion and comments to historical personalities. One of his masterpieces in the work, The Preface to Biographies of Chief Officers of Music showed the immortal literary value of The New History of the Five Dynasties with its process of canonization.

Ouyang Xiu; The New History of the Five Dynasties; biographical style; canonization; The Spring and Autumn; The Records of the Historian