However, Comrade Sima Qian is a historian, not an archaeologist. Although the seal script in Qin and Han Dynasties is in the same strain as Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Ji in Shang Dynasty, it is very similar. However, the Western Han Dynasty had been away from Shang Dynasty for thousands of years, and Oracle Bone Inscriptions was scattered in the dust of history. People who specialize in this will not pay attention, and maybe they will be thrown away as waste if they accidentally pick it up.
Today, it is difficult for us to know whether there were any scholars who studied Oracle Bone Inscriptions in the Western Zhou Dynasty. Probably, there are some, maybe Sima Qian himself has some contacts. However, compared with the few unearthed Oracle Bone Inscriptions, the connection between them may be loose and not tight, and it is difficult to sort out coherent information. Suddenly, a single woman appeared, reading an incomplete novel with you, only one page, in which several dialogues of the protagonist appeared. God knows where he came from and what he did.
Sima Qian consulted a lot of materials when writing Historical Records, and through interviews and investigations, he integrated the dictation of elders all over the country, and finally chose a highly credible one to complete the compilation of Historical Records.
Historical records? At the end of Yin Benji, he also introduced the situation. According to legend, Yin Benji compiled the deeds of Qi (the ancestor of Yin Shang) according to the song of The Book of Songs. Since the formation of Tang, many historical materials have been collected from Shangshu and Shijing.
There are two articles about Wu Ding in Shang Dynasty in Ode to Shang Jun, namely Long Hair and Yanwu, which are praises of Wu Ding's victory in attacking Jingchu, while there is only one article about Wu Ding in Shangshu, which is the day of Emperor Gaozong. During the Spring and Autumn Period, there was no museum dedicated to collecting books and cultural relics. At that time, people wanted to compile a history book on the premise that.
After thousands of years of circulation, even the descendants of Yin Shang can't remember everything, just as we may not even understand who the ancestors of the five generations were. Of course, in ancient times, ancestor worship had a pedigree. However, there is probably only one name on the genealogy. During the Yin and Shang Dynasties, the possibility of recording his deeds was too low.
In the patriarchal society, the status of women has been declining. Not only Yin Benji, but also Zhou Benji did not record a woman in the Western Zhou Dynasty. First of all, there was almost no chance for women to play a political role in the society at that time. Secondly, there is too little information. Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties have a history of thousands of years. Only a few generations of monarchs who left deeds have been found out, and others have left names. What have they done all their lives? It's nothing.
How the Shang people lived, how they spoke, what cultural works they had, and what the political system was, were completely invisible to the Western Han people at that time. At that time, digging graves and digging earth was a heinous act for the ancients who valued their ancestors. It is said that it is impossible for Han people to find the tomb of Yin Shang, so they dug it up crazily, which further limited Sima Qian's knowledge of the history of Yin Shang.
Our understanding of history today is not only due to the historical materials handed down by the ancients, but also to archaeology, which complement each other. However, ancient historians only walked on one leg, relying on written records and rural legends handed down from generation to generation.
To sum up, we can't blame Sima Qian for not mentioning anything, but the information is insufficient. It is impossible to record the phrase "a good woman has a wife in Wuding" in Yin Benji. This is abrupt and amounts to discrimination. Why do you have to remember a good woman when you come to Wuding?
Moreover, ancient history books, such as Shangshu, were more for the political service at that time and found theoretical support from history. Many records in Shangshu are dialogue streams. In fact, what the ancients said was not entirely based on imagination and speculation.
If the above personal views are uncomfortable, I hope to stop immediately and don't comment from the devil.