Which is better, Li Ji, Zhuangzi, Lao Zi, Han Shu or other ancient books?

Of course, it is a history book, a swan song of historians, and a poem without rhyme.

The birth of Historical Records has made great contributions to the concrete development of China's historiography.

First, establish an excellent general history school. Historical Records is the first general history masterpiece in the history of Chinese historiography. It is no exaggeration to say that it is the most brilliant achievement in the history of ancient historiography in China, or that it is the most brilliant achievement in the history of ancient historiography in China in the world. This, as long as compared with the history of Herodotus, will be very clear. It is precisely because historical records can be written into a book, which sets a precedent and an example, so people who follow this genre to compile and edit history have begun. The style of general historians has always influenced the research and writing of modern historiography.

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, Liu Xin's Seven Outlooks and Ban Gu's Records of Literature and Art both attached the books of the History Department to the Spring and Autumn Annals. Since Sima Qian compiled Historical Records, there have been more and more specialized historical works. Therefore, in order to meet the new requirements, Xun Xu in Jin Dynasty divided the ancient books into four parts: Part A recorded the Six Arts Primary School, Part B recorded the martial arts of various schools, Part C recorded the historical records of emperors, and Part D recorded poems. As a result, historiography has gained an independent position in the academic field of China. Thinking about the source of drinking water should be attributed to Sima Qian and his Historical Records.

Third, the establishment of the literary tradition of historical biography. Sima Qian's literary accomplishment is profound, and his artistic means are particularly ingenious. Often, some extremely complicated facts are handled in a very proper and orderly manner, and then they are far-sighted, knowledgeable, vivid in words, tempered in brushwork, full of feelings, handy and vivid in image, which makes people "exclaim and clap their hands, I don't know why." (The Beauty of Rong Zhai's Essays and Historical Records)

However, it must be pointed out that due to the limitations of the times and classes at that time, the author's view of history was idealistic, which also affected the historical authenticity and comprehensiveness of his works to some extent.

The establishment of Historical Records as the first biographical literature is of world significance. In the past, Europeans took Europe as the center, and they called Plutarch in ancient Greece "Biography of the king of world". Plutarch was born around 46 AD and died in 120 AD. He wrote 50 biographies (translated into Greek and Roman biographies), which was the beginning of European biographical literature. If we compare Plutarch in the ancient history of China, we can find that Plutarch was born 14 years later than Bangu (32-92) and 19 1 year later than Sima Qian. Sima Qian's Historical Records predates Plutarch's biography by almost two centuries.

Historical Records is a monument in the history of Chinese historiography and China literature. Both history and literature have a wide and far-reaching influence on ancient novels, plays, biographies and essays. First of all, on the whole, Historical Records, as China's first large-scale work mainly describing characters, provided an important foundation and various possibilities for the development of later literature. Although there are real people in the history written in Historical Records, they are actually typed out by the method of "seeing each other", that is, highlighting some main characteristics of people, comparing different people and making up the details. In the early literature of all nationalities, there is such a phenomenon, which is a way for human beings to know themselves through artistic means. It's just that the original typed characters in China literature appear in historical works, and the situation is quite special. Therefore, Historical Records established many important prototypes for China literature. In later novels and dramas, emperors, heroes, chivalrous men, officials and many other characters evolved from the characters in Historical Records.

In terms of novels, besides the types of characters, its genre and narrative style are also obviously influenced by Historical Records. China's traditional novels are mostly in the name of "biography" and developed in the form of biographies, with the beginning and end of biographies, always taking the life of the characters as the context and unfolding the plot in strict chronological order, often with the author's direct comments. All these important features mainly come from historical records.

In drama, Historical Records, with its dramatic stories, vivid characters and sharp conflicts, naturally became a treasure house for future generations to draw materials from drama. According to Fu Xihua's Catalogue of Complete Works of Yuan Zaju, there are more than 180 zaju based on historical records. According to the statistics of Li Changzhi, among the existing 132 Yuan Zaju, there are 16 stories based on Historical Records. Among them, The Orphan of Zhao is a masterpiece with world influence. There must be more similar works lost. In the later Peking Opera, there are still many historical records, such as Farewell My Concubine, which is well known.

In biographical literature, due to the biographical style of Historical Records inherited by later generations, a large number of biographies of historical figures have been produced. Although the literariness of later history books is not as good as that of Historical Records, there are a large number of them, and if you extract excellent biographies, it is also very impressive. In addition, other biographies, family biographies, epitaphs and other biographical forms are also related to the biographical literature tradition initiated by Historical Records.

Although "Historical Records" is "when no one studies it, we can learn from the changes of ancient and modern times and become a unified statement", which has created various precedents in history and is also a well-known literary masterpiece, but the most dazzling highlight of "Historical Records" lies in its civilian position. Before Sima Qian's Historical Records, the so-called history was just the history, glory and peace of the vassal family. In Sima Qian's Historical Records, the emperors who thought they were superior were shameless, violent, hypocritical and cowardly. Despite all kinds of shortcomings and deficiencies, Xiang Yu, the overlord of Chu who committed suicide in Wujiang River, was an indomitable hero. Chen Sheng, a civilian, used to farm in the fields. He is not only an out-and-out plowman, but also a hero with lofty aspirations. It was he who first rose up against the tyranny of Qin. While the orthodox literati sneered at the prodigal son in the Jianghu, Sima Qian was full of praise for Jing Ke, Tang Ju and other prodigal rangers and their spirit of love, kindness and hatred, and was fascinated ... This is how Historical Records treats, writes and comments on history from the standpoint, perspective and emotion of civilians, thus giving history a true and amiable face for the first time and giving people dignity worthy of respect for the first time. Song Xiang, a poet in Qing Dynasty, once said, "There is a poem about Longmen in history." The folk spirit revealed in Historical Records reappears in Du Fu's immortal poems, which has become the source of strength for later generations.

Historical Records is an epoch-making symbol in the history of China. It is a masterpiece of "studying the relationship between man and nature, blending the changes of ancient and modern times and becoming a family statement". This is also an extremely valuable contribution of Sima Qian to China culture, especially 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 (104-10/year ago), comprehensively describes the political, economic and cultural development of China from ancient times to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty for three years, which is a great summary of the ancient history of China.

Due to the limitation of the times, Sima Qian also has some shortcomings and deficiencies in Historical Records. For example, there is a mysterious thought of "destiny", a disaster, and a historical cycle theory. When discussing the reasons why Qin was merged into the world, the Preface to the Chronology of Six Kingdoms pointed out that this was the result of "God's help". The Chronicle of the Emperor Gaozu has the color of "three-series circulation theory", which holds that "if the strategy of the Three Five Principles is circular, it will start all over again". In the Book of the Official, when describing various special natural phenomena, it is often associated with personnel, showing more mysterious thoughts of disasters. These show that Historical Records still has not got rid of the influence of the theological thought of "the connection between man and nature" when studying the relationship between man and nature, and so on.