Sima Qian (former 145- former 87? ), the word Long, Zuo Fengyi, was born in xia yang (now Hancheng, Shaanxi). His father, Sima Tan, was knowledgeable and cultivated. He used to "learn from Tang Dou, learn from others and learn from Huang Zi". He once criticized Confucianism, Mohism, Ming, Fa, Yin and Yang in the article Essentials of Six Classics, and praised Taoism in an all-round way, which shows that he was deeply influenced by the popular Huang Lao thought at that time. Sima Tan's clear thinking and critical spirit in this paper will undoubtedly inspire Sima Qian's later works for the pre-Qin philosophers, and will also have an impact on Sima Qian's thought, personality and attitude towards learning. After Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty ascended the throne, Sima Tan made an imperial edict and moved to Chang 'an for the convenience of going to court. Before that, Sima Qian's "farming day", that is, helping his family to do some farm work, probably also learned the popular writing at that time-official script. After he went to Chang 'an with his father, he also studied "ancient prose" (such as "Wen Shu" and "ancient prose" in Shuowen), and learned the "spring punishment" of Yang Gong School from Dong Zhongshu, a master of Confucian classics at that time. Make up for it? what do you want to do? what do you want to do? BR> Sima Qian began to roam at the age of twenty. This is what he wrote in Historical Records? As the preface to Taishi Gong said: "Twenty years later, I traveled south to Jianghuai, arrived at Huiji, explored the cave, became suspicious, and floated in Yuanxiang. In the north, I was involved in Siwen, talking about the capital of Qilu, watching the legacy of Confucius, shooting Zou Yi in the hometown, trapped in Xuepeng City, Hubei Province, and crossing Liangchu to return. " After returning, "being an official is a doctor"; There is also "please ask me to travel west to the south of Bashu, slightly south to Qionglai, Sichuan and Kunming". Later, due to Liang Wudi's attendance, he traveled more places. These practical activities enriched Sima Qian's historical knowledge and life experience, broadened Sima Qian's mind and vision, and more importantly, brought him into contact with the economic life of the broad masses of the people and realized their thoughts, feelings and wishes. This is of great significance to his later work Historical Records.
In the first year of Yuanfeng (before 1 10), Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty made an east tour to worship Mount Tai. The feudal ruling class thought it was a golden opportunity. Sima Tan stayed in Luoyang due to illness and was unable to attend. He is anxious and angry, and his life is at stake. At this time, Sima Qian came back from the southwest, and he left his ideal and desire to write history to Sima Qian. Sima Qian said with tears: "The boy is not sensitive, please know the old news of your ancestors, don't dare!" Three years later, Sima Qian succeeded Taishiling, and he treated his position with great enthusiasm. "I don't know what the guest knows, but I died in my family business, thinking hard day and night, seeking relatives and flattering the Lord." And began to read and sort out historical materials in the "Golden Chamber and Stone Room", that is, the National Library. After four or five years of preparation, in the first year of Taichu (before 104), he presided over the work of changing the Zhuan Xu calendar from the Qin and Han Dynasties to the Xia calendar, and then he began to inherit the works of Spring and Autumn Annals, that is, to formally write Historical Records and practice his father's legacy of writing articles on the world. Sima Qian was forty-two years old this year.
When Sima Qian was absorbed in writing, a catastrophe befell him. In the second year of Tian Han (99 BC), Li Ling resisted the Huns and surrendered, which shocked the court. Sima Qian believed that Li Ling's surrender was out of temporary helplessness, and he would definitely find opportunities to repay the Han Dynasty. Just when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty asked him what he thought of this matter, he told him his own thoughts. Emperor Wu was furious and thought it was lobbying for Li Ling, so as to attack Li Guangli, the general of the Second Division. Sima Qian was convicted in this way. Tian Han went to the silkworm house for three years and was "spoiled". This is a great destruction and shame for him. He thought of death, but he also thought that his writing was not finished and should not be lighter than death. He finally saw his way out from the experiences of sages such as "Xi Bo was demoted to Zhouyi, Zhong You wrote the Spring and Autumn Annals, Qu Yuan was demoted to Li Sao, and his eyes were blind and his Mandarin was lost", and he was determined to "endure all his life" and fulfill his great dream of writing. After he was released from prison, Sima Qian was promoted to secretariat. Although his name is higher than Tai Shigong's, he is just a "dismissed official" and a "famous prostitute", just like an official, so it is easier to arouse his memory of being humiliated. He "sweats every time he thinks of shame." However, his writing career gained more strength from this, and his anger and grievances about his unfortunate experience were revealed in several pages of historical records. In the fourth year of Taishigong (93 BC), Sima Qian said in a letter to his good friend Ren An: "There are 130 articles in the world that are trapped by incompetent words, so we can test them and check their success or failure." It can be seen that the book Historical Records has been basically completed at this time. Since then, his deeds have not been tested, and he probably died in the last years of Emperor Wu. His life is similar to that of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.
Sima Qian accepted Confucianism and consciously inherited Confucius' career, and regarded his works as the second Spring and Autumn Annals. But he did not recognize the exclusive position of Confucianism, and he also accepted the influence of hundred schools of thought, especially Taoism. There are materialistic factors and critical spirit in his thoughts, especially because of his own experience, which increases his resistance. Ban Biao and Ban Gu accused Sima Qian that "right and wrong are absurd to saints: talking about the avenue, Huang Lao first, then the six classics; Speak in a narrow order, and return Chu Shi to the adulterer; When it comes to colonization, you should feel ashamed and humble ",which just shows that Sima Qian's thought stands higher than many of his contemporaries, which some feudal orthodox literati can't understand." It is from the accusations of these feudal orthodox literati that we see the important aspects of Sima Qian's progressive thought today.
Historical Records is an epoch-making symbol in Chinese history. It is a masterpiece of "studying the relationship between man and nature, understanding the changes of ancient and modern times, and getting married". This is an extremely valuable contribution of Sima Qian to our national culture, especially to history. The book includes biographies, tables, books, aristocratic families and biographies, with a total of 130 articles and 526,500 words. In addition to Qin Benji, Benji describes the political traces of the emperor, the supreme ruler of all dynasties; "Table" is a simple memorabilia in various historical periods, which is the connection and supplement of the narrative of the whole book; "Book" is the beginning and end documents of individual events, which describe the development and present situation of astronomy, calendar, water conservancy, economy, culture and art respectively, similar to the special history of science in later generations; Family mainly describes the history of nobles and princes; Biographies are mainly biographies of people of different types and classes, and there are also a few biographies describing the ruling history of foreign and domestic ethnic minorities. It is through these five different styles and their mutual cooperation and supplement that Historical Records has formed a complete system. Its chronicle, from the Yellow Emperor to the early days of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty (104-1kloc-0/), comprehensively describes the political, economic and cultural development of China from ancient times to the third day of the Han Dynasty, and is a great summary of the ancient history of China.
Besides historical records, Sima Qian's works include Han Shu? Yiwenzhi also recorded eight pieces of Fu, and today there is only one piece of Fu for Hurting People and the famous piece of Letter to Ren An. Bao Ren An Shu expressed his painful feelings of being determined to endure humiliation and filth in order to finish his works. It is an important material to study Sima Qian's life thought and an excellent prose full of emotion. Hurting people without meeting Fu is also a work of the author in his later years, which expresses his anger that he is unwilling to be "ignorant" after being punished by corruption.
Section II Literary Value of Biography of Historical Records
Historical Records initiated the history of China's biographical style and China's biographical literature. A series of historical figures written in Biography, Family and Biography not only show the author's high generalization and superb knowledge of history, but also vividly show the broad picture of social life through the activities of those figures, show the author's critical spirit of history and reality, and show the author's sympathy for the oppressed and exploited people and the unfair struggle enthusiasm for the insulted and damaged people. Therefore, for more than two thousand years, Historical Records is not only a model for historians to learn, but also a model for writers to learn.
Historical Records is a biographical literary masterpiece with strong popularity and militancy. First of all, it exposes and satirizes the ugly faces of the feudal ruling class, especially the ruling group and the supreme ruler of the Han Dynasty. Sima Qian's writing about Liu Bang, the ancestor of Han Dynasty, did not obliterate his role in unifying the Chu-Han dispute and establishing a great country, but it also did not let go of exposing his hypocrisy, cunning and rogue qualities. In order to avoid being hurt, Sima Qian had to write those absurd legends in Biography of Gaozu, and write him as a sacred figure who was ordered to be emperor. However, in Biography of Xiang Yu, through the sharp contrast with Xiang Yu, he wrote his cowardice, meanness and incompetence. Before the Battle of Gaixia, Liu Bang was almost always in a position of being beaten and humiliated. The following two fragments more truly describe his rogue and cruel face.
..... Hanwang is fleeing with dozens of riders ... Road meets filial piety, Yuan Lu, is a line. Chu rode after Hanwang, and Hanwang quickly pushed him out of the car. Teng Gong often receives it, and if it is true, the third son said, "Although it is urgent, you can't drive it away, why abandon it!" So I had to leave. ...
At this time, it was very painful to abandon the land and deprive Chu of food. For Gao Yi's sake, he put Taigong on it and said to Hanwang, "Don't worry now, I'll cook Taigong." Hanwang said, "Xiang Yu and I are both under the command of King Huai Bei, saying that we are' about brothers'. If I were an Weng, I would cook and be an Weng, so I am lucky to have a piece of the action. "
Others, such as Liu Bang's lust for money in Left-behind Houjia, Liu Bang's suspicion of heroes in Small Family, and the story of Huaiyin Houzhuan condemned Liu Bang's crime of killing heroes, saying that "a cunning rabbit dies, a running dog cooks; High birds are exhausted, good bows are hidden; When the enemy is defeated, the adviser dies ",which is the truth that this feudal society can be * * * painful but not * * * happy. It is through these descriptions that the author reveals Liu Bang's true mental outlook, thus erasing some sacred praises made in this subject. The author also expressed his grief and disgust at the violent rule of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. There are five people in Biography of Officials, including Sun Shuai and Zheng Zichan, who are not from the Han Dynasty. However, Biography of Corrupt Officials is written by Han people, among whom, except Jingdi Zhi Dou, the other nine people are executors of the violent rule of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. Zhang Tang, who was "deceitful and controlled people by dancing", was most trusted by Emperor Wu. In prison, he is good at making excuses and completely depends on Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. Du Zhou is also the same role. When someone asks him, "You are the Emperor of Heaven, you don't follow the three-foot rule, but treat people's ideas as a prison. Is the prisoner so solid? " Du Zhou replied, "Three feet away? The former owner did the law, and the latter owner did the law. What was the law at that time? " Here Sima Qian thoroughly exposed the hypocrisy of the so-called law in feudal society and pointed out that it was only a tool for rulers to kill people at will. The biography of the cruel official also reveals the crime of murder by the ruler. When Zong Yi was appointed as the magistrate of Dingxiang, he "killed more than 400 people in one day, and then the whole county trembled". When Wang was the magistrate in the river, he captured the "luxury" in the county and sat in more than a thousand houses; Within two or three days, there was a mass slaughter, "until it bled for more than ten miles." The custom of Han dynasty is not to kill people in spring. Wang stamped his foot and said, "Well, the winter moon show in January is enough for me!" " In this regard, Sima Qian said angrily: "It is good at killing and threatening, and does not love others!" This is the just voice of the people. Although brutal officials also cracked down on strongmen, they mainly suppressed the people. When writing about these brutal officials, the author often points out that "he thinks he can", which is obviously intended to express his irony and indignation at Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. Historical Records also describes the complex and sharp contradictions within the ruling stage. The most famous one, such as Biography of Hou Wei An, describes the intrigue between the two generations of consorts of Hetian Powder and their mutual destruction. In this way, the author further exposed the cruel and tyrannical nature of the ruling class and expressed his profound criticism of reality.
Sima Qian not only boldly exposed the evils of the feudal ruling group, but also enthusiastically described the uprising and resistance of the oppressed people. In the biography of the cruel officials, the author described the resistance of the broad masses of the people, and said: "Since Wen Shu and others treat evil as the rule, while the county magistrate, a captain and a vassal want to treat it, their treatment is generally mild and comfortable. And the officials and the people despise profits because of breaking the law, and thieves start. Nanyang has Mei Mian, Bai Zheng, Chu You, Du Shao, Qi You Xu Bo, You, Fan Sheng. A large group of thousands of people attacked the city without authorization, took soldiers from the library, released the death penalty, bound and humiliated the county satrap and a captain, killed two thousand stones, and took pleasure in the county. There are hundreds of thieves, and countless people rob Luzhai. " Although these rebellions were suppressed by the rulers, they were not eliminated. Soon, "those who reunite with the party to close mountains and block water often live in groups and have no choice." From these accounts, we can see that Sima Qian sympathized with the people's uprising and resistance, and he admitted the rationality of "officials forcing the people to rebel". Based on this understanding, Sima Qian warmly praised the peasant uprising in the late Qin Dynasty. In "The Chen She Family", he described in detail the process of Chen She uprising and the revolutionary situation in which troops were assembled to respond, and pointed out the justice of the peasant uprising. This paper analyzes the root causes of their failure and affirms their immortal achievements in promoting historical progress. I think, "I lost my way, and Tang Wu succeeded;" Zhou lost his way and wrote the Spring and Autumn Period; Qin lost political power and made a fortune. The princes are difficult, the wind is steaming, and the Qin family is dead. And heaven remains our neighbourhood is self-involved. " He even wrote "Biography of Xiang Yu" with extremely full emotions, and the heroic image of Xiang Yu's heroic and fearless destruction of violent rule left a deep impression on readers. Although the author criticized Xiang Yu for "praising his merits and demerits, striving for his personal wisdom without forgetting the past" and "trying to rule the world by force", he pointed out the reasons for his inevitable failure. However, he is still regarded as the central figure in the Qin and Han dynasties and deeply sympathizes with him. He said: "In three years, Qin destroyed five princes, divided the world, established princes, and made the court overlord. Although the position is not over, it has never been seen since ancient times! " Sima Qian's enthusiastic praise for the people's resistance to violent rule, and his arrangement for Chen She and Xiang Yu in Home and Ji respectively, fully demonstrated his outstanding ideological opinions and enthusiasm for saving the people. This is an ideological height that later feudal orthodox historians could not reach.
The popularity and militancy of Historical Records are also manifested in recording the lower-class figures who are not accepted by the official history and being able to give them a certain evaluation from the perspective of the oppressed and exploited people. "Ranger Biography" wrote that Zhujiajian Island "started from poverty"; Write Guo Jie's "Life-saving, no merit". In the warm praise of the noble characters such as "keeping promise", "action with results" and "keeping promise without caring for the body", the people in feudal society expressed their good wishes to get rid of the insulted and damaged situation. Biography of the Assassin describes Jing Ke's heroic behavior of being fearless and dying, which is so vivid and tragic. In our view today, the assassin's personal violence can't really solve any substantive political problems. However, under the long feudal dark rule, the chivalrous spirit of the assassins who sacrificed themselves for others and resisted violence was epic, which to some extent hit the arrogance of feudal violent rule, just like a bright star in the night sky, giving people encouragement and hope. The author enthusiastically said: "This meaning may or may not be successful, but its intention is quite natural. Don't cheat your ambition, and your name will be remembered in future generations. It's all wet! "
Historical records also wrote a series of patriotic heroes. The Biography of Lian Po and Lin Xiangru highlights Lin Xiangru's brave and resourceful heroic character and the noble quality of "taking the country as a priority and taking private as an enemy" through the narration of historical plots, such as all going to Zhao, making alliance with Mianchi and making friends with generals. In Biography of Wei Gongzi, the author used 147 "Gongzi" to tell the story of Xin's "Corporal Ren", not only because this Gongzi really put down his noble airs, "welcomed the scholar himself" and "swam from the scholar to the pulp seller", but more importantly, because he did so, he finally got the help of wanderers and public guests and rebelled against the State of Qin. Biography of General Li is also an article written by the author. "If you don't see me, the battlefield is bitter. My present name is Li, and I will be a famous soldier through the ages." "If you only make Longcheng fly, don't teach tigers and horses to cross the Yinshan Mountain." Li Guang, a famous soldier in the Han Dynasty, has been admired by people for thousands of years. His achievements in defending the frontier of the motherland, his extraordinary courage and fear of the enemy are deeply engraved in people's hearts through Tai Shigong's pen. However, Li Guang's life was spent under the oppression of the nobility. The author deeply sympathizes with his tragic ending of "killing himself with a knife", and at the same time reveals his feelings about his unfortunate experience, thus effectively exposing and attacking the repressed talent view of the feudal ruling class. The author not only wrote Li Guang's achievements in defending the motherland and fighting bravely, but also wrote his qualities of caring for soldiers and loving the people:
Guang Lian, you must be rewarded for your work, diet and scholarship. In the end, I have been a man of two thousand stones for more than forty years, and there is no money left at home, so I have nothing to say about my family. ..... General Guang, he is short of the key point. When he sees water, his foot soldiers don't drink or go near it. The foot soldiers don't eat all the food, nor do they taste all the food. Generosity is not harsh, and scholars use this philharmonic.
Because of this, when Li Guang was forced to commit suicide, "the scholar-officials in Guang Jun cried. When the people heard it, they all cried. " Through these descriptions, the author not only shows that generals should cherish their own soldiers, but also tells them that only by sharing weal and woe can they defeat the enemy and defend the motherland.
In a word, the ideological content of Historical Records as biographical literature is rich and profound: on the one hand, it exposes the incomparable ugliness of rulers and their minions and draws their true colors; On the other hand, it expresses the people's thoughts, feelings and wishes, praises the uprising and resistance of the people and their leaders, and patriotic heroes and chivalrous men who saved people from danger, and shows the revolutionary tradition and fine quality of our great nation, which is still of positive significance today.
The ideological significance of Historical Records is inseparable from the author's meticulous conception and superb writing skills. As a historical work, Historical Records faithfully recorded historical facts, so Liu Xiang, Ban and his son all called it a "factual record". However, on the basis of "real record", the author created vivid characters, showed the important characteristics of characters' thoughts and personalities, and had a strong artistic appeal, which was the main feature of the biography of Historical Records and the author's originality.
How did Sima Qian write characters under the principle of historical truth? Let's take a look at his sentence in "A Family Leaving Hou": "It is easy to say that there are many things in the world, so it is not the world, so it is not. "This shows that the author doesn't have to record everything, but has a choice. On weekdays, Sean and Gaozu talked a lot about what's going on in the world, but only wrote those events that have a great relationship with the survival of the world, which shows his personality characteristics. Writing other characters is no exception, that is, only writing important things that can express the characteristics of characters. There are also such words in "Stay at Houjia": "Language is in Xiang Yu" and "Language is in Huaiyin"; Other articles often have such words. This is the "mutual understanding method" pointed out by predecessors. Sima Qian's application of this method is very complicated, some have noticed it, and some have not. It not only passively avoids the repetition of narrative, but also actively uses information to serve the characteristics of prominent characters. For example, Biography of Xiang Yu focuses on many important events and highlights his arrogant and furious personality. Although the author belittles his behavior in his praise, warm praise and deep sympathy are the main things. This reflects the integrity of Xiang Yu, a historical figure. In this chronicle, the author did not criticize Xiang Yu's personal shortcomings and military and political mistakes too much, but put it in the biography of Hou Huaiyin revealed by Han Xin, which neither damaged Xiang Yu's heroic image, but also showed Han Xin's extraordinary talent and insight. In this way, through the selection, tailoring and concentration of historical materials, Sima Qian not only made many biographies correctly reflect their activities and functions in history, but also highlighted their thoughts and personalities and expressed the author's love and hate.
The characters in Historical Records are rich and vivid, not only because of Sima Qian's choice and arrangement of materials, but also because he used various methods to express the characters' ideological character and characteristics. When writing biographies, the author tries to avoid general narration, but grasps the main events and describes the activities of the characters in detail to make them stand out. Saving Zhao Cunxu is an important event in Xin's life, but the Biography of Wei Gongzi does not describe much about his political and military activities in this event. The focus of the description is how he interacted with Hou Ying, the supervisor of Yimen, and Zhu Hai, the butcher, and the story of "swimming from a pulp seller". Through the concrete description of these stories, his character of benevolence, courage, faithfulness and urgency is highlighted. In particular, it is worth mentioning that Ling Jun welcomes Hou Sheng himself:
His son is a guest at the wine purchasing conference. Sit quietly, childe since the car ride, empty forget, since meet Yimen Hou Sheng. Hou Sheng photographed our clothes and uploaded them directly to the childe's seat. He refused to let us see the son. The more respectful you are to your son. Hou Sheng called the son again and said, "I have a guest in the city, and I would like to ride for nothing." When his son brought the car into the market, Hou Sheng saw his guest Zhu Hai and asked him to stay for a long time and talk with the guests to test his son. The more harmonious the color of childe is. By now, the imperial clan of Wei was full of guests, waiting for his son to bring wine. Everyone in the city looked at his son's attitude and scolded Hou Sheng for not riding a horse. Hou sheng looked at the color of the child unchanged, thanked the guest and got on the bus. At home, the son led Hou Sheng to sit there and praise the guests, who were all surprised. When the wine was finished, the son got up to serve him before he died. ...
The author describes the new Ling Jun from different angles. He wrote that Hou Sheng was supercilious and went straight to the childe's seat. Hou Sheng deliberately stayed in the city for a long time to observe the childe. People in the city respected the childe, and the childe secretly scolded Hou Sheng from the rider, which surprised the guests. Through the different reflections of these different characters, the attitude of the new humble corporal is more and more prominent, which makes us feel immersive. Sima Qian is also good at expressing characters' personality characteristics through trivial matters, such as The Story of the Cooler, which wrote a story about Zhang Tang's childhood:
His father is Ancheng in Chang 'an. Go out, give the children soup and watch the house. Also, while rats steal meat. His father was angry and made soup. Dig a cave with soup, steal rats and leftover meat, rats are plundered, books are circulated and news is reported. Take rats and meat to prison. When his father saw it, he took his words as an old jailer and was frightened. So he put the book in prison.
Although this is a childhood game, it vividly highlights Zhang Tang's cruel character. Another example is a passage in uncle Zhang's biography:
The Story of the Stone was built according to the doctor's advice, and the book plays things. At that time, it was built and read: "Wrong book! The word' horse' and the tail are five, but now there are four, and one is missing. I was sentenced to death! " Very scared. It is cautious, even though he is. Wan's youngest son celebrated as a servant. Yu Chu, how many horses are there in the car? Qingce counted the horses, raised his hand and said, "Six horses." Celebration is the simplest and simplest among philosophers, but that's it.
Through these details, the author wrote the stone family's resolute character and the mood of following the king like a tiger. Others, such as "Stay at Houjia", write about wearing shoes for the elderly; The Biography of Huaiyin Hou wrote about Han Xin's humiliation; "Biography of Li Si" wrote that when Li Si was young, he sighed when he saw rats and hamsters in the toilet. These are all examples of depicting characters with trivial matters. These are the storytelling methods used by Sima Qian to express the characters. This method avoids the flattening of narrative and makes the characters have touching artistic power.
In order to express the characters, Sima Qian also pushed the characters to the forefront of contradictions and conflicts through many scenes of fierce struggle, so that the characters showed their respective advantages and disadvantages and personality characteristics in the fierce struggle. The Hongmen Banquet in Biography of Xiang Yu is very representative. Before the Hongmen banquet, the two armies of Chu and Han almost merged, and the Chu was strong and the Han was weak. Liu Bang and Xiang Yu met at this time, and the struggle was quite fierce. The author expresses the characters through this face-to-face struggle. Liu Bang's cowardice and wit, Xiang Yu's frankness and lack of strategy, as well as other characters' personalities, such as Fan Zeng, Sean, Fan Kuai and Xiang Bo, all have good performances because of their different attitudes in this struggle. Another example is the two scenes in The Biography of Hou Wei, the drinking ceremony and the debate in the East Palace, which are also well written. The former describes people's different attitudes towards Tian Fan, Dou Ying and Guan Fu at the banquet, which not only describes the bleak world of aristocratic society, but also well shows the different personalities of these characters: Tian Fan's reserve and arrogance after he gained power, Dou Ying's embarrassment of making friends with the authorities after he lost power, especially Guan Fu, who was unhappy at first, then angrily criticized him, and finally evolved into a direct conflict with Tian Fan, which fully showed his "integrity and honest and frank". Emperor Wu was furious and retired to the harem, which fully showed the hypocrisy and tactfulness of sophisticated bureaucrats. Story-telling techniques and the use of tense scenes make the biographies of Historical Records full of waves, and the characters have their own characteristics, such as seeing and hearing people, thus becoming a classic combining history and literature.
Historical Records also has great creation in the use of language. From the literary point of view, its greatest feature is that it is good at expressing characters' expressions, attitudes and personality characteristics in spoken language that conforms to their identities. Both Liu Bang and Xiang Yu have seen Qin Shihuang. From the feelings they expressed, we can see their different personalities: Xiang Yu said, "You can replace him!" " "The tone is extremely frank, and you can imagine his strong and straightforward character; Liu Bang said, "Wow! A gentleman should be like this! "Euphemism twists and turns, just shows his insatiable character. The Chen She family wrote Chen She as the queen, and Chen She's old partner saw his palace and said, "Hey! Participating in Wang Shen. " "Yi Gang" is a dialect in Chen She's hometown, which has many meanings. It is used here to describe the richness and variety of Chen She Palace furnishings; "Heavy" is a description of the profoundness of the palace, and it also vividly shows the simple character of farmers in an amazing tone. In the Biography of Prime Minister Zhang, the author also wrote about his stuttering and his anxious and angry expression. There are some dialogues in Historical Records, which show the characters' different personalities and mental states at that time. The paragraph about Mao Sui's self-recommendation in Biography of Ping Yuanjun shows the different identities and personalities of Ping Yuanjun and Mao Sui, especially Mao Sui's sharp and lively answer and the confession of "please enter the bag", which is really "heroic and heroic, and it is conceivable that it is awe-inspiring and admirable" (Volume 5 of Five Records of Hong Mai Rongzhai). Historical Records often quotes folk songs, proverbs and common sayings in narration and narration. Because they came into being and spread among the people, they summed up the vast social life, and they are a kind of pithy and combative and expressive language, which makes the language of Historical Records richer and more vivid, and effectively expresses the author's criticism of historical events and figures. For example, Huainan Hengshan Biography quoted folk songs, and Wei Qiwu Anhou Biography quoted Yingchuan children's songs, satirizing the ruling class; "Biography of General Li" quoted a proverb: "Don't talk about peaches and plums, learn from others" to show that good people don't need to sell themselves, and they will naturally gain the respect of others. In addition, such as "the son of a thousand women does not die in the city" and "the world is bustling, all for profit; All the noise in the world is for the benefit (the above biographies). Those who combine their rights and abolish their rights (Zheng) and those who are blinded by interests (biographies) are profound expositions of old customs and habits in the old society, which will help readers understand history and people. Finally, it should be pointed out that the language of Historical Records is so-called classical Chinese rather than vernacular, but it is a written language refined and processed on the basis of spoken language at that time, which is quite close to the language at that time. Moreover, in order to make those incomprehensible ancient books understood by ordinary people, Sima Qian often changed the words that had become rigid or unclear into ordinary and easy-to-understand languages when quoting ancient books. Because of this, until today, Historical Records is basically readable.
The position and influence of Historical Records in the history of literature
Historical Records is a great historical work and a masterpiece of biographical literature. It plays a connecting role in the history of China's prose development.
Although the feudal ruling class regarded Sima Qian as a deviant figure and regarded Historical Records as a "slanderous book", they could not stop the spread of Historical Records or cancel its influence. Although Ban Gu made a lot of derogatory remarks about Sima Qian from the standpoint of feudal rulers, he could not help but admit that Sima Qian had a "talent for good history", that is, his narrative ability of "being good at distinguishing things, not flashy, qualitative but not vulgar", and he could not help but praise his spirit of recording. Almost all historians and essayists below class admire Sima Qian, trying to "see what he means without making a judgment" like Sima Qian (Record of the Day, Volume 26). Many heroes were praised in Historical Records, such as Xiang Yu, Xin, Hou Ying, Lu Zhonglian and Lin Xiangru. It also had a spiritual influence on later generations, especially the feudal scribes. They admire these heroes in history and are encouraged. For example, Li Bai, a great poet in the Tang Dynasty, quoted ancient chivalrous men as his tone more than once in his poems, hoping that he could do something for the country and the people like them.
Judging from the writing methods and writing styles, many writers' works have benefited from Historical Records since the Han Dynasty. Zheng Qiao said that "under one hundred generations, historians should not change their laws, and scholars should not abandon their books", which is applicable to both history and literature. Since Hanshu, the so-called "official history" has been inherited from Shiji in genre and form. In terms of literary creation, such as legends after the Tang Dynasty, strange stories from a strange studio and other novels, they are all directly or indirectly influenced by Historical Records. Since the Tang and Song Dynasties, ancient writers have been familiar with Historical Records. Known as "the decline of eight generations of literature", Han Yu highly praised Sima Qian and regarded the articles in Historical Records as literary norms. His works such as Introduction to Zhang Zhongcheng and Biography of Mao Ying are obviously based on the biographies of Historical Records. Ouyang Xiu was a great essayist in Song Dynasty. He won the charm of Historical Records with his concise and fluent prose and the characteristics of singing in Han Dynasty. The style of his Biography of Lingguan in the Five Dynasties is different from that of Historical Records. Boyi Biography is very similar. However, when ancient China writers objected to the rigid form or difficult style of writing, Historical Records often became their flag. Han Yu in the Tang Dynasty, Liu Zongyuan and Gui Youguang in the Ming Dynasty were all the same.
Historical Records also has a certain influence on the creation of popular novels and operas since the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The biographies in Historical Records are concise and vivid, which have been circulated among the people for thousands of years and are well known by the broad masses of the people, providing a good reference for popular novels and drama creation. In particular, some of its artistic techniques, such as expressing characters' personalities through their actions and dialogues, avoiding lengthy and static narratives, paying attention to the twists and turns of stories and concise and vivid language, etc. Undoubtedly, they were absorbed and developed by excellent novel creation later. Biographies in Historical Records have played a great role in the formation of the traditional style of China's classical novels. As for novels or plays adapted from historical records, there are many, such as Stealing Symbols to Save Zhao, Chu Chunqiu, Heart of A Qin and so on. These stories are still widely circulated and loved by the broad masses of the people.