"Being happy with sorrow and happy with things" is Ban Gu's evaluation of Sima Qian.
Ban Gu, a writer and historian of the Eastern Han Dynasty, made the following evaluation of Sima Qian, a writer and historian of the Han Dynasty, in "Hanshu·Yiwenzhi": "Sima Qian, with a long courtesy name, was very manly in his articles and dared to express joy and sorrow. It happened because of the incident, so his ambition is Min Ya, which can be said to be the best." Ban Gu believed that Sima Qian's articles were full of manly spirit. He had the courage to express his emotions, whether they were sadness or joy, he could express them deeply.
This shows that Sima Qian's articles are not only rich in emotion, but also have high literary value. Ban Gu's evaluation of Sima Qian also reflected the trend of literary aesthetics at that time, which emphasized the expression of moral character and the authenticity of emotions in literary works.
Introduction to Ban Gu’s literary achievements:
1. Fu writing
In addition to "Han Shu", Ban Gu is also an outstanding fu writer. His creative activities It is mainly reflected in his personal promotion of Sanfu. His representative work "Liangdu Fu" is a large-scale, unique, outstanding achievement and the most influential among the works based on Duluo and Duyong (i.e. Chang'an). This chapter greatly developed Kyoto Fu and directly influenced the creation of Zhang Heng's "Er Jing Fu" and Zuo Si's "Sandu Fu", which was listed as the first chapter in Xiao Tong's "Selected Works".
2. Poetry
Ban Gu was an early literati in the Eastern Han Dynasty who created five- and seven-character poems. He recognized these two emerging poetry styles and made useful attempts. To a large extent, Ban Gu wrote five- and seven-character poems in the style of a historian, all of which were mainly narrative and written in a plain and simple way. Although his five-character poem "Ode to History" is "literally wordless", it is the earliest complete five-character poem by a literati in existence. It is also the first true epic poem in the history of poetry, launching the title of "Ode to History".