The equidimensionalism of graphs, that unique feature of the Chinese system of writing, the syntactical structure of the Chinese language with its wondrous terseness always amenable to judicious dilation through the optional use of particles and expletives, and the traditional addiction of Chinese stylists to rhythmic parison, all these make colometry an important adjutory in the textual criticism of Chinese historical sources. A colometrical survey of texts extending over the millenium from Han to Sung, particularly that of shorter essays and of the introductory parts of longer historical accounts where the writers took special pains to array their material, reveals that Chinese historiographers had a tendency to calibrate their statements and align their data in cola of three typical lengths: the minimal, of I6 to 20 characters (henceforth referred to as M), the normal, of 21 to 25 graphic units (abbreviated N; columns of 22 and 24 characters were distinctly favored), and the oblong, of 26 to 33 characters (abbr. 0). Closed syntactical units with a low count of characters (less than I6 in number, (abbr. L) appear to be rare, serving chiefly as necessary complements to bring paragraphs to a desirable standard length, and should always be tested as to possible affiliation with dicolic or tricolic periods nearby, or else closely scrutinized as suspected interpolations or membra disiecta. Our survey which covered literally hundreds of passages of crucial historiographical importance convinces us that isocolometrical analysis is an almost absolute prerequisite to all formal interpretation and translation of a text.