The birth of Historical Records is an important event in the cultural history of China. In the Outline of the History of China Literature, Mr. Lu Xun praised Historical Records as "a masterpiece of historians, leaving no rhyme" to know what he said. As far as the specific development of China's historiography is concerned, Historical Records has contributed a lot.
First, establish an excellent general history genre. Historical Records is the first general history masterpiece in the history of Chinese historiography. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is the most brilliant achievement in the history of China's ancient historiography, or that it is the most brilliant achievement in the history of ancient world historiography. Just compare it with Herodotus' history, and it will be clear. It is because historical records can be understood.
Secondly, the independent position of historiography was established. In ancient China, historiography was included in the category of Confucian classics and had no independent status. Therefore, the books of the History Department are attached to the Spring and Autumn Annals in Liu Xin's Qilue and Ban Gu's Yiwenzhi. Since Sima Qian compiled Historical Records, the authors have written more and more specialized historical works. Thus, the Jin Dynasty. Part B records the martial arts of the philosophers, part C records the historical records of the emperors, and part D records the poems and songs praising them. Therefore, history has achieved an independent position in the academic field of China, and this achievement should be attributed to Sima Qian and his Historical Records.
Third, the literary tradition of historical biography has been established. Sima Qian's literary accomplishment is profound, and his artistic means are particularly ingenious. Often, he handled some extremely complicated facts very appropriately, methodically, far-sighted, knowledgeable, vivid in writing, refined in brushwork, full of emotion, vivid in writing and vivid in image, which made people "exclaim and applaud, somehow".
Historical Records is not only a master of China's historical biographical literature, but also its articles have exerted great influence on Wei and Jin novels, ancient prose in Tang and Song dynasties and even Song and Yuan operas, and become an important source of China literature.
Of course, the highest ideal of Sima Qian's compilation of Historical Records is "the change of ancient and modern Ming Dynasty, becoming a unified statement". Is to establish an all-encompassing system of historical philosophy. A deeper understanding is left to us to study Historical Records in detail.
The most exciting thoughts in Historical Records today mainly include four points: First, it shows a progressive national outlook. Sima Qian absorbed the viewpoint of the development sources of various ethnic groups in China and neighboring countries since the Warring States Period, and regarded the countries and ethnic groups in the Central Plains, Jingchu, wuyue, Qin Long, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, Saibei and Northeast China during the Spring and Autumn Period as descendants of the Yellow Emperor. This has played an inestimable role in the formation and stability of China's multi-ethnic friendly family for two thousand years. Moreover, when Sima Qian wrote that the Han Dynasty used troops against neighboring countries and nations, he always stood against belligerence, expansion and plunder. He pursues equality, friendship and harmonious coexistence of all ethnic groups. It is in this sense that Sima Qian was the oppressed of the Han nationality and surrounding ethnic minorities at that time.
Second, his progressive economic thoughts, including emphasizing the development of economy, think that economy is a strong foundation of the country; Oppose "emphasizing the foundation and restraining the end" in singles, and advocate equal emphasis on "industry", "agriculture", "business" and "danger"; Oppose political discrimination against businessmen, praise their skills and talents, and set up a monument for them.
Third, it is strongly democratic and critical. Historical Records is the epitome of pre-Qin culture, and Sima Qian is the inheritor and promoter of outstanding ideological personality of pre-Qin literati. He wrote Historical Records not simply to record historical traces, but specifically to "write a family letter", so Historical Records highlighted the ideal politics and ideal society pursued by the author, as well as its illumination on real politics and society.
The fourth is to carry out the heroic outlook on life, life and death and values in the book. Almost all the heroes praised by Sima Qian in Historical Records are brave in making progress and making contributions. They have ideals, ambitions and pursuits. They can sacrifice their lives for certain beliefs and principles; They all have a spirit of perseverance and never give up until they reach their goals. Sima Qian once wrote in "A Letter to Ren An": "People are inherently mortal, or they are heavier than Mount Tai or lighter than a feather, so it is different to use them." He suffered from imprisonment and was in great pain. In order to complete the historical records, he survived tenaciously. He thinks that "Wang Wen was arrested because of Zhouyi" and Zhong You wrote Chunqiu; Qu Yuan's exile is a tribute to Li Sao. Zuo Qiu is blind and has "Mandarin"; The ruler of the revised version of Sun Tzu's Art of War; It's not Shu, but Lu Lan. Han Fei imprisoned Qin, expressing embarrassment, loneliness and anger; There are 300 poems, which are generally attributed to the angry actions of sages. This person has a certain sense of stagnation, so he tells the past and thinks of new people. "Sima Qian's personal struggle experience and the thought of hard struggle praised in Historical Records are precious wealth left by Sima Qian to future generations, which will always inspire us and enlighten us. When we are discouraged and on the verge of despair,
Historical Records is China's first people-centered great historical work and China's first people-centered great literary work. From a historical point of view, Historical Records initiated the "official history" of China's two thousand-year-old biographical dynasties. From the literary point of view, Historical Records for the first time shows people colorful and individual historical figures, including emperors who shocked Qin Shihuang, Xiang Yu, Liu Bang and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. There are well-known courtiers such as Guan Zhong, Yan Ying, Xiao He and Sean; There are invincible stars such as Bai Qi, Han Xin, Wei Qing and Huo Qubing; There are reformers such as Wuqi, Shang Yang and King Wuling of Zhao. Other frugal types are Qu Yuan and Qin Wang; The oral debate types are Zhang Yi, Su Qin and Li Shiqi; Chivalrous types include Lu Zhonglian, Jing Ke, Zhujiajian Island and Guo Jie; Funny types include Chunyukun and Youfang. Among them, there are more than 100 that can impress readers.
The remarkable difference between the characters in Historical Records and those in pre-Qin literature lies in their distinct personalities. Because the author pays great attention to the specific situation of each plot and scene, and strives to realistically express the psychological character of each character, the description language of Historical Records and the dialogues he designed for the characters in his works are extremely wonderful. I think as long as we carefully put the relevant information about "the perfect man returns to Zhao" and "the return to Zhao" in Biography of Lian Po and Lin Xiangru and Biography of Jing Ke, if we analyze the dialogues about Xiang Yu, Liu Bang and Sean in Biography of Emperor Gaozu, we will be deeply fascinated by the author's superb ingenuity. In the biography of Emperor Gaozu, when Liu Bang and Xiang Yu were in Xingyang, Xiang Yu's men shot Liu Bang in the chest with arrows, and Liu Bang actually said,' I'm in my toes!' "This is a vivid portrayal of Liu Bang's extremely clever, quick and natural improvisation, and at the same time, he is" generous ",abusive and ridiculous! When Xiang Yu was besieged, he heard that the Han army was besieged on all sides at night. He "lamented and wrote a poem for himself, saying,' Pulling the mountain makes the world angry, and if it is unfavorable, it will not die. There's nothing I can do without dying. What can you do? Zhou Lianggong of Qing Dynasty said, "When was it injected? The princess died and her children were scattered, and the horse escaped. She was obsessed with Ozawa and didn't have time to write songs and poems! If there is a work, who will smell it and remember it? I said that people who use this number of words, no matter what, should be Tai Shigong's "pen-making" to convey his spirit on his behalf. "This statement can be said to reveal some important secrets of the literariness of Historical Records. It is also from these aspects that I say that Historical Records seems to have a leap-forward maturity in the method of shaping characters.
Another notable feature of Shiji literature is lyricism. Some works in Historical Records are short in length, but the whole work is like a poem, such as Biography of Boyi, Biography of Qu Yuan and Biography of a Ranger. However, the lyricism of a large number of chapters in Historical Records lies in the narration and discussion of the works. And strong love and hate feelings in narrative and description, such as Biography of Xiang Yu, Biography of Wei Gongzi, Biography of General Li, etc. The whole Historical Records is an ode to love, a curse of hate and a sad song full of the author's blood and tears. Lu Xun once said that Sima Qian "hated playing tricks on ministers, put his heart in ink and was ashamed of his life experience."
The appearance of Historical Records determines the basic pattern of China's ancient biography, such as taking history as a mirror in thought, which is enlightening; The form is short, emphasizing the expression of character, rather than the richness and completeness of materials and the delicate lyricism of language. However, the writing of characters and stories in Historical Records had a far-reaching impact on later novels and dramas in China. Many themes, many character paradigms, many plots and scenes in Historical Records opened the way for later novels and dramas.
As the first biographical literature, Historical Records is of world significance. In the past, Europeans took Europe as the center, and they called Plutarch in ancient Greece "the king of the world". Plutarch was born around 46 AD and died in 120 AD. He wrote 50 biographies (translated as "The Biography of the Greco-Roman Celebrity"), which is the beginning of European biographical literature. If we can find that Plutarch was born later than Bangu (32-92) 14 years, and later than Sima Qian 19 1 year. Sima Qian's Historical Records predates Plutarch's biography by almost two centuries.