自唐代史學家劉知幾提倡斷代史，主張史書應具有「斷限」觀念之後，歷代正史著作，多遵守此觀念，將跨越時代的人物歸入後朝的史書。清代史學家趙翼整理魏晉時期史書後，於其著作《廿二史劄記》則提出了不同的看法：為了說明事蹟之始末或是表揚氣節，史家對跨時代的人物，即使之前史書已有著錄，在編寫正史之時可以彈性的予以「一人二史」。因此「一人二史」屬於趙翼不同於清代史學家的歷史編纂理念。

In Tang Dynasty, the historian Liu Chi-ji initiated divisional history and suggested the concept of “Duan Hsien” in history books. Thus, books of authorized history have followed the concept and they allocated the characters in different times in history books of the following dynasties. In Ching Dynasty, the historian Chao Yi reorganized history books of Wei and Jin Period, and proposed different view in his The Notebook of Twenty-Two Histories: in order to describe the origin of the events or praise the sprit, regarding the characters in different times, even though recorded in previous history books, the historians editing authorized history can develop flexible “one person, two histories”. Thus, “one person, two histories” is Chao Yi’s editing concept of history different from historians in Ching Dynasty.