Zizhi Tongjian was the first ever grand chronicle completed in the Chinese history, compiled by Sima Guang and his colleagues. It recorded a total of 1362 years of history from 403 B.C. to 959 A.D. There are 294 volumes of books, 30 volumes of bibliography, and 30 volumes of Kao Yi. The chronicle gathered information from a broad scope of resources. Besides the official history books, it also collected information from over 320 history books of unofficial sources. In the first year of Zhi Ping (1064), Sima Guang compiled the initial 25 volumes of Linian Tu and presented to the emperor Ying Zong. In the next two years, he compiled five volumes of the History of Zhou and three volumes of the History of Qin, totalling eight volumes, based on an ancient record Shi Ji. Ying Zong was very pleased with them, and ordered a special bureau to be built, and provided funding and recruited more members to work on the chronicle. Sima Guang let Liu Ban compile the history of the Han Dynasty, Liu Su compile the history of Wei, Jin, and Nan Bei Dynasties, and Fan Zu Yu compile the history of Sui, Tang and Wu Dai Dynasties. At the end, Sima Guang integrated them together to complete the chronicle. His son Sima Kang did its collation. In the 7th year of Yuanfeng (1084), the chronicle was completed. Shen Zong bestowed its name Zi Zhi Tong Jian, and wrote its preface. Sima Guang started compiling the chronicle in 1066, and finished it in 1084, which is a time span of nineteen years.