MUZIChinese Matrix
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Southern Liang historian styled Jiyuan from Wenxi in Hedong, great-grandson of Pei Songzhi and author of the Song Lue.
In a study at night, a desk holds a brush pot, a porcelain vase with a plum branch, a lit red lantern, a folded fan and an unrolled blank scroll, with no one seated there, while through a round window the moon rises over a lake with a sailboat.
Also known as Jiyuan
Pei Ziye, courtesy name Jiyuan, came from Wenxi in Hedong and was a Southern Liang historian, great-grandson of Pei Songzhi; with his grandfather Pei Yin and father Pei Zhaoming he is counted among the 'Three Peis of historiography'. He served the Southern Qi, then under the Liang held posts including magistrate of Zhuji, and in 527 became Minister of State Ceremonial, dying in office in 530. His twenty-juan Song Lue on the rise and fall of the Liu Song is lost, though parts are preserved in the Zizhi Tongjian.
Northern and Southern
Pei ZiyePei Ziye began as attendant in the household of the Prince of Wuling of Qi and then adjutant to the Prince of Jiangxia. He served concurrently as deputy for judicial affairs, then as bureau director and records secretary, and as Compiler took charge of the national history and court diary. He also acted as Drafting Official in the Secretariat, moved to Minister of Ceremonial, and commanded the Infantry Colonels.
Pei Ziye wrote the Song Summary in twenty fascicles, covering the dynasty from start to end, and by imperial order compiled the Lives of Monks in twenty. His prose was classical and quick, with no taste for ornate diction; it often followed ancient models and differed from current style, so some criticized it at first, but in the end all came to value it.