List of early sources

The Book of the Later Han (Hòu Hàn shū 後漢書) is an official Chinese history work compiled by Fan Ye 范曄 in the fifth century, using a number of earlier histories and documents as sources. It covers the history of Later Han from 25 to 220 AD. The book is part of early four historiographies of the Twenty-Four Histories canon, together with the Records of the Grand Historian, Book of Han and Records of the Three Kingdoms.

The Annals of the Later Han (Hòu Hàn jì 後漢紀) is a Chinese history work written by Yuan Hong 袁宏 in the fourth century. Most of the Hou Han ji has not survived intact. The original version served as the base for the fifth century work Hou Han shu.

The Records of the Three Kingdoms (Sānguó zhì 三國志) is regarded as the official and authoritative historical text covering the Three Kingdoms. It was written by Chen Shou 陳壽 during the third century, the work combines the smaller histories of the three rivalling kingdoms. The work was annotated by Pei Songzhi 裴松之 in the fifth century, making it three times longer than the original.

The Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government (Zīzhì Tōngjiàn 資治通鑒) is a Chinese historiagraphy. Emperor Yingzong of Song ordered the historian Sima Guang to lead with other scholars the compilation of a universal history of China. The Zizhi Tongjian exposes Chinese history from -403 BCE to 959 CE, covering 16 dynasties and spanning across 1363 years.