"Historical Records" is a biographical history book written by the Western Han Dynasty historian Sima Qian. It is the first biographical general history in Chinese history. It has 130 chapters and about 500,000 words. It records the Yellow Emperor's era from the ancient legend to the following. The history of more than 3,000 years from the fourth year of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to the beginning of the Han Dynasty is a historical work that will shine through the ages. It can be called a "historical double wall" with "Zi Zhi Tong Jian".
Sima Qian worked hard and took fourteen years to complete this historical masterpiece.
"Historical Records" is listed as the first of the "Twenty-Four Histories", and together with "Hanshu", "Houhanshu" and "Three Kingdoms" are collectively called the "First Four Histories".
In addition to enjoying a high status in the field of history, "Historical Records" is also considered an excellent literary work. It was praised by Lu Xun as "the swan song of historians, the unrhymed "Li Sao"", with Very high literary value.
In Chapter 10 of "Outline of the History of Chinese Literature", "Sima Xiangru and Sima Qian", Lu Xun put the two Sima together and gave a beautiful review.
The chapter begins: "The literati during Emperor Wu's time were more likely to write poems than Sima Xiangru and write articles like Sima Qian. One of them was lonely, and the other was punished. Those who admired their talents in literature were often unruly and unwilling to meet the heroes. The master's intention is that he is often inferior to ordinary literati."
In the middle, there is: "His father (Sima) also admired Huang Lao, so although "Historical Records" is based on Confucianism, it can also reflect his old career. That's it... I hate being a jester, I put my heart into the ink, I feel the humiliation of my life experience, and I pass it on to people for thousands of years. Although I betray the meaning of "Spring and Autumn", it can still be regarded as the swan song of the historian, the rhymeless "Li Sao" ."
"The historian's swan song, the blank rhyme "Li Sao", has made almost everyone remember "Historical Records" and its lofty status in historiography. The "historian's swansong" in Lu Xun's writing is not necessarily "none after him", but from the perspective of Sima Qian who was tortured, physically disabled and strong in spirit, and worked hard to write books, he can be regarded as a historian. The last song is the rhymeless "Li Sao".
During the Qin and Han dynasties, Qu Yuan, Song Yu and others were of the poetry school, while the various schools of thought were of the prose school. Poetry focuses on expressing emotions, while prose focuses on elaborating opinions. Obviously, Chu Ci is more literary and can be said to be the peak of pre-Qin literature. The works of various schools of thought seemed to be slightly inferior to Chu Ci in terms of literary attainments, until the advent of "Historical Records".
In "Outline of the History of Chinese Literature", Lu Xun focused on emphasizing the literary value of "Historical Records", but also used a contradictory dialectical point of view to talk about Sima Qian's limitations in writing history based on the actual situation. This limitation obviously has a certain impact on historical works. Lu Xun described it like this in the article: "I hate being a jester, I feel the humiliation of my life experience, and I will pass it on to people for thousands of years, even though I betray the meaning of "Spring and Autumn"..."
He To "carry the meaning of the Spring and Autumn Annals"? I think a little more interpretation of "Spring and Autumn" is needed here.
"Spring and Autumn" written by Confucius is my country's first chronological history book and one of the "Six Classics" of ancient Chinese Confucian classics. The language used to record events in "Spring and Autumn" is extremely concise, and almost every sentence contains a connotation of praise or criticism. It is called "Spring and Autumn Writing Style" and "Small Words and Great Meanings" by later generations. Later, many books appeared that supplemented, explained, and elaborated on the history recorded in "Spring and Autumn", which were called "Zhuan". "Spring and Autumn" is China's first history book, which can refer to history. "Spring and Autumn" is actually "historical justice". Chinese tradition believes that great righteousness exists in history, and great righteousness must rely on history to exist and be carried by historical events.
Regarding the meaning of "Spring and Autumn", Sima Qian expressed it as follows in "Tai Shi Gong's Preface": "Spring and Autumn distinguishes between right and wrong, so it is good at governing people. Therefore, "Li" is used to restrain people, and "Le" is good at governing people. To promote harmony, "Book" uses Taoism to express things, "Book of Changes" uses Taoism to express ideas, "Book of Changes" uses Taoism, and "Spring and Autumn" uses morality...Those who are ministers and do not understand the meaning of "Spring and Autumn" will surely fall into trouble. The punishment of usurpation and murder is the crime of death... If the husband does not understand the rules of propriety and justice, as for the king who is not the king, the minister who is not the minister, the father who is not the father, and the son who is not the son, then he will be punished, and if the minister is not the minister, he will be punished. "If a father is not a father, then he is unruly, and if a son is not a son, then he is unfilial."
If, as Lu Xun said, it goes against the meaning of the Spring and Autumn Annals, I think it is true. Understandable. Here, we have to refer to the background of Sima Qian's creation of "Historical Records". When he was writing "Historical Records", he offended Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty by interceding for his colleague Li Ling. He was imprisoned and sentenced to severe punishment. "He hated being a jester, devoted his heart to Chu Mo, and felt the humiliation of his life experience." After he was released from prison, he continued After writing for more than ten years, he completed his masterpiece.
In such a historical background, it is understandable that Sima Qian was deeply humiliated and had some opinions about the court or king at that time, and that this emotion was integrated into historiography.
The author feels that through Sima Qian's interpretation of the meaning of "Spring and Autumn" in his preface, it seems that there is some doubt about the feudal hierarchy hidden in his writing style. He cannot directly point out right and wrong, but can only It was expressed cryptically with pen coming and going.
Just like Mr. Lu Xun’s pen, in realistic literary works of flesh and blood, we can see the ideas of hope and progress shining and shining...