南朝時期是史學發展的一個轉折點，欲對史學發展有所建構，應釐清此時期史學發展的概況。「本紀」是一代史事之大綱，吾人探討南朝史學，更應注重南朝四史本紀纂修的議題，以及其所衍生的相關問題，唯此類議題為近代學者所忽視，而無專文探討。本文關注於南朝四史，即《宋書》、《南齊書》、《梁書》、《陳書》四部正史本紀的書寫情況，對於現行版本中的本紀卷數，以及本紀目錄提出質疑。另對於南四史中本紀書寫體例，包括帝王世系、禪代之書法、《春秋》五始之書例、本紀後記等問題進行探討。南朝四史於帝王本系，均托依名門之後，為閱史者所見疑。對於禪代書法，均有避諱篡奪之惡行。本紀編年記事，開國前以年月記之，開國後則採「《春秋》五始」記之，而在帝王即位之書寫上，《梁》、《陳》二史書以廟號「高祖」，《南齊書》稱「上」，《宋書》無書，是「隱性敘事」，與他史不同處。至於「本紀後記」此一書寫區塊，是史家可以發揮之處，不必同編年體例逐條記載，而史家或載帝王之風采，或論荒主之穢行，《梁書》則多錄帝王之著作，此又其不同之處。

The Southern Dynasties is a turning point in terms of the development of historiography. To make theoretical arguments about the development of historiography, a scholar has to have a clear understanding of the history during this period of time. The Imperial Annals provide an outline for the historic records of a specific dynasty. Those who are committed to the exploration of the history of the Southern Dynasties have to emphasize the issues concerning the revision of the Imperial Annals of the Four Southern Dynasties and the derivative issues. However, such issues have been neglected by contemporary scholars and there has not been any monograph dedicated to these issues.This paper focuses on the writing, editing and compiling of the Imperial Annals of the Four Southern Dynasties, including Sung-shu, Nan-Ch'i-shu, Liang-shu, and Chen-shu (Imperial Annals of the Sung, Nan-Ch'i, Liang, and Chen Dynasties). The number of the existing volumes of the imperial historical records is questioned and the outlining of the Annals is explored in this paper. Besides, issues concerning the writing styles of the Imperial Annals such as recording about the lines of the royal descents, usurping of the throne, postscript about the previous dynasty, and ousting of the emperor are also probed. The royal families of the four dynasties all claimed themselves the lineal descendants of influential families, which raises a lot of suspicions from the readers. The writing styles about usurping of the throne are characteristic with embellishment. In terms of chronicling, only year and months were used in describing the history before the founding of the specific dynasty. After that, the style of "Spring and Autumn Wushi" (春秋五始) was adopted, which employed five elements to describe the inception of a dynasty, including the founding emperor, year, season, month, and ascending to the throne. However, when it comes to the titles of the individual founding emperor, the four dynasties addressed this great figure differently: "Gaozhu" (高祖) was used by the Liang-shu and the Chen-shu; "Shang" (上) was adopted by the Nan-Ch'i-shu. Yet; no title but implicit narration was given by the Sung-shu. Historiographers seemed to enjoy more freedom in the field of postscript about the previous dynasty. There were no strict styles for them to follow exactly. Some wrote about the appearance and elegant demeanor of the last emperor of the previous dynasty; others gave accounts to the indecencies of the ending emperor. The writing styles in this field varied greatly.