From Shu service to Jin scholarship
Chen Shou, courtesy name Chengzuo, came from Anhan in Baxi and studied under Qiao Zhou. The Book of Jin records his service as a library official in Shu and his refusal to accommodate the powerful eunuch Huang Hao. After Shu's fall he spent several years without advancement before Zhang Hua recommended him for Jin office.
Appointments included work in the historical bureau and service as magistrate of Yangping. The biography also describes friction with Xun Xu, a proposed transfer to Changguang and Chen's refusal on account of his elderly mother. His career depended on court patronage as well as scholarship.
Editing documents and compiling history
In 274 Chen submitted an edited collection of Zhuge Liang's writings to the Jin court. His accompanying memorial explains that he removed repetition and arranged the material by subject into twenty-four sections, including military orders, legal matters and correspondence. The memorial evaluates Zhuge's administration and the practical purposes of his prose.
Chen also completed sixty-five chapters on Wei, Shu and Wu. According to the Book of Jin, contemporaries praised the work during his lifetime. After his death in 297, a petition prompted the court to have officials copy the manuscript kept by his family.
Judgment and later controversy
His assessment of Zhuge Liang praises impartial government and compares him with Guan Zhong and Xiao He, while questioning his military adaptability after repeated unsuccessful campaigns. This combination of admiration and reservation generated a long controversy.
The Book of Jin introduces a personal-grudge explanation as hearsay. Wang Jiachuan and Fan Jianzeng's 2019 study traces its transmission and argues that later writers often dropped that qualification. Their interpretation emphasizes the full biography and Jin political circumstances rather than treating private revenge as an established cause.