“A Letter with a Salutation to a Respected Scholar”in Standard Script

Sima Guang was born in Xiaxian county, Shanzhou (today’s Xiaxian county, Yuncheng city, Shanxi province). His original courtesy name was Gongshi, but later he changed it to Yufu. He used the literary name of Yusou in his later years. He passed the Imperial Exam in the first year of the Baoyuan period under Emperor Renzong’s reign (1038), and was transferred, for several times, to the position of Rescriptor (daizhi) and Official Historian (shijiang) in the Emperor’s Book Cabinet (tianzhangge) and Head of the Advisory Council to the Emperor (zhijianyuan), etc. He was promoted as Auxiliary Academician (zhixueshi) in the Dragon Library (longtuge) in the second year of the Zhiping period (1065) under the reign of Emperor Renzong. He died of illness in the first year of the Yuanyou period (1086), and was conferred afterward by the Emperor with a Lord title called Wenguogong and a posthumous name Wenzheng. He was also awarded a gravestone bearing the Emperor’s handwriting “a man of eminent loyalty and integrity” (zhongqingcuide). Sima Guang was a productive writer, whose major works include The Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance (zizhitongjian) and An Essay Collection of Sima Guang (wenguowenzhengsimagongwenji).