We said earlier that Sima Xiangru's Fugue and Sima Qian's Historical Records have **** similarities in expressing the consciousness of the times, but this does not mean that they are at the same high level of thought and art. It is self-evident that there is a significant difference between Sima Xiangru's Fu, which was written as a court literary attendant to cater to the interests of the monarch, and Sima Qian's Shiji, which was composed by Sima Qian, who maintained a relatively independent scholarly stance even though he acted as the historian of the dynasty. The Records of the Grand Historian is not only majestic, but also reflects the great oppression of the ever strengthening monarchical dictatorship on the social thought and culture, realizes the complex social contradictions of this era, and embodies the profound thinking on the social history of mankind, which is impossible for the Han Fu to have. As a matter of fact, the Historical Records is not only the greatest work of the Han Dynasty, but also one of the few greatest works in the whole history of Chinese culture. Sima Qian's Life and His Understanding of History and Society
Sima Qian (145-about 87 BC) was a native of Xiayang (present-day Hancheng, Shaanxi Province), a city in Zuo Fengdan. His father, Sima Tan, was a profound scholar, y knowledgeable about astronomy, history, and philosophy, and authored the essay "On the Essentials of the Six Schools," a brief but uniquely insightful commentary on the major doctrines of the pre-Qin schools. This was undoubtedly important to Sima Qian's early education. When he was nearly ten years old, Sima Qian moved to Chang'an with his father, who had assumed the post of the Imperial Historian, and later studied the Spring and Autumn Annals under Dong Zhongshu, and the ancient text of the Shangshu under Kong Anguo, all of which laid the foundations of his learning, and when he was twenty years old he began to roam widely. According to the Records of the Grand Historian (史记-太史公自序), his travels took him to present-day Hunan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shandong, Henan, and other places, where he searched for the remains of the legendary Dayu, and the sites of the activities of such historical figures as Qu Yuan, Han Xin, and Confucius. After returning from his wanderings, he was appointed as a langzhong, and was envoyed to the area of Sichuan and Yunnan. Later, he traveled to more places because he served Emperor Wu on his hunting tours. He traveled to almost all parts of the country during his several journeys. His travels opened up his mind and vision, brought him into contact with the lives of various people from all walks of life, and collected information and legends about many historical figures. All this played a great role in his later writing of the "Records of the Grand Historian".
In the first year of Emperor Wu's reign, Sima Tan died. On his deathbed, he entrusted Sima Qian with the unfinished business of writing history as a last wish. In the third year of Yuanfeng (108 B.C.), Sima Qian succeeded to the post of the Imperial Historian. Since then, he read the national collection of books, studied various historical materials, devoted himself to writing history, and took part in the formulation of the Tai Chu Calendar.
It was during this process that a great disaster occurred. In the second year of the Tianhan era (99 BC), Li Ling fought against the Xiong Nu, and after a vigorous battle, he was defeated and surrendered. When the news came, Emperor Wu was furious, and his courtiers echoed his rebuke of Li Ling. Sima Qian was furious that the courtiers, who were enjoying their wealth, had no sympathy for the general who risked his life, so he said that Li Ling surrendered out of necessity and that he would wait for an opportunity to repay the Han Dynasty in the future. Sima Qian's defense of Li Ling's defeat, which was caused by Emperor Wu's appointment of Li Guangli, an incompetent relative, as the commander-in-chief, offended Emperor Wu. As a result, he was punished with the punishment of "corruption". For Sima Qian, this was the greatest humiliation of his life, far more painful than the death penalty. In this incident, he gained a new understanding of the incomprehensible power of autocratic monarchs, and of the fundamental oppression of life by external forces. At one point he thought of committing suicide, but he did not want his precious life to end in worthlessness, so he "lived in silence" and sought the highest fulfillment of his life in the writing of history. This is exactly the form of resistance that a scholar can take against the tyranny of the monarch and the cruelty of his fate. Finally, in the fourth year of the reign of the Emperor, Sima Qian gave a full account of his own life and feelings in the Book of Reporting Ren'an, which was written in the same year before his death, which was probably at the end of the reign of the Emperor Wu.
The Shiji was originally called the Book of the Grand Historian, and began to be called the Historical Records at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. It is the first ancient work with a complete system completed by an individual alone①. With a total of 130 volumes and more than 520,000 words, it was the largest work up to that time. The whole book consists of five styles, namely, Benci, Table, Shu, Shiji, and Lianzhuan (Biographies). Benji" is a chronological account of the political achievements of successive monarchs or actual rulers, which is the outline of the whole book; "Table" is a list of major events in each historical period in the form of a table, which is a supplement to and liaison with the narrative of the whole book; "Book" is a list of astronomical, calendrical, and historical events. "is the record of astronomy, calendar, water conservancy, economy and other kinds of specialized matters; "Shijia" is the biographies of hereditary families and people who have been worshipped throughout the ages, such as Confucius and Chen Sheng; "Lianzhuan" is the biographies of all kinds of people other than those in Benci and Shijia, and a part of the biographies is the record of the whole book. The "Lianzhuan" is the biographies of various figures other than the Benci and the Shijia, and a part of it records the history of various ethnic groups on the fringe of China. Through these five different styles, which complement each other, the Shiji constitutes a complete historical system.
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①Before the Shiji, historical works were of the nature of compilations and collations, the authors of which were mostly unknown, and it is difficult to say that they were completed by one individual alone: the book of the sons was actually a compilation of the literature of various schools of thought, and it was not completed by the founders of the schools of thought alone; moreover, most of the essays in it were written independently of one another.
This style of writing, also known as "ji biography", was later changed slightly and became the common style of official history.
The Shiji chronicles the history of the Yellow Emperor, who was regarded as the beginning of history at that time, and the early years of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty (104-10 years ago), when Sima Qian wrote the book, including the entire Han Dynasty and all the territories around it that the author was able to understand. It is not only a summary of the political, economic and cultural history of our country during the three thousand years of antiquity, but also the history of mankind and the history of the world, which is the whole history of the past and the present in Sima Qian's consciousness. In this incomparably grand structure, the intention of exploring and grasping the way of human existence fundamentally and holistically is encompassed. As Sima Qian himself said in the Book of Reporting Ren'an, his goal was "to study the interstices between heaven and man, to comprehend the changes of the past and the present, and to realize the words of a family". Therefore, the Shiji cannot be regarded as a mere record of historical facts, but as a highly accomplished work of historiography, literature and philosophy.
The Shiji was classified as the first "official history" of China. Since then, the compilation of the "official history" has never been interrupted, and it has become a long river of written history, which is a miracle in the history of world historiography. However, the situation of the "Records of the Grand Historian" is very different from that of the "Official History" of later generations. After the "Records of the Grand Historian", the official histories of all generations, with very few exceptions, were all compiled by the court under the auspices and according to the will of the monarch, and they were official histories in name only. Although Sima Qian was a court historian, the Shiji did not reflect the will of the supreme ruler, Emperor Wu. It is also possible that after reading the Shiji, Emperor Wu is said to have been angry at several of its parts and ordered them to be cut (some of the parts of the Shiji are rumored to have been supplemented by later generations). So what kind of position did Sima Qian take in writing the Shiji? This is one of the keys to understanding the Shiji.
We need to note that before the absolute authority of the individual monarch was established from Emperor Qin Shi Huang to Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty, the power of the monarch, to a certain extent, was constrained by the entire aristocratic group. In this context, historians not only enjoyed a high status, but also had the obligation and right to "write with a straight brush". Sima Qian's ancestors had been historians for many generations, and although he realized that in his own time, historians had fallen to the status of "being teased by the lord and advocated to be stored up", he consciously inherited the ancient tradition of historians, and did not want to turn his pen into a tool to sing the praises of the monarch.
Another important point is that Sima Qian had a special admiration for Confucius. He was not entirely convinced by Confucius's teachings, and he despised contemporary Confucians even more, but he admired Confucius's personality, and especially the fact that he was an ordinary scholar, but had the grand ideal of establishing cultural norms for the world. Sima Qian regarded his work of writing the Records of the Grand Historian as an inheritance of Confucius' work of repairing the Spring and Autumn Annals, and this placed himself in a very high position spiritually. Expanding on this, it is also an inheritance of the rational attitude and critical consciousness of the pre-Qin scholars.
The times gave Sima Qian a grand vision and the task of summarizing history in a comprehensive manner. His extensive travels enabled him to gain an unprecedented understanding of society, and his cruel fate prompted him to think y about life. Inheriting the pre-Qin tradition of the historians and the culture of the sons of the past, Sima Qian established a relatively independent and critical writing stance that did not yield to the monarchs' obscene authority. It is in a special historical stage and a special personal encounter that the great "Records of the Grand Historian" was produced; and in this great "Records of the Grand Historian", Sima Qian's unique understanding of the many aspects of human history and society is demonstrated.
First of all, as stated above, the Shiji is a critical rather than a glorifying work. Especially with regard to the history of the Han dynasty and the politics of the contemporary era, that is, the time of Emperor Wu, Sima Qian always kept a cold eye. On the premise of recognizing the historical achievements of Liu Bang, the founding emperor of the Han dynasty, he unforgivingly and vividly depicts Liu Bang's countryside scoundrel appearance and selfish, mean-spirited mentality. As for Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Sima Qian also boldly exposed his practices of appointing coolies, brutalizing the people, appointing nepotism, suppressing talents, and superstitious belief in seeking immortality, abusing people's power, etc. As for the bureaucratic hierarchy, it is not easy to see how the bureaucratic class can be so uncooperative. As for the bureaucratic class in all kinds of collusion, brazen phenomenon, but also a variety of appear in his sharp pen. These revelations and criticisms do not have a tendency to scandalize, nor are they mere denials, but are concrete and credible historical records that reflect the true character of the characters. They reflect a deep skepticism and reflection: the successful figures in history, the ones who are in power, did not get their positions because of noble qualities and moral justice, as they claimed. Sometimes, on the contrary, those who were noble and morally righteous often met with misfortunes and failures, like Xiang Yu, who was far more frank and self-respecting than Liu Bang, and Li Guang, who was far more upright and courageous than the favorites of Emperor Wu, who both ended up committing suicide. Although Sima Qian did not theoretically reveal the law behind these phenomena, it is enough to inspire people to make a kind of in-depth introspection.
The Historical Records, the first historiographical genre to be based on "chronicles", was the first time that history was written with people in mind, demonstrating the great importance attached to the status and role of people in history. Historical writings in the past recorded the historical activities of people, but these records were all time- or event-oriented, and the subjective position of people was not fully realized and manifested; moreover, the characters in these historical writings were, on the whole, confined to the upper echelons of the society, including, at most, wandering scholars, and the second was confined to political figures, with a limited scope. Although the characters in the Shiji are still mainly upper-class political figures, their scope has been expanded to cover the whole society, including the middle and lower classes and non-political figures. We can see that in the Records of the Grand Historian, emperors, lords, peasant leaders, ministers, generals, consorts, eunuchs, literati, thinkers, assassins, rogues, merchants, playwrights, physicians, pampered men, and soothsayers, all of them show different sides of human life, and ****together they make up the colorful and magnificent picture of history. In the history books before and after this time, it is rare to see so many types of characters, especially those in the middle and lower strata of society. This shows that Sima Qian recognized that society is a complex combination of characters from all classes playing different roles in society. This kind of understanding, especially the attitude towards the lower and middle classes, is hardly seen in the general "official history".
Sima Qian further noted: what kind of power is it that governs the historical activities of people? He did not deny the power of morality and righteousness, and he also honored many gentlemen who abided by "benevolence and righteousness", and even had a certain idealistic attitude in this regard. However, as a faithful observer of life and a profound thinker, he did recognize and openly put forward the idea that it is man's material desires, the pursuit of satisfaction in life, that dominate his historical activities. In "Cargo Shik Lianzhuan", he took great pains to enumerate various facts to prove that "rich people's emotions, not learning but all want", "from the son of heaven to the common people", all "good profit". He put the strong warrior courage to fight, the village alley boy robbing money grave robbers, courtesan dancers sell sex, fishermen hunters storm snow, gamblers compete with each other to win, the physician Fang technology people study hard, agriculture, industry, business and Jia's business, and even the officials to seek bribes, all kinds of behavior without fear of death, all attributable to the pursuit of wealth, the pursuit of material gain activities. Although this juxtaposition is difficult for many people to accept (because there is a difference between goodness and goodness), it is remarkable that Sima Qian recognized that it is the pursuit of material gain, rather than abstract moral principles, that is the underlying motivation for man's historical activities at that time.
When measuring the status of historical figures, Sima Qian relied on what they actually accomplished rather than what kind of fame they achieved. Xiang Yu was not an emperor, but he was the king of the world for a period of time, and the Shiji (Records of the Grand Historian) contains the "Xiang Yu Benji"; after the "Gao Zu Benji" comes the "Empress Dowager Lu Benji", and not the "Xiaohui Benji", because Emperor Hui, although he had the name of emperor, was in fact only a puppet. Here, Sima Qian did not have the enthusiasm of Confucius in "correcting the name". In the "Records of the Grand Historian (史记-太史公自序)", Sima Qian declared that one of the purposes of the Records of the Grand Historian (史记-太史公自序), he wanted to let those who "support the righteousness of the beginners, who do not lose their own time, and who establish a name for themselves in the world," be known to the future generations. Therefore, he also appreciated those who were willing to be humiliated for a while in order to achieve something extraordinary. For example, Han Xin was not ashamed of his crotch, and Jibu, who was once the bravest of the three armies, was willing to become a slave, which, in Sima Qian's opinion, were all the feats that only "strong husbands" could have. Inside, it also contains Sima Qian for the completion of the "Records of the Grand Historian" and endure the humiliation of life experience, right?
There is a certain ethical standard of evaluation and a sense of praise and blame in the Historical Records. But its standards are not entirely consistent with the principle of the interests of the ruling class or secular moral consciousness, nor is it narrow and monolithic. Even, there may be some contradictions between before and after. For example, the Biography of Bo Yi Shu Qi glorifies the loyalty of the two wise gentlemen who "did not eat the grain of the Zhou Dynasty", while the Biography of Guan Zhong praises Guan Zhong, who first helped Duke Zi Qiao to fight with Duke Huan of Qi, refused to be martyred after his defeat, and then became a minister of the Duke of Qi when he got out of the prison, saying that he "did not shy away from the triviality but was ashamed of his fame and reputation which were not visible to the whole world. ". The rogues had a certain destructive effect on the ruling order of the society, which Sima Qian clearly pointed out, but he might as well praise their righteousness of emphasizing RanNuo and emphasizing life and death. Even, "the coolie biography" fiercely attacked the cruelty of the coolie, "Taishigong self-preface" and said "the people are more than skillful, treacherous track to get the law, the good people can not be transformed", so the coolie also has a reason for existence. These are not because Sima Qian's concepts are confusing, but because he saw the complexity of society itself and the need for a broad and multi-perspective understanding of the ways of life of all kinds of people. Even the characters he disliked were portrayed as honestly as possible, not simply written off.
Ban Gu of the Eastern Han Dynasty accused Sima Qian of being "more wrong than the sages: on the Great Way, the Yellow Book is the first and the Six Classics are the second; on the order of chivalry, the scholar is the first to retreat from the scholarly world and the wicked is the second to advance; and on goods and commodities, the power is the most important thing, but the poor is the most shameful thing" ("The Book of the Han Dynasty - Sima Qian's Biography"). However, these are precisely the place where Sima Qian is far more brilliant than Ban Gu's generation. It is because Sima Qian has a unique and extremely profound understanding of history and society, has a great inclusiveness of the survival activities of various characters, is not bound by the Confucian ruling ideology that is being established, and dares to defy the secular moral dogma, as well as not to understand and describe people from a certain single doctrine, that the Shiji can be rich and extensive, and produce a unique charm, which is different from all other official histories of the next generation. The first is the "History of the World", which was written in the late 19th century.
The Literary Achievements of the Records of the Grand Historian
The Records of the Grand Historian is a masterpiece of historiography as well as a masterpiece of literature. When we introduced the pre-Qin historical writings, we said that these historical writings contain more or less literary factors and literary elements; but for the Shiji, it is far from enough to say so.
Because the Shiji was written with literary motives, this historical book itself is partly literary in nature.
Sima Qian himself was a romantic poet. His sympathetic, emotional and impulsive character can be seen everywhere in the "Report on the Book of Ren'an" and the "Records of the Grand Historian". He was killed by the Li Ling incident, which was also a tragedy of character. Because no matter from the personal relationship or from the official position, he did not have the obligation to defend Li Ling. At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Yang Xiong said, "Zi Chang loved much, and he loved strange things." (Fayan) also saw Sima Qian's romantic poetic temperament.
The Historical Records was written with the goal of "studying the interstices of heaven and man, understanding the changes of the past and the present, and forming the words of a family," which, as we have already mentioned, means not only summarizing history and documenting historical facts, but also, through the activities of a large number of historical figures, many of whom were the author's contemporaries, imaginatively reflecting and inquiring into the way of human existence, the position of mankind in the world, and the various contradictions and dilemmas in human life. These are also the fundamental purposes of literature. It is only that the Shiji, as a work of history, is more restricted in its fictionalization.
The Shiji also has the purpose of expressing emotions. In the Book of the Annunciation of Ren'an, the Zhou Yi, the Book of Poetry, the Li Sao, and so on, are summarized as "the works of the sages who were furious with themselves. All of them were depressed and could not get through the way, so they recounted the past and thought about the future", thus putting forward the theory of "writing books in anger". This statement is not necessarily fully consistent with the facts of the ancient writings he listed, but fully consistent with the facts of the "Records of the Grand Historian". While recounting the deeds of historical figures, the Shiji is permeated with the author's own feelings about his life, his inner pain and depression, which is the key to the fact that under the millennium, we still can't help but be moved by reading the Shiji. Lu Xun's "Outline of the History of Chinese Literature" called "The Records of the Grand Historian" "a masterpiece of the historians, the unhyped "Li Sao"", and the latter is also from this point of view.
In order to achieve these aims, the Shiji uses a large number of literary devices, and achieves a high level of literary achievement. In the following, we will introduce it from its three aspects of narrative art, characterization art and language art. It should be clarified that the core part of the Shiji - the Benji, the Shiji, and the Lianzhuan - basically consists of biographies, which are both highly storytelling and dramatic, and through which the characters are portrayed. Therefore, the so-called narrative art and the art of characterization could not have been divided into two. Just for the convenience of expression, we will first analyze the way of narration and the artistic features of the Historical Records in general, and then analyze how it shapes characters.
Before the Shiji, Chinese narrative literature had gone through a long process of development. The pre-Qin historical writings already contained rather large depictions of war scenes and more complex narratives of historical events, which also contained many vivid and interesting stories, which provided a certain foundation for the Shiji. However, the main interest of the pre-Qin historians was to give a complete account of historical events and to express political and ethical judgments through these events, and their narrative attitude was mainly historiographical. Sima Qian, on the other hand, in addition to recounting historical events, had a stronger sense of trying to reproduce the scenes and activities of people who had appeared in history; in addition to political and ethical judgments, he had a stronger sense of reflecting human life from various aspects. So his narrative attitude has a very obvious literary character.
The narrative style of the Records of the Grand Historian is basically a third-person objective narrative. Sima Qian, as the narrator, stands almost completely outside the event, and only in the final part of the "Discourse on Praise" does he appear directly as a commentator to express his own views. This approach provides a wide margin of maneuver for freely unfolding the narrative and setting the scene. However, the so-called objective narration does not mean that it does not contain the author's position and tendency, only that it does not reveal them. Through the unfolding of historical events and the comparison of different characters in their historical activities, the narrator's emotional inclination is actually reflected. This is what the former said, "to put praise and blame in the narrative". This kind of implicit praise and blame is conveyed through the infection of literature.
In order to reproduce the historical scenes and activities of the characters, many of the biographies in the Records of the Grand Historian (史记) are composed of a series of vivid stories. For example, the biography of Lord Xinling is composed of the stories of welcoming Hou Sheng in person, stealing the talisman to save Zhao, and traveling in streams from the Bo Tu seller of berries; the biographies of Lian Po and Lin Xiang Ru are composed of the stories of returning the jade annulus to Zhao, Mianchi meeting, and taking a bramble to ask for forgiveness; the main body of the biography of Sun Wu is the story of teaching war in Wu Palace; the biography of Sun Bin contains the stories of teaching Tian Ji to gamble on horses, and the story of breaking and killing Pang Juan at the Maling Road ....... This is so common that it is too numerous to mention. Numerous stories, large and small, form the basis of the literary nature of the Historical Records. Although the pre-Qin historical writings also contain story components, but compared with the "Shiji", not only the number is much smaller, and in addition to the "Strategies of the Warring States" in a few stories, but also appears to be much more rudimentary. Later historical works, too, no longer have the same situation as the Shiji.1 This is one of the reasons why the Shiji has a special literary charm among the many Chinese historical books.
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①There is also here the inevitable factor of the gradual separation of history and literature.
The stories of the Historical Records are, again, quite a few of them rich in drama. Sima Qian seems to have enjoyed unfolding his stories in realistic scenes and sharp conflicts, with the characters themselves acting directly to express themselves, so that the reader almost forgets the existence of the narrator. For example, a scene from General Li's biography:
(Li Guang) tasted the night from a ride out of the field from people to drink. Returned to the Baling Pavilion, Baling Lieutenant drunk, he stopped Guang. Guang ride said: "So General Li." Lieutenant said: "Now the general is not yet allowed to travel at night, why not also!" The first thing I did was to stop Guang from sleeping under the pavilion.
This is like a good theater skit. In addition, like the famous "Hongmen Banquet" story, it is simply a climactic, heart-wrenching one-act play. The characters' appearances and exits, their looks, movements, dialogues, and even the orientation of their seats, are all clearly explained. It takes little effort to rewrite this story into a real theater piece for the stage. This kind of dramatic story has many advantages: first, it has the effect of realistic literary performance; second, it avoids the long and loose narration, and has the tension, which produces the activation force needed in literature; third, it is the easiest to show the character's personality in the sharp conflict.
The Historical Records is known as "The Record of Facts," which refers to Sima Qian's serious attitude toward history, without any pretense or concealment. However, the stories that came to life under his pen could not be completely true. In order to pursue the vivid and realistic artistic effect and the infectious power for the readers, he used a lot of legendary materials and was bound to fictionalize the details. This is a typical method of literary narration.
Additionally, the "method of interplay" created by the Shiji also has both historiographical and literary significance. The so-called "intertextual method" is to spread a person's deeds in different places and focus on his or her own biography, or to spread the same event in different places and focus on the narrative of one place. Sima Qian used this method not only to avoid repetition. In order to make each biography has aesthetic meaning on the unity, so that the image of the biographer has artistic integrity, it is necessary to write in each biography only the main characteristics of the character and the main experience, and in order to make the whole "Historical Records" and the historiographic significance of the authenticity and completeness of the character must be supplemented by writing the character's secondary characteristics and secondary experience in other places. This is the significance of the method of characterization. Because the "Records of the Grand Historian" is character-oriented, often need to involve the same thing in many people's biographies, in order to avoid repetition and can be the events described clearly, Sima Qian in different biographies from different perspectives of the same thing, so that not only highlights the role of each person in the event, but also does not give a person a sense of repetition. This is the significance of the intertextualization of events. Through the method of intertextualization of characters and events, Sima Qian made the Shiji both historically credible and literarily readable.
In terms of characterization, past writings have also accumulated. In Zuo Zhuan, you can see a number of characters with a certain personality; by the time of the Warring States Strategies, the characters are more meticulously depicted, and their personalities are more distinctive. However, because they are based on historical events, the characterization is only fragmentary and scattered in the narrative, lacking completeness. In addition, "The Spring and Autumn Annals of Yanzi" is also noteworthy in that it is written exclusively about a single person. However, it is only a collection of Yanzi's many stories, with no intrinsic connection between them. In short, before the Han Dynasty, there was no complete biography, and the portrayal of characters, in general, was still relatively brief. On this basis, the Historical Records made great progress, raising the art of characterization in Chinese literature to an epoch-making new height.
On the whole, The Records of the Grand Historian is characterized by a large number of characters, a rich variety of types, and a more distinctive personality. It combines a large number of individual biographies into a grand history, of which nearly 100 are written more successfully and can leave a deep impression, such as Xiang Yu, Liu Bang, Zhang Liang, Han Xin, Li Si, Qu Yuan, Sun Wu, Jing Ke and so on. As already mentioned, these characters came from all walks of life, engaged in different activities, and experienced different destinies in life. From emperors to commoners, there are successes and failures, fierce heroes and shameless villains, **** together they form a rich and colorful gallery of characters. Each of these characters has a distinctive personality. Different identities, different experiences of the characters are certainly different from each other, identity and experience of similar characters, but also not confuse each other. Zhang Liang, Chen Ping, the same as Liu Bang's men of wisdom and counsel, one is clean, one does not repair the details; Wu Di appointed coolies, there are corrupt and clean ....... All these, while giving us historical knowledge, but also give us a rich life experience.
To all kinds of historical figures, Sima Qian also has favorites. That is "curiosity", that is to say, love extraordinary, with vigorous vitality and outstanding talent. Those who rise up reckless and the king of the world's insurgents, those who look cowardly and incompetent but the heroes with great aspirations, those who do not live in a position of power and the voice of the master of the chivalrous, those who are too bold, invincible generals, those who spilled blood of assassins, those who are planning and planning, the wisdom of a hundred books, and even rich widows, and dared to sympathize with the elopement of a beautiful woman ... ... ..., these extraordinary characters constitute the most wonderful and important part of the Records of the Grand Historian. Therefore, The Records of the Grand Historian is full of romantic mood and legendary color. In particular, the biographies of the characters at the time of the dramatic changes in the history of the Qin and Han dynasties are read together as a single part, which is really like a heroic epic.
In the process of describing the life of a character, Sima Qian paid special attention to showing the great changes in the fate of the character, such as writing about those who have built up a career, often write about how they are despised when they are lowly; and write about those who do not have a good life, and often write about how they are unbeatable when they get what they want. The former, such as Liu Bang, Han Xin, Su Qin, the latter, such as Xiang Yu, Li Si, Tian Heng. And in the process of change, fully exposed at that time, such as snobbery, revenge and other common weaknesses. For example, Liu Bang's sister-in-law didn't feed him when he was a lowly man, and his father didn't like him, but after he succeeded, Liu Bang refused to forget to make a mockery of them; when Li Guang was dismissed from his post, he was scorned by the Baling captain, and when he was reinstated, he killed the captain for a reason; when Han Anguo was convicted and imprisoned, his little jailer treated him with authority, and when he rose again, he specially called the jailer to him, and brought up the same old matter again... .... These stories of changing fortunes and grudges are most capable of showing the relationship between people and their environment and status, and revealing the complexity of human nature.
Sima Qian knew very well that those who cater to society and the world tend to be happy; on the contrary, they are prone to misfortune. He often used comparative methods to express this view of his. Such as "Su Qin biography" wrote outstanding Su Qin was stabbed to death, his mediocre brother Su Dai, Su Li, but enjoy the days; "Pingjin Hou main father Yan biography" wrote the main father Yan sharp and suffered extinction, Gongsun Hong deep heart and thick appearance, but peacefully enjoying the rich and noble honor and glory ....... But Sima Qian never praise mediocrity, meticulous, trivial life. The most magnificent and touching thing written in the Records of the Grand Historian is the tragic fate of the heroes. Xiang Yu's final failure and suicide, written in Xiang Yu's Chronicle, took one or two thousand words, which as a historical record can be said to be unnecessary; as a literary work, it has a kind of drenching effect. Xiang Yu in the opportunity to escape, because of no face to see the father and mother in the east of the river, pulling the sword to the neck; Li Guang does not have the crime of certain death, only because he is not willing to be humiliated with the rest of his life after a long battle in the sword and penman, cutting his own throat; Qu Yuan in order to the lofty ideals of the stone sinking the river ....... In this kind of recurring tragic scenes, Sima Qian showed the noble man's strong resistance to fate. He tells people that even if fate is invincible, human will is equally unyielding. We see in this the magnificent spirit of life in the culture of the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, for which we marvel again and again.
For the characters depicted in the Historical Records, people can strongly feel that their faces are alive and revealing, as the modern Japanese scholar Zaiten Zhengqian said, "Reading a copy of the Records of the Grand Historian, such as the direct people at that time, witnessing the events and hearing the words, makes people happy at first and startled at first, fearing at first and sobbing at first and can't be stopped by themselves." ("Shi Ji will note the evidence" cited "Humble Hall of Writings") This artistic effect is how to form?
First of all, the Shiji pays attention to and is good at describing the appearance and expression of characters, which makes the character image visual. For example, Zhang Liang "looks like a good woman", Li Guang "is a long man, ape arms", Cai Ze "easy nose, huge shoulders, brown bear face, wrinkled, knee contraction" and so on, although relatively simple, but each has its own characteristics. Although they are relatively simple, each of them has its own characteristics. Moreover, Sima Qian seldom describes the appearance of the characters, but always with the character of the character has some kind of hidden or obvious connection, so it leaves a deep impression on people. For example, if we read the biography of Zhang Liang, we can hardly forget his appearance of "like a woman who is good at women". Depictions of his facial expressions abound. In the biography of Lian Po Lin Xiang Ru, it is written that when Lin Xiang Ru was on a mission to Qin, the king of Qin wanted to take the Hershey's Bi by force, and Xiang Ru "looked at the pillar with the Bi in his hand, wanting to strike the pillar", "shouted at him with open eyes, and all the people around him went to pieces", and "his hair rose up in anger", as if he could see it with his own eyes. "As if I could see it with my own eyes.
The description of the details of life is the basic means of literary works to shape the image of characters, express their character and show their inner world. It appears rarely in general historical works, but quite a lot in the Shiji. S into the barn, look at the barn in the rat food accumulation of corn, living under the large hipped, do not see the worry of people and dogs. So Li Si was sighed: "people's virtuous or unworthy, arm like a mouse is carried out, in the place of their own ears!" He was learning the art of empire from Xunqing.
From a purely historical point of view, this triviality is worthless. But from a literary point of view, it is a very specific and profound revelation of Li Si's character traits and life pursuits. Another example is Zhang Tang's impeachment of rats as old officials when he was a child, Liu Bang's boldness and roguishness when he was a microcosm, Chen Ping's thought of slaughtering the world for the townspeople's division of sacrificial meat and so on, all of which are presented by the trivial events of the character's character, avoiding the abstract character commentaries. Naturally, there are inevitably elements of legend and fiction in such depictions.
Dialogues are often the most vivid reflection of a character's life experience, cultural cultivation, and social status, and are also emphasized in the Historical Records, with many excellent examples. Liu Bang and Xiang Yu when they were microcosmic