Sima Qian used five genres in compiling Historical Records: Ji, Chuan, Shu and Biao. Among them, biographies are written by biographies authors, biographies authors are biographies authors, and biographies authors are biographies authors. Chronicles are used to record the history of dynasties and biographies of emperors, while aristocratic families are used to record biographies of hereditary princes and nobles. Biography has a wide range of applications and is suitable for biographies of people from all walks of life except chronicles and aristocratic families.
Let's use a few concrete examples to illustrate. Sima Qian can use this chronicle when writing History of Qin Dynasty and Biography of Qin Shihuang. Sima Qian can use aristocratic families when writing biographies of Sean, Zhou Bo and Chen Ping, the founding heroes of the Western Han Dynasty. Like Sima Xiangru and Meng Changjun, they are neither emperors nor princes. Their biographies are biographies.
However, Sima Qian inevitably mixed some subjective feelings and opinions when compiling historical records. When Sima Qian wrote biographies, he did not classify them strictly according to the above principles, and there were some special cases. For example, Lv Hou and Xiang Yu were not emperors, but Sima Qian used their biographies. This is because Sima Qian thinks that the influence of Lv Hou and Xiang Yu can be compared with that of the emperor, so he put the biographies of these two people into this chronicle. There are also special examples when Sima Qian wrote biographies, the most famous of which is Biography of Han Xin.
Han Xin, a historical figure, is no stranger to everyone. He, Xiao He and others were the founding heroes of the Western Han Dynasty. Han Xin laid more than half of the country for Liu Bang, and was also sealed after the founding of the People's Republic of China. It stands to reason that his biography is fully qualified to join the WTO with Han Xin's credit and title. But Sima Qian really classified Han Xin's biography as biographies. This is naturally not that Sima Qian made a low-level mistake, but there are other reasons. Sima Qian classified Han Xin's biography as a biography for two main reasons.
As mentioned earlier, aristocratic families are used to record biographies of princes and nobles handed down from generation to generation. After the establishment of the Western Han Dynasty, Sean and Xiao He were named as the Hou of Stay and Yan Hou respectively, and their titles were also passed on to future generations. Therefore, it is reasonable for Sean and Xiao He to join the WTO.
The situation in Han Xin is different. Han Xin was also named King of Chu and Duke of Huaiyin, which met the requirements of being a noble family. But Han Xin was killed for treason before his death, and the Marquis was cut off, so that nothing can be passed down from generation to generation. From this perspective, Han Xin's biography does not belong to the family, which seems to be true. However, this is not the main reason why Han Xin was included in the biography.
The main reason why Han Xin can't join the WTO is that the Han Dynasty gave him the status of traitor, which is fatal. Sima Qian never dared to cross this red line, although he could properly integrate some personal subjective feelings when compiling historical records. If Han Xin had not been identified as a conspirator, Sima Qian was completely right to bring Han Xin into the family because of Han Xin. After all, when Sima Qian was writing biographies and family, there were exceptions.
Although Sima Qian didn't dare to put the Biography of Han Xin into his family biography, he wrote a Biography of Huaiyin Hou besides the Biography of Han Xin. This also seems to show that in Sima Qian's mind, Han Xin is different from other characters in biographies, and Han Xin can be listed in a noble family. If Sima Qian is not a historian of the Han Dynasty, but a historian of other dynasties, then when he makes a biography of Han Xin, it is very likely that Han Xin will be included in the family. Han Xin's failure to join the WTO may also be a flaw in historical records.