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"Records of the Grand Historian", one of the twenty-four histories, was originally called "The Book of Taishi Gong" or "The Record of Taishi Gong". "Records of Taishi Gong" is a historical book written by Sima Qian, a historian of the Western Han Dynasty. It is the first general history of the dynasty in Chinese history. It records a history of more than 3,000 years from the time of the Yellow Emperor in ancient legend to the fourth year of Taichu of Emperor Wu of Han. In the first year of Taichu (104 BC), Sima Qian began the creation of the "Records of Taishi Gong", which was later called "Records of the Grand Historian". The work took 14 years before it was completed. [1-8]

The book "Records of the Grand Historian" includes twelve chapters (records the political achievements of emperors of all dynasties), thirty families (records the vassal states and the princes of the Han Dynasty, the rise and fall of the nobles), seventy biographies (records the words, deeds and deeds of important figures, mainly telling the ministers, the last one is the preface), ten tables (chronological tables of major events), and eight books (records various rules and regulations to record rituals, music, music, rhythm, calendar, astronomy, Fengshan, water conservancy, and wealth). The Records of the Grand Historian has a total of 130 chapters, with more than 526,500 words, more than 395,000 words more than "Huainanzi" and more than 288,000 words more than "Lüshi Chunqiu". "Records of the Grand Historian" is huge in scale, complete in system, and has a profound influence on the subsequent historical books of the dynasties. The official history of all dynasties has adopted this genre. [3][9]

"Records of the Grand Historian" is listed as the first of the "Twenty-Four Histories", and together with "Book of Han", "Book of the Later Han", and "Records of the Three Kingdoms", it has had a profound impact on the development of historiography and literature in later generations. Its first method of compiling historical history in the form of chronicles was inherited by the "official history" of the later generations. "Records of the Grand Historian" is also considered an excellent literary work and has an important position in the history of Chinese literature. It was praised by Lu Xun as "the masterpiece of historians, and the "Li Sao" without rhyme", and has high literary value. Liu Xiang and others believe that this book is "good at prefaces and reason, arguments but not gorgeous, and quality but not slang".[9]

The royal path in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty was abolition, and the Qin Dynasty destroyed ancient cultural classics, which led to the scattered and confused precious books in the Mingtang and stone chambers. After the establishment of the Han Dynasty, Xiao He revised the law, Han Xin declared military laws, Zhang Cang established the constitution, Shusun Tong determined the etiquette, and literary scholars with excellent character and academic performance gradually became more and more used. The ruined ancient books such as "Poetry" and "Book" were also constantly searched and presented by people who love literature in various places. [12][13]

Materials

"Records of the Grand Historian" is quite extensive. The "Shibition", "Mandarin", "Qin Records", "Chu, Han, Spring and Autumn", and other works, as well as materials obtained from field investigations, were all important sources of materials for Sima Qian to write "Records of the Grand Historian". What is particularly valuable is that Sima Qian made careful analysis and selection of the collected materials and eliminated some nonsense, such as not listing the Three Emperors without evidence, and starting the chapter of the general chapter with the Five Emperors, either using some questions that cannot be clarified, or using a doubtful attitude, or recording various statements. Because of the extensive material and the attitude of writing history, the "Records of the Grand Historian" records detailed and rich content. [9]

Creative process

Sima's family has been the Grand Historian for generations, sorting out and discussing history. "Book of Sui·Jingji" records: "Tan followed the "Zuoshi Spring and Autumn", "Mandarin", "Shibition", "Warring States Strategy", "Chu and Han Spring and Autumn", and took the story of his successors and formed a family's opinion." It can be seen that Sima Qian's father Sima Tan intended to continue compiling historical events after the "Spring and Autumn". Sima Tan was the Grand Historian and regarded the writing of history as his sacred mission, but unfortunately his ambition was not fulfilled. In the first year of Yuanfeng, Emperor Wu of Han held the Fengshan ceremony. As the Grand Historian, Sima Tan was not able to participate in the grand events of the world, which was introduced to lifelong

Unfortunately, I died of worries and anger. Before my death, I instructed my son Sima Qian and said, "Today, I will follow the rule of thousands of years and enthrone the Mount Tai, but I will not be able to follow the action. This is my fate! If I die, you must be the Grand Historian, and I will not forget what I want to write about..." Sima Qian replied, "You are not sensitive, please discuss the old news from our ancestors." It can be seen that Sima Qian followed his father's will to complete his historical works. "Records of the Grand Historian" was one of his eight books, and he saw that he followed the intention of his father's father. Sima Qian followed the Spring and Autumn Period and wrote "Records of the Grand Historian" in the first year of Yuanshou of Emperor Wu of Han.

Sima Qian's son inherited his father's aspirations and succeeded him as the Grand Historian. In his early years, he was learned from Kong Anguo and Dong Zhongshu, wandering around the country, understanding customs and collecting rumors. He first served as a doctor and was envoyed to the southwest. In the first year of Taichu (104 BC), Sima Qian began the creation of the "Taishi Gong Book", which was later called "Records of the Grand Historian". However, an accident occurred. In the third year of Tianhan (98 BC), Li Ling was defeated and surrendered to the Xiongnu. Sima Qian was arrested and imprisoned for defending Emperor Wu of Han.

In the Western Han Dynasty, even if the princes did not have a full version of the "Shi Gong Book" and King Dongping asked the court to reward the "Shi Gong Book" in the court, but was rejected. Because there were a large number of palace secrets in "Records of the Grand Historian", it was strictly forbidden to disclose the court language in the Western Han Dynasty, so only the palace personnel could access the book. When Emperor Xuan of Han Dynasty, Chu Shaosun, read the book in the palace, some of which were not open to the palace officials. When Ban Gu and his son, they claimed that there were ten chapters missing. Ban Gu's family was given a copy of the "Shi Gong Book" by the royal family, and there were also ten chapters missing.

The "Records of the Grand Historian" created by Sima Qian was widely spread, around the middle of the Eastern Han Dynasty. The Eastern Han court also issued an edict to delete and replenish "Records of the Grand Historian". "Book of the Later Han Dynasty·Biography of Yang Zhong" says that Yang Zhong "received the "Records of the Grand Historian" to delete more than 100,000 words" and shows that the Eastern Han Dynasty royal family was still unwilling to disclose all the "Records of the Grand Historian" and only let Yang Zhong delete it as more than 100,000 words after it was deleted. The "Records of the Grand Historian" which was only more than 100,000 words after it was deleted was lost after the Han Dynasty, and the "Records of the Grand Historian" that has been circulated since then is the "Records of the Grand Historian" which has been replenished. [9]

During the Tang Dynasty, due to the rise of the ancient literature movement, literati attached great importance to "Records of the Grand Historian". At that time, famous essayists Han Yu, Liu Zongyuan and others all particularly praised "Records of the Grand Historian".

After the Song and Yuan dynasties, Ouyang Xiu, Zheng Qiao, Hong Mai, Wang Yinglin, as well as the Gong'an faction of the Ming Dynasty and the Tongcheng faction of the Qing Dynasty all admired the writing style of "Records of the Grand Historian". The reputation of "Records of the Grand Historian" is increasing day by day, and books that comment on and evaluate "Records of the Grand Historian" are also constantly appearing. [16]

Addition

During the process of circulating, "Records of the Grand Historian" also entered other words and lost its original appearance. Some chapters or passages in the current version of "Records of the Grand Historian" were not written by Sima Qian, and there were obvious traces of supplementary fiction. For example, "Biography of Sima Xiangru" contains Yang Xiong's words that encouraged hundreds of people to be satirized by Yang Xiong, "Biography of Gongsun Hong" contains the words of "Biography of Emperor Ping of Han Dynasty" and "Biography of Jia Yi", "Biography of Jia Jia is the best to learn, and was listed as the nine ministers during the time of Xiaozhao, etc. For the supplementary writing of missing chapters in "Records of the Grand Historian", Pei Zhi in "Preface to Taishi Gong" in "Preface to the Grand Historian" by Pei Zhi
Chapter completed!