Is there a historian system in China where emperors can't look at the history of dynasties?

The ancient historiographer system in China originated very early. Liu Tang's confidant said, "The official who made history is still here. Yesterday XuanYuanShi ordered, Cang Xie, bow. As for the three generations, the number has gradually increased. " There were historians when the Yellow Emperor was born, which is of course a legend. However, there is reliable evidence that at least in Shang Dynasty, China had a system of historians and official history. Oracle Bone Inscriptions has the names of Zuo Ban, Shi, Yin and other historians. Shangshu Duoshi means "Only the ancestors of the Yin Dynasty had books", and it also refers to the official system of recording and preserving documents at that time. In the Western Zhou Dynasty, there were more and more historians, and names such as Taishi, Zhong Shi and Neishi appeared. Not only did Zhou have a history museum, but some vassal States also set up history museums. "Zuo Zhuan" recorded the enfeoffment of princes in the early four years of Zhou Dynasty, saying: "Lu Gonglu, Qi ... Tutian accompanied Dun, Zhu, Zong, Bu, Shi, prepared materials and strategies, and sued Iraq ... Tang Shu parted ways, drumming with dense beard, quegong, Gu Xi, and Huai Jiu's five senses." It can be seen that at the beginning of the enfeoffment of Shandong and Jin, Zhou Tianzi appointed historians for them. In the Spring and Autumn Period, Guo, Wei, Zhu, Qi, Zheng and Song also had an official history, Qin had an internal history, and Chu had a left history, thus forming a historian system in the whole Huaxia region from the Zhou Dynasty to the vassal States.

The responsibilities of ancient historians are very extensive, but recording historical events is undoubtedly one of their basic tasks. "Guoyu Chu Yu" contains: "It is a historical dereliction of duty not to write." In the seventh year of Zuo Zhuan, the public said that "the meeting of the husband and the king, its moral etiquette, no country does not remember." "Book of Rites" also has "history as a pen, big books as a strategy, and small things as simplicity"; "Actions are left to history books, words are left to history books" and so on. Historical Records of Qin Benji also recorded the 13th year of Qin Wengong (753 BC) as a major event to show its importance.

With the development of the chronicle system of historians, a number of historical documents, genealogies and official histories compiled by historians appeared in the pre-Qin period. The earliest collection of historical documents in China, Shangshu, mostly contains important documents and political comments preserved by historians in previous dynasties before the Spring and Autumn Period. Some records mentioned in Historical Records, spies in Spring and Autumn Annals, and Shi Ben should also come from official revision. As for Zheng Zhi mentioned in Zuo Zhuan, Chu Yao, Jin Cheng and Qiu mentioned in Mencius Li Lou, Qi, Yan, Song Chunqiu mentioned in Mo Gui Pian, and Chronicle of Six Kingdoms in Historical Records. Although many of these documents were lost due to the incorporation of Qin into the six countries, we can still get a glimpse from a few historical books that have been handed down to this day, such as Spring and Autumn Annals compiled according to the history of Lu and Bamboo Records compiled by Wei during the Warring States Period.

Although the records of early historians are only simple historical records and chronological arrangements, rather than history in a strict sense, they have left important documents for future generations to study ancient history (some of which should belong to the records of the parties or witnesses). Modern scholar Wang Guowei and others confirmed the reliability of Yin lineage and deeds in Sima Qian's History of Yin Ji based on Oracle Bone Inscriptions unearthed in Yin Ruins, so the historical authenticity in Xia Benji cannot be ruled out. Gu Jiegang and others think that Shi Gan, the pledge of the battle with Hu, included in Shangshu, "is probably an important ancestral motto of Xia Dynasty? Fix it? Huh? Is the latitude tip of the swamp beautiful and narrow? Uncover? Times? In this process, we can't ignore the role of early historians.

It should be pointed out that in ancient times, this system of official chronicles was not unique to China. For example, in the ancient Egyptian court, there were scribes who recorded every move of the government or nobles and made simple official revised chronologies and emperors' tables. In ancient Babylon and Assyria, there are official forms to record the emperor's name, representative year, canon of the same name and synchronous history. Relevant contents in the Bible also reflect the history of royal families in ancient Jewish countries since Solomon, such as A Brief Introduction to Solomon and A Brief Introduction to Kings of Israel. However, due to various reasons, the official news traditions of these ancient oriental countries all ended halfway. In the history of ancient Greece, it is difficult to find traces of this system. Only the ancient historiographer system in China has survived for thousands of years.

Judging from the development of China's history, the historiographer system has become an important source of China's historiography and has been continued because it has a deeper cultural and political background.

There are indications that at the beginning of the formation of ancient China, the wizard group once occupied a very special position in the ruling class. Witchcraft used to be very popular in ancient China, but it continued to this day in the Zhou Dynasty. In the Xia Dynasty, this was especially true for the adherents of Yu, Xia and Yin and the people of Southern Chu. At that time, witches were regarded as people who could "know people's life and death, live a long life, live a long life without borders, and the years are like gods". People who presided over sacrifices, divination, prayer, exorcism, blessing and avoiding disasters, predicting abundance and regret, and treating diseases all had their specialties. Some people are also responsible for preserving and spreading the historical legends of their own tribes. For example, in the past, some wizards of Yunnan Nu people in China were able to skillfully recite the myths and legends of their tribe and the genealogy of their family history, which is an obvious example. In some places, with the development of witchcraft, there are signs of hierarchical differentiation within wizards. According to the investigation data of Yunnan ethnic minorities in China, in areas where witchcraft was prevalent in the past, wizards were divided into "Nima Ren" (the great wizard) and "Nima Cheney" (the wizard). Both of them have high and low social status and income, and all important activities involving clans and village communities are organized by Nimaren. Among the wizards of Dulong, the one who presides over clan ancestor worship and divination is called Namsa, and the one who specializes in exorcism is called Domsa. The former has a higher social status, and some are the leaders of clan villages, while the latter is slightly second. Wizards of Wa nationality are also divided into different sizes. The big one presides over the big sacrifice, and the small one can only preside over the small sacrifice. During the Spring and Autumn Period, witches in the State of Chu were also divided into different sizes, mostly men and mostly women.

Witches represent the authority of primitive religion and ghosts and gods, so they naturally become an extremely important force in early human society. The initial state power was composed of military leaders whose position was gradually consolidated at the end of primitive society and spiritual leaders represented by wizards. Of course, these people who first became dignitaries of the national spirit should mainly be great wizards, and their knowledge and skills later directly evolved into the official temple culture of the early countries, such as the "official historian culture" which was dominant in China during the Three Dynasties. Some young wizards who specialize in exorcising evil spirits and treating diseases, as another branch of witchcraft culture, have long been popular among the people and sometimes used by rulers. This can be said to be the earliest diversion of local culture in China. The process of the wizard group's integration into the early state system took the road that the unique religious and theological forces in ancient China were constantly melting away and attached to secular politics. At the same time, it naturally extends the tradition of "respecting ancestors and valuing history" into the soul and mainstream ideology of the whole ruling group. Wizarding groups have a tradition of attaching importance to preserving tribal legends and historical knowledge. Therefore, after entering the official system, he naturally took charge of court documents and notes, and thus developed into a historian's note system.

With the complexity of state machinery and official etiquette system, the internal division of labor is becoming more and more detailed. By the end of Yin Dynasty and the beginning of Zhou Dynasty, names such as Zhuzong, Sect, Bu and Shi had been derived. Its functions also tend to be complicated, not only in charge of religious affairs, but also in direct praise of politics, such as issuing orders, attending league meetings, inviting questions, publicizing politics, and even military affairs. According to Records of the Historian Yin Benji, Wu Xian and Wu Xian played an important role in politics in the early Yin Dynasty. According to "Zhou Li Chun Guan Zongbo", historians of the Zhou Dynasty are divided into five histories: the big one, the small one, the inner one, the outer one and the imperial one. But at that time, historians were mentioned together with witch officials, belonging to the same system. As far as its status is concerned, it is highly respected. In case of major state affairs, the Emperor of Zhou or governors of various countries should consult historians in order to learn from the history of the previous generation. "Mandarin Zhou Yu Shaogong's admonition and slander" said: "Therefore, the emperor listened to politics and made officials and ministers offer poems, songs, books, lessons, poems, admonitions and words, and the officials made up for them." "Chu Yu Zuo Shi Yi Shen Xiang Gongzi Pill" also said: "There are historical lessons in activities and teachers in banquets. History does not lose books, but it does not lose books, so as to exercise it. "For aristocratic education, familiarity with history books and anecdotes is an indispensable element. For example, Duke Mourning of Jin asked Sima Hou to recommend a person who was "virtuous and righteous" to be the teacher of the prince's watch, and Sima Hou immediately recommended him a sheep tongue who was "accustomed to the Spring and Autumn Period". When I asked Uncle Shen about educating the Prince, I got the answer: "Teach him in the Spring and Autumn Period, but try to persuade him to get rid of evil for him;" "Teach the world, to show virtue, abandon the faint, not afraid of its movement; Teach poetry, guide it to show virtue, in order to show ambition; The gift of teaching lets you know that top-down training ... the purpose of teaching is to make those who know how to waste and make money afraid; The precepts of teaching make you know how to compete and act beyond righteousness. " In these teaching contents, historical knowledge obviously occupies a large proportion, which shows that in the minds of ancient state rulers, history is closely related to political activities. It is this profound tradition of attaching importance to history that provides a solid foundation for the long-term survival of the ancient historiographer system in China.

It should also be mentioned here that, in terms of its original meaning, the historian's note-taking system established in ancient China not only systematically records and preserves historical documents, but also undertakes the responsibility of supervising the supreme rule. Since the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, officials of the witch history system must have comprehensive knowledge in astronomy, geography and humanities due to special professional requirements. Under the condition of underdeveloped social culture at that time, the regeneration of such talents was generally realized through the accumulation of generations of witch history families and the inheritance between father and son, which made them form a special and unique official system in the Qin government. In addition, the ruling class at that time generally developed a deep awareness of attaching importance to historical records. Historians and their professional functions are respected by the imperial court and society, and they are in a position that others cannot arbitrarily replace them. Even if the original historian is dismissed, his successor can only be selected from the system of witch historians and even their families, which provides certain conditions for them to supervise their words and deeds through the "straight book" of historical events regardless of the authority of the rulers. Historically speaking, after Cui Yao of Qi Qing killed Zhuang Gong in the Spring and Autumn Period, he was angry because the aligned brothers insisted on the straight book "Cui Yao killed Qi Wang" one after another, and killed three more people, but he still failed to force the other side to yield, and finally had to give up the idea of tampering with historical facts. After the murder of Duke Ling of Jin, Dong Hu, the Taishi Duke, dared to denounce the "regicide" of Zhao Dun who was in power at that time, which happened under this historical background. That is to say, the reason why some historians in the pre-Qin vassal States were able to "learn from the strong, avoid the strong and resist the strong" depended not only on their personal morality, cultivation and integrity as historians, but also on the system at that time and the long-term public opinion constraints formed by the general upper class.

After Qin and Han dynasties, the political status of historians declined, and they were generally no longer hereditary, but completely integrated into the appointment and dismissal system of ordinary officials. Nevertheless, historians still maintain certain independent authority in the process of being ordered to record the history of the court. In particular, in order to maintain its objectivity and impartiality, even the contemporary emperors are not allowed to read the Book of Chrysanthemum and Bamboo written by historians, which also implies urging the emperors not to do evil. This was still manifested in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. For example, when Emperor Taizu of the Northern Wei Dynasty presided over the compilation of national history, Cui Hao offended Xianbei nobles and was exterminated. Gao Yun, a writer who participated in compiling history, survived because he was sheltered by the prince. However, when Qiu asked him about it face to face, he did not hesitate to say that he risked his life and called Ho Choi "making mistakes, not dying". And said to the prince: "the history books of husband, the records of emperor, the ring of the future;" We look at the present because we know it. It all depends on words and deeds, so I am very cautious. "Although Ho Choi was at fault, he" wrote traces of the daily life of the imperial court and told the story of the country's gains and losses, which is also the general principle of history and has not been violated. "Gao Yun inherited the independent spirit of ancient historians. During the Western Wei Dynasty, historian Liu Qiu also advocated that historical events independently recorded by historians should be made public directly. " Then, pay it to the history museum and make it clear that there are no hidden gains and losses; Let those who smell well practice every day, and those who have experienced it will know fear. "This function of historians makes emperors and ministers who want to gain a good reputation in later generations somewhat shy. For example, Gao Huan, the great minister of the East, said to the historian Wei Shou, "My future reputation is in your hands, so don't say I don't know." Gao Yang, the son of Wen Xuandi in Northern Qi Dynasty, also pretended to be generous, and said to him, "Good pen, I won't be the historian of Wu Tai of Wei Zhaodi. "But after the Tang Dynasty, this tradition was gradually destroyed. First, in his later years, Emperor Taizong proposed to see Ju Zhu several times. At first, Chu Suiliang and other ministers were able to refuse him, but in the end, they couldn't get over it and deleted "the owner" as a "record" for him to see. Although there is no malice in itself, as soon as this case was opened, the last line of defense of the independence of historians' notes was broken, so that the later "records" were repeatedly tampered with. Therefore, The Record is inevitably criticized by later generations.