Partial translations of the six schools:
The situation of people who have been emperors and kings since ancient times editing writings and classics has been detailed in "Shi Tong·Wai Pian·Ancient and Modern Official History" Introducing them. From ancient times to the present, the substantive content and external form have changed alternately; the creation of various historical books is not limited to the same style of historical books. After further discussion, we came to the conclusion that there are six schools of these history books: the first is called the "Shang Shu" school, the second is called the "Spring and Autumn" school, the third is called the "Zuo Zhuan" school, the fourth is called the "Guoyu" school, and the fifth is called the "Guoyu" school. It is called the "Historical Records" school, and the sixth is called the "Hanshu" school. Now I will briefly state the meaning of the six major schools, and list them later. The history book of the Shangshu genre originated in ancient times. "Book of Changes" says: "Dragon horses with figures on their backs appeared in the Yellow River, and gods with figures on their backs appeared in Luoshui. The saints imitated them to make gossip and characters." So we know the origin of "Book" for a long time. When Confucius arrived, he read "Shu" in the royal court of Zhou Dynasty and obtained the classics of Yu (Shun), Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, so he deleted the better parts and determined them to be "Shangshu" one hundred chapters. Kong Anguo of the Han Dynasty said: "Because it is a book from ancient times, it is called "Shang Shu"." "Shang Shu Xuan Ji Qian" said: "Shang means Shang. Signs of the changes in the sun, moon and stars dropped from heaven show the order of the seasons. The degree of change is like the movement of celestial bodies. "The three kings said: "What the king said was recorded by the historian below, so it is called "Shang Shu"." These three statements have different meanings. Probably the main meaning of "Shu" originally began with issuing orders; it was used to promote the legitimate principles of governing the world with benevolence and righteousness, and to issue remarks to ministers and subordinates. Therefore, what is recorded in "Shangshu" are all six aspects of writing: regulations, advice, admonitions, edicts, oaths, and orders. As for the "Yao Dian" and "Shun Dian", they directly describe personnel affairs; the "Yu Gong" chapter records geographical knowledge; the "Hong Fan" chapter summarizes disasters and auspiciousness; the "Gu Ming" chapter All the descriptions are about funeral rituals: these five articles are also impure parts of the historical record. There is another "Book of Zhou", which is similar in style to "Shang Shu", that is, Confucius deleted more than 100 chapters from Zhou Dynasty classics, totaling 71 chapters. Starting from King Wen of Zhou, King Wu of Zhou, and ending with King Ling and King Jing of Zhou. Most of them are strict, appropriate, practical and loyal, and their words are solemn and elegant, with upright principles; sometimes there are superficial and mediocre words, and dirty things are mixed together, probably as if they were added later by people who like to be meddlesome. As for the remarks in the "Zhi Fang" chapter, there is no difference from the records in "Book of Rites of Zhou"; the narratives in the "Shi Xun" chapter are mostly the same as those in the "Book of Rites·Yue Ling" chapter. These are classics and histories of emperors of all dynasties. They are separate collections of five Confucian classics, including "Poetry", "Book", "Li", "Yi", and "Spring and Autumn Annals". Since the decline of the Zhou Dynasty, the writing style of "Shu" has been abolished. Until the Han and Wei dynasties, there was no one who could inherit this style of history books. It was not until the Eastern Jin Dynasty that Kong Yan, the Prime Minister of Guangling and a native of Lu, believed that the history of the country was to commend speech and behavior and to clarify laws and regulations. As for the moral standards of life, common things were not worth enumerating in detail, so he deleted various historical records from the Han and Wei dynasties. For history books, select the beautiful words and phrases, well-founded words and content that can be used as reference, determine the order of their chapters, and compile them into an independent history book genre. From this, there were created "Han Shangshu", "Later Han Shangshu" and "Han Wei Shangshu", totaling twenty-six volumes. In the Sui Dynasty, Taiyuanren Wang Shao, secretary of the Sui Dynasty, also recorded the historical events of the Kaihuang and Renshou periods, arranged them in order, assigned them to each other according to categories, established their respective chapters, and compiled them into eighty volumes of "Sui Shu". When exploring the purpose and style of writing this book, we all use "Shang Shu" as the standard for imitation. Looking at the content recorded in the Book of History, it is like the dialogue between monarchs and ministers. If the meaning of the words can be praised, then the remarks of the moment will be recorded one after another; if the remarks are not worthy of recording, the words cannot be described, such as these past Even if some things are omitted or omitted, readers do not think this is wrong. After the middle of the Sui Dynasty, the literature and classics were greatly enriched. It was necessary to tailor contemporary historical texts and follow the compilation methods of ancient books. Recording things did not change the practice, but in principle it seemed to be a bit like waiting for the rabbit to follow the rules. Therefore, the "Shang Shu" style works such as "Han Shangshu", "Han Shangshu", "Han Wei Shangshu" written by Kong Yan cannot be circulated in society. As for the people who claimed to be emperors and kings without their own records, the lack of biographies of the three public officials and nine ministers would cause the order of the years and months to be lost, and it would be difficult to keep a detailed account of the officials, titles and villages. This was something that was ignored in the past but needs to be taken seriously today. For example, Wang Shao's "Sui Shu", although he wanted to imitate the Shang Shu, Zhou Shu, Yu Yu and Xia Shu, when examining the style of the book, it was actually the same as the Three Kingdoms Sui Shu. The "Confucius' Family Sayings" written by Liu Yiqing, the king of Linchuan, is similar to the "Shishuo Xinyu" written by Liu Yiqing, the king of Linchuan. It can be said that "the tiger is not painted but looks like a dog instead." Therefore, there is indeed a reason why Wang Shao's "Book of Sui" was ridiculed by people in the Sui Dynasty.
Two-body translation:
In the era of the Three Sovereigns and the Five Emperors, there were three books and five canons that recorded history. These are far away from the present time, and it is impossible to know the details of that time. The history from Yao and Shun to the Zhou Dynasty is recorded in the ancient text "Shang Shu". However, the society at that time was honest and simple, and written records were simple. If you wanted to have a complete system, there would of course be flaws.
Later, Confucius wrote "Spring and Autumn" and Sima Qian wrote "Historical Records". By this time, the style of historical books was complete. The subsequent works all follow each other, with slight modifications and title changes, and are limited in scope. How can there be anything that can surpass these two! Xun Yue and Zhang Fan were both chroniclers like Confucius, while Ban Gu and Hua Qiao were all chroniclers like Sima Qian. Only these two families can boast to each other and tell their pros and cons.
"Zuo Zhuan" lists the sun and the moon as the order, and the time as the order. Chinese and foreigners, what happened in the world at the same time, all described the events in detail. Explain the truth in one sentence without any repetition. This is its strength. And wise men and virgins, those who are talented and virtuous, and those who are involved in important events, will definitely examine them carefully and record them in detail. However, unimportant things and people who are not related to the governance of the country will not go against the right path and be recorded in detail. Some people, such as the old man in Jiangxian County and Qiliang's wife, were recorded because of their conversations with Jin Qing, and some were recorded because of their conversations with Qi Jun. There are virtuous people like Liu Xiahui and benevolent people like Yan Hui, but in the end their words and deeds cannot be recorded and revealed. Therefore, if the chronicle history books are meticulously recorded, they will not miss a single blade of grass; if the records are rough, then even the mountains will be ignored. This is its shortcoming.
The historical book "Historical Records" is used to record major events, and the legend is used to record minor events. It lists the dates and titles, summarizes omissions, records astronomy, geography, national canons, and court seals. Prepared, no loss of size. This is its strength. As for the same thing, it is recorded in multiple articles. The story is incoherent and appears many times before and after. The "Benji of Gaozu" says that it is recorded in "The Benji of Xiang Yu", and the "Benji of Xiang Yu" says that it is recorded in "The Benji of Xiang Yu". "The Chronicles of the Great Ancestor". And because they are arranged according to categories and do not distinguish between years, things that happened later are recorded at the front, and things that happened first are recorded at the end. This makes Jia Yi of the Han Dynasty and Qu Yuan of Chu State recorded together, and Cao Mo of Lu State and Lu State. Jing Ke of Yan State recorded it together. This is its shortcoming.
Comparing the results of the two, each has its own advantages and disadvantages. In the writings of Qian Bao of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, he praised Confucius and belittled Sima Qian. He said: Two hundred and forty years of history can be summarized in just thirty volumes of history, without omissions. Judging from his statement, is it convincing? Looking at the facts of the Spring and Autumn Period, only about one-third are recorded in Zuo Zhuan. Zuo Qiuming was aware of its simplicity, so he wrote "Guoyu" as a supplement. But there are still many omissions outside of "Guoyu". How can we say that it covers everything without missing anything? Moreover, Zuoqiu was a historian in the Ming Dynasty, and his style was all imitated in "Zuo Zhuan". Yan Junping and Zheng Zizhen in the early Han Dynasty, Guo Linzong, Huang Shudu, Chao Cuo, Dong Zhongshu's countermeasures, Liu Xiang, and Gu Yongzhi's petitions in the later Han Dynasty were all highly virtuous and well-known. Chinese and foreign, it has far-reaching meaning and talks about military and national affairs. Some of them did not interfere in government affairs because of their humble positions, while others were difficult to sort out because the articles were complicated and there were many things to do. It is okay to omit all of them; if there is some stinginess in the emotional aspect and there is no reduction, then there will be hundreds of volumes of "Hanshu" handed down to the world, and they will be listed in twelve chapters. Try as I might, I cannot explain them all. Therefore, Ban Gu understood this situation and set up chronicles to distinguish them, making them clear and visible, and the outlines and disciplines were different. Xun Kuang disliked its length and cumbersomeness, so he edited the history written by Ban Gu based on "Zuo Zhuan", totaling thirty chapters. It was praised by people of all ages and its achievements surpassed those of the original book.
However, the two styles of Ban and Xun compete with each other, and it is very difficult to abolish one of them. Later authors did not go beyond these two approaches. Therefore, the history books of the Jin Dynasty include Wang Yin, and Yu Yu supplements them with Qian Bao's "Jin Ji". The historical books of the Song Dynasty include Xu Yuan's "Song Book" and Shen Yue's "Song Book" plus Pei Ziye's "Song Lue". Each has its own advantages and prevails in the world. Qian Bao's remarks are just the opinions of one family.