The first section Sima Qian's life and historical records
1, Sima Qian's life and the writing of Historical Records
Sima Qian (former 145- former 87) was born in xia yang (now Hancheng, Shaanxi). The completion of such an epoch-making historical work in his hands is inseparable from subjective and objective factors such as the times and personal experiences at that time.
First of all, thank you for your family influence. His father, Sima Tan, studied with experts in astronomy, Yi-ology and Taoism at that time and wrote a paper on Six Essentials. Sima Qian was deeply influenced by this family with strong academic atmosphere. When he was young, in addition to taking part in some labor, he began to learn the popular script at that time-official script. After Liang Wudi acceded to the throne, Sima Tan was appointed Taishiling and his family moved to Chang 'an. He also studied "ancient prose" (that is, the characters in the pre-Qin period), learned from Dong Zhongshu, the master of Confucian classics at that time, and learned from Kong Anguo the ancient prose "Shangshu". These knowledge preparations are very important for writing history books.
Secondly, Sima Qian recorded, interviewed, collected, read and revised a lot of historical materials, and had personal experience and real feelings about social and political events. At the age of twenty, I had a feat of wandering the country. In the process of roaming, I began to pay attention to searching for historical sites and collecting rumors about people. For example, go to Huaiyin to collect legends about Han Xin; I went to Peixian and Fengxian and collected historical materials of Liu Bang, Cao Can and Xiao He. When I visited Kaifeng, Henan Province, I found that Yimen was the east gate of the girder (now Kaifeng) and so on.
After roaming, he became a doctor. His entourage, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, traveled the mountains and rivers of the motherland, witnessed the ceremonial ceremony of the feudal dynasty, and participated in the feat of blocking the breach of the Yellow River led by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and obtained first-hand information on writing river books. He also served as an envoy to Southwest China and was exposed to the history and life of southwest ethnic minorities, which undoubtedly played a very good role in writing the Biography of Southwest China.
Sima Tan died of illness, and Sima Qian succeeded to the throne with the order of Taishi, so that he could have access to the Book of the Golden Chamber, the book history and archives collected by the royal family.
Third, the influence of the ideological trend of the times. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty only respected Confucianism, and Confucianism was widely circulated. Confucianism attaches great importance to the summary of historical experience and lessons. Confucius personally edited Spring and Autumn Annals on the basis of Lu's history. This had a great influence on Sima Qian, who compared the writing of historical records with Confucius' Spring and Autumn Annals.
At the same time, this is also related to Sima Qian's request. In the first year of Yuanfeng (1 10), Sima Tan and Emperor Wu sealed Mount Tai and stayed in Luoyang due to illness. Sima Qian returned from his mission to the southwest and reported to Emperor Wu. When he arrived in Luoyang, he met his dying father, who earnestly asked him to finish his unfinished business, that is, to write history books. Sima Qian made a promise in front of his father. Since then, Sima Qian has regarded writing history as his highest ideal, and has suffered setbacks and perseverance.
Probably in the first year of Taichu (before 104), Sima Qian presided over the work of changing the calendar and began to write history books. He is forty-two years old this year. In the second year of Tian Han (the first 99 years), Li Ling, who surrendered to the Huns in defeat, said a few fair words, which angered Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and was sentenced to imprisonment. After that, he lived in seclusion, wrote resentfully, and worked hard to complete the creation of Historical Records, which was basically written about four years from the beginning (the first 93 years). After that, there is no historical data to test, and it is speculated that he may have died in the last years of Emperor Wu.
2. Historical style
Historical Records is a general history, from the Yellow Emperor to Liang Wudi, describing the historical development of 3,000 years. It created the first biographical style of history books in China, including twelve biographies, eight books, ten tables, thirty books, seventy biographies and one hundred and thirty articles.
"Benji" records the great events of emperors in past dynasties and narrates the political traces of the supreme rulers in past dynasties, and generally adopts the method of chronology; "Table" is a memorabilia in various historical periods, and it is the connection and supplement of the narrative of the whole book. The Book describes the development and present situation of astronomy, calendar, water conservancy, economy, culture and art respectively. Family mainly describes the history of nobles and princes; Biographies are mainly biographies of people of different types, classes and occupations, and also describe the development history of a few foreign and domestic countries.
3. The people's nature of Historical Records
Sima Qian's biography is full of emotion and shows a distinct tendency. The ugly nature of the supreme ruler, such as cruelty, fraud and hypocrisy, is always exposed in some way. For example, Liu Bang was the founding monarch of the Han Dynasty. Sima Qian affirmed his achievements in overthrowing the Qin Dynasty, ending the Chu-Han War and unifying the whole country, and also exposed the disgraceful darkness in Liu Bang's biography. For example, in Biography of Xiang Yu, there is a sharp contrast between their respective performances in the struggle. The battle between Liu Bang and Xiang Yu failed. He looked so timid, wretched and incompetent. He wrote about his greed for money in biographies such as Stay at Houjia, and his cruel nature of suspecting to kill heroes in Xiao Jia and Biography of Huaiyin Houjia. Even the emperors of this dynasty did not shy away, such as the cruel and trustworthy officials who exposed the cruelty of Emperor Wu to the people, the ignorant and superstitious immortals and literati.
The facts about the conspiracy and tendency of the situation of the bureaucratic group and the aristocratic class are vividly described. For example, in Wei's Biography of An Hou, the struggle with Tian Fan was written, which exposed the indifference and dark psychology of this class. Because Sima Qian's Historical Records dared to face the reality and mercilessly exposed the essence of the ruling class, it won the reputation of "Record".
Sima Qian expressed the people's assembly under the cruel oppression of cruel officials, acknowledged its rationality and justice, and broke through class restrictions to some extent. Chen She Uprising was the first peasant uprising in China, which was highly praised and warmly praised. Sima Qian also made a comprehensive summary of Chen She's failure. Sima Qian eulogized Xiang Yu's great contribution to overthrowing the Qin Dynasty, but criticized his tyranny and killing innocent people.
Sima Qian affirmed the great role of heroes in history, but also vaguely realized the role of outstanding elements from all walks of life in promoting history. Historical Records has made biographies for businessmen, doctors, chivalrous men, Confucian scholars and debaters, and acknowledged their roles in the historical process. Sima Qian affirmed the rangers who violated the laws of the feudal class, because rangers like Jia Zhu and Guo Jie "inspired people's lives, regardless of merits and demerits" and became social forces to restrain the powerful and save the people from danger at that time. When Sima Qian described the characters in the ruling group, he also measured them by their attitude towards the people. General Li Guang was praised by Sima Qian, whose basic point was his love for soldiers as a child.
Historical Records recorded a series of patriotic heroes, such as Lin Xiangru's moral integrity of "putting national danger first and personal enmity first", and Lian Po's courage of "correcting evil for Zhao", all of which won warm praise from Sima Qian. These images are still good textbooks for patriotic ideological education today.
4. The artistic technique of character description in Historical Records.
1) The characters are placed in the whirlpool of contradictions and conflicts, and their personality characteristics are displayed through their own actions. For example, the "Hongmen Banquet" section in Biography of Xiang Yu was the first face-to-face contest after the contradiction between the two factions in the rebel army rose to the main contradiction after the demise of the Qin Empire. In the sword, there are contradictions between Xiang Yu Group and Liu Bang Group, and there are also struggles between the hawk and the pacifist within Xiang Yu Group, and Xiang Yu is the gathering point of these contradictions. Xiang Yu's handling of various contradictions shows his childish, kind and frank psychological factors, and Liu Bang also shows his flexible and cunning personality characteristics in this scene. In the section "Debate at the Court" in The Biography of Hou An of Wei, the contradiction between Tian Fen and Chao Fen reached a white-hot level, and the ministers of the DPRK and China each showed themselves in this contradiction: they were sophisticated and tactful, saying that they were right, affirming Tian Fen, handing over the contradiction, and "only knowing what to do"; Zheng Dangshi began to say that Dou Ying was right, but later he dared not insist. There is not much pen and ink, but it outlines the face of bureaucrats.
2) Sima Qian is also good at choosing expressive life details to reveal the characters' personalities and inner world. For example, if you write Shi Qing, "I am a servant and I am a member of the royal family." Celebrate the number of horses according to the strategy, raise your hand and say' six horses'. "Through this small incident, Shi Qing's cautious personality and his mood of being with you like a tiger are vividly on the paper.
3) Highlight the main characters' personalities from different angles. For example, in the portrayal of Xin, the author focuses on his face to meet Hou Sheng, and goes straight to the position of childe through Hou Sheng's unyielding posture. Hou Sheng deliberately stayed in the city for a long time to observe the son, and wrote that the son secretly scolded Hou Sheng from the rider, which surprised the guests. It is through the different attitudes of these different characters that the lowliness of Corporal Xin is highlighted.
4) Through the dialogues and monologues of the characters, the characters' personalities, voices and smiles are successfully displayed. For example, both Liu Bang and Xiang Yu have seen the trip to Qin Shihuang. When Xiang Yu saw Qin Shihuang crossing Zhejiang, he blurted out, "He can take the place of others", which shows his ambition and reckless frankness. Liu Bang saw Qin Shihuang's trip to Xianyang and said, "Wow! The gentleman should be like this, "euphemistically twists and turns, and the mind of coveted supreme status is also revealed. In "Biography of Prime Minister Zhang", "I can't speak, but I don't know its future; Although your majesty wants to abolish the prince, he will not be given a letter in the official period, but will write Zhou Chang's stuttering vividly.
Sima Qian often used "cross-examination" to avoid repetition when writing biographies. When the same thing involves several people, it is described in detail in one place, omitted in another place, and sometimes marked with "words in something". This kind of "mutual understanding" not only avoids repetition, but also plays a role in highlighting the main character of the characters. For example, in "Biography of Xiang Yu", Xiang Yu's arrogant personality characteristics are mainly highlighted; Other aspects that contradict this main feature are supplemented in other people's biographies, which not only highlight the dominant personality characteristics, but also avoid paying attention to one thing and losing another, thus achieving the integrity of personality.
Literary Achievements of Historical Records
Historical Records is a historical masterpiece as well as a literary masterpiece. When introducing the historical works of pre-Qin dynasty, we say that these historical works contain literary factors and components to a greater or lesser extent; This is far from enough for historical records.
Because the writing of historical records has literary motivation, this historical book itself has the nature of literature.
Sima Qian himself is a romantic poet. From Bao Ren An Shu and Historical Records, we can see his compassionate, emotional and impulsive personality characteristics everywhere. He got into trouble because of the Li Ling incident, which is also a tragedy of character. Because no matter from personal relationship or official position, he has no obligation to defend Li Ling. Yang Xiong at the end of the Western Han Dynasty said: "Children are more curious." (Fa Yan) also saw Sima Qian's romantic poet temperament.
"Historical Records" aims to "study the relationship between man and nature, connect the changes of ancient and modern times, and form a unified view". As we have mentioned before, this means not only summing up history and recording historical facts, but also vividly reflecting and studying human life style, human status in the world and various contradictions and dilemmas in human life through the activities of a large number of historical figures (many of whom are contemporary figures of the author). These are also the fundamental purposes of literature. However, as a historical work, Historical Records is limited to fiction.
Historical records also have the purpose of expressing feelings. The Book of Changes, The Book of Songs, Li Sao, etc. It all comes down to the angry behavior of the sages. This man has a sense of stagnation, so he can't understand his way, so he tells the past and thinks about newcomers. Therefore, he put forward the theory of "writing books with anger". This statement may not be completely consistent with the facts of his ancient writings, but it is completely consistent with the facts of Historical Records. While narrating the deeds of historical figures, Historical Records is permeated with the author's own life feelings, inner pain and depression, which is the key that we can't help but be moved when reading Historical Records under the Millennium. Lu Xun's "Outline of China Literature History" called "Historical Records", which is also focused on this point.
In order to achieve these goals, Historical Records used a lot of literary means and achieved great literary achievements. Below, we introduce it from three aspects: narrative art, characterization art and language art. It should be pointed out that the core parts of Historical Records-biographies, biographies and biographies are basically composed of biographies, which are narrative and dramatic, and characters are created through these stories. Therefore, the so-called narrative art and characterization art cannot be divided into two parts. Just for the convenience of expression, we first analyze the narrative style and artistic characteristics of Historical Records as a whole, and then analyze how it shapes characters.
China's narrative literature experienced a long development process before it was recorded in history. There are quite a lot of descriptions of war scenes and complex historical events in the historical works of pre-Qin dynasty, which also contain many vivid and interesting stories, which provide a certain basis for historical records. The main interest of pre-Qin historians is to completely describe historical events from beginning to end, and express political and ethical judgments through these events, and their narrative attitude is mainly historical. In addition to describing historical events, Sima Qian is more conscious of trying to reproduce scenes and people's activities that have appeared in history; In addition to political and ethical judgments, it has a stronger sense of reflecting human life in many aspects. So his narrative attitude is obviously literary.
The narrative mode of Historical Records is basically the objective narrative of the third person. As a narrator, Sima Qian stood almost completely outside the event, and only in the last part of On Zan did he directly appear as a commentator and express his views. In this way, it provides a broad leeway for free narration and setting scenes. The so-called objective narrative does not contain the author's position and tendency, but just does not show it. Through the unfolding of historical events and the comparison of different characters in their historical activities, the emotional tendency of the narrator is actually reflected. This is what the predecessors said: "Narration contains praise and criticism". This implicit praise and criticism is conveyed through the infection of literature.
In order to reproduce the scenes and activities of characters in history, many biographies in Historical Records are composed of a series of vivid stories. For example, in the New Biography, there are stories such as welcoming Hou Sheng, stealing symbols to save Zhao, and selling pulp scholars to travel far away. The Biography of Lian Po and Lin Xiangru consists of stories such as Return to Zhao in Perfect Condition, Meet at Mianchi, and offer a humble apology. The main body of Sun Wu Zhuan is the story of the martial war. In Biography of Sun Bin, there are stories such as teaching Tian Ji to bet on horses and Ma Lingdao defeating Pang Juan. This situation is very common, too numerous to mention. Numerous stories, large and small, constitute the literary foundation of Historical Records. Although pre-Qin historical works also contain stories, compared with historical records, except for a few stories in the Warring States Policy, they are not only much less in number, but also much simpler. Future historical works will no longer be like Historical Records, which is one of the reasons why Historical Records has special literary charm in many historical books in China.
(1) There is also an inevitable factor that history and literature are gradually separated.
Many stories in Historical Records are very dramatic. Sima Qian seems to like to unfold his own story in vivid scenes and sharp conflicts. The characters in the book express themselves directly, making readers almost forget the existence of the narrator. Such as the scene in the biography of General Lee:
(Li Guang) Taste the night of horses and drink the land of people. I also went to Baling Pavilion, and Commander Baling was drunk. Guang Qi said, "So General Li also." Wei said, "Generals are not allowed to travel at night. Why not?" Stop at Guangsu Pavilion.
This seems to be a good drama sketch. In addition, a famous story like The Hongmen Banquet is simply a one-act drama with one climax after another. The appearance, exit, expression, movement, dialogue and even the orientation of the seat of the characters are clearly explained. This story can be rewritten into a real drama and performed on the stage without much effort. This dramatic story has many advantages: first, it has realistic literary performance effect; Secondly, it avoids long and slow narration, has tension and produces the activating force needed by literature; Third, in sharp conflicts, it is the easiest to show the personality of the characters.
Historical Records is famous for its "record", which shows that Sima Qian's attitude towards history is serious, neither ostentatious nor secretive. But the vivid stories in his works cannot be completely true. In order to pursue vivid artistic effects and appeal to readers, he used a lot of legendary materials, and he was bound to fabricate details. This is a typical literary narrative method.
In addition, The Law of Mutual Understanding initiated by Historical Records has both historical and literary significance. The so-called "cross-examination" means that a person's events are scattered all over the country, mainly based on his own biography; Or scatter the same thing in different places and concentrate on one place. Sima Qian used this method not only to avoid repetition. In order to make each biography have aesthetic unity and artistic integrity, it is necessary to write only the main characteristics and experiences of the characters in each biography, while in order to make the whole historical record have historical authenticity and integrity, it is necessary to supplement the secondary characteristics and experiences of the characters in other places. This is the meaning of the law of mutual understanding. Because Historical Records is based on characters, it is often necessary to cover the same thing in many biographies. In order to avoid repetition and make the event clear, Sima Qian described the same thing from different angles in different biographies, which not only highlighted everyone's role in this event, but also did not give people a sense of repetition. This is the significance of the method of observing events with each other. Through mutual understanding of characters and events, Sima Qian made Historical Records both credible in history and readable in literature.
In terms of characterization, past works have also accumulated. In Zuo Zhuan, we can see some characters with certain personalities. The description of characters in Warring States Policy is more detailed and the character is more distinct. However, because they are all based on historical events, the description of characters is only scattered in the narrative and lacks integrity. In addition, it is also worth noting to write about a person, such as Yan Zi in Spring and Autumn Annals. However, it is just a collection of many stories of Yan Zi, and there is no internal connection between them. In a word, there was no complete biography before the Han Dynasty, and characterization was relatively simple on the whole. On this basis, Historical Records has made great progress and raised the characterization art of China literature to an epoch-making new height.
Generally speaking, Historical Records has three characteristics: a large number, rich types and distinctive personality. It consists of a large number of personal biographies, including nearly 100 successful and impressive ones, such as Xiang Yu, Liu Bang, Sean, Han Xin, Li Si, Qu Yuan, Sun Wu and Jing Ke. As mentioned above, these characters come from all walks of life, engage in different activities and experience different life fates. From emperors to civilians, there are winners and losers, heroic heroes and shameless villains. Together, * * * has formed a colorful character gallery. These characters all have their own distinct personalities. People with different identities and experiences are certainly different from each other, and people with similar identities and experiences will not be confused with each other. Sean and Chen Ping are both wise men under Liu Bang. One is complete honesty, and the other is inattention to details. The cruel officials appointed by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty were corrupt and incorruptible. These not only give us historical knowledge, but also give us rich life experience.
Sima Qian also had a preference for various historical figures. That is "curiosity", that is, I like extraordinary people who are full of energy and outstanding talents. Those insurgents who rose up to rule the world, those heroes who looked timid and complacent, those chivalrous men who did not occupy power and shocked the world, those heroic and invincible generals, those assassins who shed five steps of blood, those resourceful and weak scholars, and even those extremely rich widows, beautiful women who dared to sympathize with others to elope ..., these extraordinary figures constitute ". Therefore, Historical Records is full of romantic feelings and legends. In particular, reading the biographies of people during the great historical changes in Qin and Han Dynasties as a separate part is like a heroic epic.
Sima Qian pays special attention to the great changes in the fate of characters in the process of describing their lives. For example, he writes about great men with great achievements and often writes about how they were despised when they were humble. While writing about come to a bad end's great men, I often write about how arrogant they are when they succeed. The former is Liu Bang, Han Xin and Su Qin, while the latter is Xiang Yu, Li Si and Tian Heng. In the process of this change, the common weaknesses of people at that time were fully exposed, such as snobbery and revenge. For example, when Liu Bang was humble, his sister-in-law didn't give him food and his father didn't like him. After his success, Liu Bang refused to forget to laugh at them. After Li Guang was dismissed, he was despised by Pakistan. After he was reinstated, he killed Ba Lingwei under the pretext. Han Anguo committed a crime and was imprisoned. The little jailer bullied him. After his comeback, he specially asked the jailer to bring up the past. These stories of fate change and revenge can best show the relationship between man and environment and status, and reveal the complexity of human nature.
Sima Qian knows very well that people who cater to the society and the secular often get happiness; On the other hand, it is also prone to misfortune. He often uses comparative methods to express his views. For example, Su Qin, an outstanding writer of Su Qin Biography, was stabbed to death, while his mediocre brothers Su Dai and Su Li enjoyed their lives; In Biography of Zhufuyan, Hou, it is recorded that Zhufuyan was sharp-edged and killed, but GongSunHong was ugly, but enjoyed wealth. But Sima Qian never praised the mediocre, miserable and petty life. The most magnificent and touching thing in Historical Records is the tragic fate of the heroes. Biography of Xiang Yu wrote that Xiang Yu finally committed suicide, but it took one or two thousand words. As a historical record, it can be said that it is unnecessary; As a literary work, it has a dripping and hearty effect. When Xiang Yu could escape, because he had no face to see his elders in Jiangdong, he drew his sword and tightened his neck. Li Guang's death is unforgivable, just because he doesn't want to be humiliated by knife and pencil collectors for the rest of his life. Qu Yuan threw himself into the river for lofty ideals. In this recurring tragedy, Sima Qian showed noble people's strong struggle against fate. He told people that even if fate is invincible, people's will is unyielding. From this, we can see the heroic spirit of life in the culture of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and sigh for it again and again.
For the characters described in Historical Records, people can strongly feel their vivid faces and exposed faces. For example, Zheng Qian Saito, a modern Japanese scholar, said: "If you read a history book, if you directly see people at that time, you can hear their words with your own eyes, which makes people feel happy at first sight, and you are afraid of crying at first sight and can't stop." How did this artistic effect come into being?
First of all, Historical Records pays attention to and is good at describing the appearance and expression of characters, making the characters visible. For example, Sean looks like a woman and a good girl, Li Guang looks like an ape with arms, Cai Ze's nose, shoulders, face, knees and so on. Although simple, they all have their own characteristics. Moreover, Sima Qian rarely simply describes the appearance of the characters, but always has some hidden or obvious connection with the characters' personalities, so it leaves a deep impression on people. For example, after reading Sean's biography, it's hard for us to forget his "like a woman, a good woman". Descriptions of facial expressions abound. Biography of Lian Po and Lin Xiangru wrote that Lin Xiangru established Qin, and the king of Qin wanted to seize jade, as if he were "holding the jade pillar and trying to strike it", "looking at it with his eyes open, both sides will be exhausted" and "rushing to the top in anger", as if he had seen it with his own eyes.
The description of life details is the basic means for literary works to shape characters, express their personalities and show their inner world. This rarely appears in general historical works, but it is quite a lot in Historical Records. The biography of Li Si begins with a passage like this:
(Reese) When I was young, I was a county magistrate. When I saw the rats and dogs in the toilet of the official residence, I was terrified. When you enter the warehouse, you can see that the mice in the warehouse eat millet and live under big guards, and you can't see the worries of people and dogs. So Lisnai sighed, "Man's virtue is unworthy, and his arms are like rats. He's in his ear! " I learned the art of emperors from Xun Qing.
From a purely historical point of view, such trifles are worthless. But from the literary point of view, it reveals Reese's personality characteristics and life pursuit very concretely and profoundly. Another example is Zhang Tang's dismemberment of mice as an old official when he was a child, Liu's bold hooliganism when he was a child, and his thought of killing the world for the villagers, and so on. , are through trivial events to present the character's personality, avoid abstract comments on the character. Naturally, in this description, there are inevitably elements of legend and fiction.
Dialogue can best reflect the life experience, cultural accomplishment and social status of the characters, which is also emphasized in Historical Records, with many excellent examples. Liu Bang and Xiang Yu saw the majesty of Qin Shihuang's military parade when they were young, and each said a confession that they were not willing to be in their own position. Liu Bang said, "Wow! A gentleman should be like this! " How envious; Xiang Yu said, "He can take a place!" More hatred and ambition, showing their different situations at that time. When Han Anguo went to prison, he was humiliated by the jailer. Did he threaten the jailer with "Will the ashes never come back"? The jailer said brazenly, "If you do this, you will drown (pee)!" It vividly shows the recklessness and joy of the little people when they can bully the big people. Chen She Family wrote that Chen Sheng was king. When his former partner saw his palace, he exclaimed, "Yi Gang! Those who are involved in Wang Shen! " The use of rural dialect shows the simplicity and recklessness of the speaker, and it is also very vivid and realistic.
As mentioned above, the drama scene is also an excellent means to show the role. Because in the sharp focus of contradictions and conflicts, all kinds of characters are moving nervously according to their own interests, habits, wisdom and ability, as well as their relationship with others, revealing their true colors and contrasting with each other, and their personalities can be particularly distinct. For example, we can clearly see Liu Bang's tact and flexibility, Sean's wit and composure, Xiang Yu's frankness and rudeness, Fan Kuai's bravery, Xiang Bo's honesty and pedantry, and Fan Zeng's decisiveness and impatience. Similarly, Jing Ke stabbed Qin, the battle of the giant deer, the battlefield feast and so on. Sima Qian likes to express his characters in such scenes.
Generally speaking, Sima Qian's characterization of characters is mainly completed in concrete actions, in sharp contradictions and conflicts, in the changes of characters' fate and in the comparison between different characters; Because Sima Qian has a profound observation of all kinds of characters and a profound understanding of human nature and its changes in different environments and positions, these characters can float in front of us so actively and vigorously.
The language art of Historical Records has always been respected and regarded as a model, which represents the highest achievement of the so-called "ancient prose" before the appearance of parallel prose.
From the articles of philosophers in the Warring States period, the lobbying words of strategists, and the essays of some representative writers in the Han Dynasty, such as Zou Yang, Mei Cheng and Jia Yi, we can see that extravagance and parallelism are regarded as a common means. On the basis of absorbing predecessors' experience, Sima Qian abandoned extravagance and parallelism, and formed a simple, simple, leisurely, changeable, popular and smooth prose style. Parallelism is rarely used in Historical Records, and the sentences seem casual and occasionally even have some language defects, but they are very charming and vivid. Because Sima Qian is always emotional in his narration, according to different scenes and out of different moods, his tone is short, slow, heavy, light, humorous and Zhuang Su, which is very infectious.
Sima Qian has a high cultivation of ancient languages and real life languages, and is good at integrating them into a unified whole. He quoted ancient historical materials and handled them properly. It is a thorough translation of the oldest book Shangshu, which is far from the language at that time. There are many changes in Zuo Zhuan and Guoyu. At that time, the Warring States Policy, which was closest to the language, was mainly abridged and sometimes plagiarized in large sections. Historical records are basically written, but they are not far from the spoken language at that time. Many folk proverbs and ballads are also widely quoted in the book. For example, in the Biography of General Li, "Peach and plum don't say anything, only open the way for themselves" describes that Li Guang is not good at words, won the respect of others, and is full of generality and life flavor. In addition, as mentioned above, people often use spoken English in daily life when writing dialogues in Historical Records, which also increases the vitality of language. Later generations regard the articles in Historical Records as learning models, but many people ignore the main features of the language of Historical Records, that is, full of emotion and vitality.