After reading Historical Records, I feel that Historical Records is the earliest biographical history of China. This book has 130 articles and more than 520,000 words. This book also created the form of biographical history books, which had a far-reaching impact on the official history of later generations. Let's talk about historical records first. Reading and reading, I have a feeling of talking to the living. Sima Qian is a good man. Good people are often unlucky. I sympathize with him and admire him. I don't think his life was in vain. What kind of book is Historical Records? As we all know, it is a history book and the first one in the history department. Just as Herodotus was to Greece, we also regard Sima Qian as the "father of history". But I understand that the significance of this book is not that it is the beginning of a biography. On the contrary, what is its significance? In my opinion, it is because it is not a dry list of emperors and princes based on dynasties, and it thrives in the rise and fall of a surname. Like more than 20 other books that imitated it later, it is now called "official history". I appreciate it because it has a broad vision and a broad mind, and made a summary before it; After that, it started. It is a "great history" that began in Xuanyuan and ended in filial piety. "The change of ancient and modern times is poor in the study of heaven and man." It is about ancient history, modern history and contemporary history at that time. In particular, his narrative is vivid, and his pen melts feelings, which makes people not boring to read, but more interesting to think about. Sima Qian used a lot of materials to write historical records. Among them, there are not only books and archives collected in the Golden Chamber of Stone Chambers (National Library and Archives of Han Dynasty), but also old rumors of his investigation and interview, including social investigation and oral history. Scholars' detailed textual research on the quotations in Historical Records is quite impressive only for those who can make a clear textual research. It has read almost all the early ancient books we can still see. There are more ancient books that we can't see now, that is, lost books that everyone talks about. These early historical materials, according to the classification of later generations, mainly belong to classics and sub-books, as well as the "ancient history" of the history department. Many classics come from official books, and they are the oldest. They were filtered by the thoughts of the Warring States Period, and together with the biographies of various philosophers, they accumulated into the "Book of Six Arts" and "Learning of Six Studies" in the Han Dynasty. Sima Qian's "Unique Biography of Six Classics, Qibai Miscellaneous Words" is an important way for us to get a glimpse of pre-Qin history from Han Dynasty thought. Not only that, it also involves poetry, art of war, mathematical skills and folk skills, including many important contents specially studied in later collections and sub-collections, and it is also an encyclopedic knowledge collection. It is only one of the four books, but it plays a key role in the study of the other three books (receiving classics, giving birth to children, initiating history and gathering classics). To borrow an old saying, it is "drawing inferences from others". As far as I know, some old gentlemen are not old gentlemen in the imperial examination era, but old gentlemen with changed atmosphere. They just use historical records as the gateway to reading ancient books, and even let children start here. For example, we all know that Wang Guowei and their ancient books are based on history and Bill Han. So I always think that this is a key to reading ancient books, especially for scholars who read early. Reading historical records, in addition to historical materials, editing style is also very important. Generally speaking, the style of this book is called biographical style, which is different from chronological style (such as Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals, Zuo Zhuan, Ji Nian and later generations' As a Mirror) and chronological style (such as Guoyu, Guo Ce and various chronologies compiled by later generations), but more accurately, Sima Qian wrote history with "people" as the center and "genealogy" as the framework. According to Shiben and a large number of genealogies preserved in Han Dynasty, it can be divided into "space" (country, region and county) and "time" (dynasty history, national history and family history), and "people" and "things" under "space" and "time". Its 12 biographies, 30 families and 70 biographies, in which "biographies" refer to "roots", that is, "roots" or "stems" of genealogy; "aristocratic family" refers to "the world", that is, the "branch" of the genealogy; Biography is about the characters under the "world", that is, the "leaves" of the genealogy. This is the main body of this book. Its genealogy and family are narratives of different countries and chronicles, which are used to control later biographies. In addition to biographical and aristocratic families, there are also "ten tables" that meet each other, forming the space-time framework of the book. Among its "Five Biographies", only "Eight Books" are about laws and regulations, with poor concept of time and space, belonging to structural description. Primitive humans had a "root-seeking addiction", ancient nobles had a "bloodline theory", and in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, "rites and music did not collapse properly", but the atmosphere of "putting on airs" was even more prosperous ("scholar" was a compulsory course for aristocratic children at that time), and many bronze inscriptions "self-reported" at the beginning, saying that I was "the son of a grandson". Although Sima Qian was born in the Han Dynasty, he made "great history". For him, it is most convenient to get through the past and contact the present. This is where we should understand him. Sima Qian's Historical Records is not only profound, but also highly generalized. More importantly, it can save pen and ink, truth and doubt, and try to preserve the freshness of historical materials by intertextuality. For example, anyone who reads Historical Records for the first time can easily find that its description is often contradictory. Not only will there be such problems between articles, but also several statements can be arranged in an article, which makes people feel that they cannot agree. But anyone who is familiar with the style of Historical Records knows that this is the author's "theory of reserving differences", which is intentional. It focuses on Qin historical materials and Chu historical materials, trying to make the "role" speak according to its true colors. This is not the carelessness of historical records, but its caution. Of course, there will be a bumper harvest if you find faults with historical records, but understanding is the first prerequisite for finding mistakes.

The book Historical Records is great, and its author is even greater. We should "read his books and treat him as a human being", so we must read his Preface to Taishi Gong and Letter to Ren An. Preface to Taishi is of course very important, because only by reading this article can you understand his academic background and creative process, and know that he has a family background and was taught by a famous teacher. He has a sophisticated life and a sophisticated writing style. But what can't be ignored is that he also has a "report to Ren An". If Preface to Taishi is Sima Qian's "academic history", then Bao Ren An Shu is his "spiritual history". Why? Because this is a spiritual dialogue between a person who wants to die and a person who is about to die, every sentence is from the heart, saturated with love for life and pain for death. His humiliation, fear, grief and indignation, burning internal organs and sweating on his back are hard to understand unless he is there. When I was a child, I always thought it was the most shocking and tearful article. In my opinion, Sima Qian was attacked by General Li (Li Ling) and pushed down by everyone. In my opinion, it is Lu Xun's "backbone" who dares to "shout traitors". He and general Li, one is a civilian and the other is a military commander. They are interested in different roads, and they have never had a glass of wine to make love. They can give up their jobs and lives and stand up and speak bravely. This has been the courage of all. What is more difficult is that after this "unexpected trouble", he can extricate himself from the quagmire of fate and write books with indignation, which has made him famous. After reading Bao Ren An Shu, I have some feelings: history is not only a kind of knowledge accumulated by the dead, but also an experience shaped by the living. This life experience and desire to transcend life are the same spirit that runs through literature, art, religion, philosophy and history. Historians are particularly important in this kind of "transcendence". The reason why they can combine many lives outside themselves into a magnificent historical river is because they project their own lives into it. I think that Sima Qian is Sima Qian and historical records are historical records. People are chivalrous and books are chivalrous, which is related to this life experience. Smooth sailing, lack of life experience, be a historian, you can; But it's hard to be a great historian (I think the meaning of "great history" is to connect the past and the present, to live and die together). It is easy to look at history with personal honor and disgrace, but Sima Qian can keep sober and objective when talking about history. Even when he writes about contemporary affairs, he can control his emotions even if he hurts his skin. At most, he expressed his feelings in praise, which was beyond his life. He participated in history. He will never get confused. I appreciate Sima Qian's praise and literary description. Because it is in such words that we can get a glimpse of his personality and then understand his vivid pen use. For example, in his works, even Emperor Gaozu, the winner is king, and his mind is full of hooliganism. Even Xiang Yu, the loser is a thief, is heroic. Even a terrorist at that time, he would say, "Don't cheat his ambition, his name will be remembered by future generations"; Even a "big bad guy" like Reese, when he was dying, he would describe the family happiness when the father and son were crying, recalling that year, holding a yellow dog and chasing a cunning rabbit. Many "great men" write like "little people". Related to Sima Qian's indignation, Biography of General Li is also worth reading (interestingly before Biography of Xiongnu and Biography of General Wei). He didn't talk much about the disaster of Li Ling, but compared with Hanshu, he seemed to be a brush. It is difficult for us to guess whether this omission is due to "dare not say" or "can't bear to say". But he said in his praise: "It is said that he is honest and does not give orders; Is he called General Li even though he is not obedient? I have met General Li, who is too modest to say anything. On the day of death, what the world knows or doesn't know is mourning. Is his loyalty to the literati sincere? As the saying goes, "peaches and plums don't say anything, the next step has its own way." "Although this statement is small, it can be said to be big. An intriguing little story was recorded in historical records and passed down from generation to generation.

Sima Qian's characters are vivid and distinctive. Vivid language and beautiful words make readers feel as if they are in a beautiful artistic conception. With the ups and downs of the plot, my mood is also changing. I take pleasure in being a hero, worry about being a hero, and feel the hero's feelings. The relaxed and humorous language and gripping plot seem to have brought me to that distant era. The background characteristics of each era; The customs of each country; The customs and habits of various ethnic groups are vividly displayed in the history books.

Reading historical records is like taking a historical trip without leaving home, enjoying everything in that era, reviewing all kinds of unforgettable historical events and understanding people's thoughts and feelings at that time.

Reading historical records is like reading an interesting story book. Vivid historical figures tell you interesting stories that happened to them and lead you into their world.

Reading history books is like talking face to face with a historian. I was deeply moved by his accurate language, and unconsciously increased the necessary historical knowledge and enriched my mind.

Historical Records is a lively, interesting and informative book.