When recording history, historians often integrate their own life experience and historical figures into a long river of history; they also integrate the background of their own times and the actual needs of their predecessors into the experience of their predecessors.
Sima Qian's "Records of History" is not only a history book, but also a biography of a person. It records Sima Qian's life experience, emotional expression, personal encounters, etc., and also carries Sima Qian's style of behavior and thinking mode.
Inherit the father's legacy
Sima Qian's father, Sima Tan, because of his ancestors' "Shidian Zhou Shi", so he always hoped that he could inherit the family lineage of Shi Guan.
When Emperor Wu of Han was enthroned, Sima Tan, as a historical official, was unable to participate, which was a very regrettable thing. Sima Tan sighed in disappointment, "It's Fate!" Fate! ”
Stills of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty
In Sima Tan's view, now that the Han Dynasty has risen, the world is unified, and there are many people who are loyal to the Ming Lord, the Wise Lord, and the Loyal Subjects, and the Righteous; Sima Tan's own history without recording it has severed the historical documents of the world, and he feels very afraid and uneasy.
Because of this, he hoped that his son Sima Qian would consider inheriting the family history position, and he also earnestly hoped that his son could inherit his will to write books. He thought that when he died, his son would do taishi, so before he died, he said to his son, "Don't forget my last wish." You must complete my unfinished business!" ”
At the age of thirty-eight, Sima Qian succeeded his father as Taishi Ling, and apart from serving Emperor Wu on tour, he spent the rest of the time sorting out historical materials in the han dynasty government's library; he began to complete the work of writing books in order to inherit his father's legacy.
During the Western Han Dynasty, Taishi Ling was in charge of the Heavenly Officials and did not rule the people. In the first year of the taichu dynasty, Sima Qian, on the orders of Emperor Wu, presided over the work of changing the calendar and created the taichu calendar, laying the foundation for the calendar for China.
Portrait of Sima Qian
According to the "Literary and Historical Ephemeris, almost between Bu Zhu", it can be seen that historiography and the ephemeris are closely related. That is to say, Sima Qian, who was the Taishi Ling, had a unique view of the ancient and modern heavenly people because he was in charge of the heavenly officials.
Read thousands of books, travel thousands of miles
Sima Qian began to study historical and cultural knowledge at the age of ten. In history, there are many legendary deeds of heroes, who have made meritorious achievements and thus left their footprints. Because of this, Sima Qian has always wanted to follow the footsteps of history and investigate historical sites on the ground.
Sima Qian had three opportunities to investigate. The first was his "grand tour" when he was twenty years old, mainly in the Jianghuai River Basin and the Central Plains; the second time was to make an envoy's identity and footprints throughout "Qiong, Xing, Kunming" and other places; the third time was his trip with Emperor Wu of Han.
Sima Qian mentioned in the "Preface to the History of Taishi Gong" that he began a life of travel with his home in Chang'an as a starting point. He investigated the history and customs of everywhere he went; he collected legends and followed the footsteps of the heroes of history.
Fan Li stills
His footprints went to Luoyang, and then south, first to Jianghuai, that is, the northern part of Jiangsu and Anhui, overlooking the Five Lakes where Fan Li was boating.
He went to Huaiyin, visited the story of Han Xin's poverty, and personally went to Han Xin's cemetery, then from Lushan in Jiangxi to Huiji Mountain in the south of Shaoxing County, Zhejiang.
It is said that Yu would meet the princes here and calculate tribute, so it was called "Huiji". After Yu's death, he was buried here, and there was a hole in the mountain, which was called "Yu Cave" because Yu had entered it, and Yu's descendant, Yue Wang, also spent time here trying to get revenge.
He arrived at the Nine Doubts Mountain, where Shun is said to have been buried. Jiuling Mountain was the upper reaches of the Xiangshui River, and he took a boat to cross the Yuanyuan and Xiangershui rivers and came to Changsha to think of Qu Yuan's feelings of worrying about the country and the people beside the Miluo River.
He further traveled north to Wenshui and Surabaya, and then through Qi and Lubai yang Kongmeng's hometown, Dengtai Mountain, Youfan County, xue county, to investigate Meng's fengyi.
After that, he visited the hometowns of Liu Bang and Xiao He in Pengcheng County to learn about the founding monarchs of the Han Dynasty, and then passed through Chu and visited the palace ruins of Chun Shenjun.
Chun Shenjun stills
This is really a "grand tour"!
Sima moved back to Chang'an and was appointed Langzhong in the fifth year of Yuan Shuo, and in the sixth year of Yuan Ding, when he was thirty-five years old, he went to Kunming, Yunnan, as an envoy. He did not fail in his mission, appeased the stupidity of the southwest, and undertook the task of setting up a county in the southwest.
This time, Sima Qian's footprints covered "Qiong, Xing, Kunming" and other places, that is, the southwest region around today's Kunming.
In addition, Emperor Wu of Han reigned for fifty-four years, and went out many times for the purpose of sealing Zen and seeking immortals, and Sima Qian basically participated in it. Sima Qian followed Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and traveled throughout Northern China such as Gansu, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, and Hebei.
It can be seen that Sima Qian traveled almost all over China. Under the very inconvenient conditions of transportation at that time, it was not an easy thing for him to be able to travel all over the country.
The influence of the world
The rich experience broadened Sima Qian's horizons and shook his soul; the field investigation made Sima Qian more able to feel the generous and tragic characters in the history books, and also to feel more empathy for their misfortune.
This life experience influenced Sima Qian's thinking and made him have greater ambitions.
Quyuan Images
When Sima Qian went to the banks of the Miluo River where Qu Yuan committed suicide, he pursued Qu Yuan, thinking that Qu Yuan's blunt advice was not adopted, and he was exiled to Northern Han; he could not help but burst into tears because he sympathized with Qu Yuan's situation.
When Sima moved to Qilu, he learned the etiquette of shooting from the countryside. Because Confucius lectured on the capital of Qilu, Sima Qian immersed himself in the wind of Confucianism, felt the culture of Qilu, and produced more reverence.
Sima Qian's "Records of History" data originated from the collection of the Golden Stone Chamber; and his travels around the world allowed him to witness many historical sites and historical relics, and mastered a lot of geographical data.
In other words, Sima Qian was personally feeling and appreciating the tragicomedy of history.
As for the writing, su ru in the Song Dynasty called Taishi Gong traveling to the world's famous mountains and rivers, increasing his resume and expanding his mind, so his writing can be bold and free. It can be seen that Sima Qian's grand travels around the world have been of great help to his writing.
Zhi imitation spring and autumn
The ancients had their own motivations and backgrounds in their revisions. For example, "Spring and Autumn" is a work written by Confucius according to the history of Lu, which contains Confucius's political ambitions and political philosophy.
Confucius stills
The "Records of History" is not only a history book that collects the world's old news, but also contains Sima Qian's thoughts. The purpose of Sima Qian's writing of the "Records of History" was to explore the relationship between Heavenly Reason and mankind, to penetrate the context of ancient and modern historical evolution, to expound his own political views, and to hope to "become the words of one family."
Sima Qian believed that there was a hereditary system in the political system, and there was also a system of inheritance in literary history. He greatly admired Confucius. In his eyes, Confucius was a commoner, but in the early Han Dynasty, it was passed down for more than a dozen generations; all the readers worshipped Confucius and took Confucius's teachings as the standard of life; therefore, Confucius could be called "the most holy".
Sima Qian's "words of becoming a family" is to express his own thoughts by recording history. It can be seen that he not only wants to fulfill his father's legacy, but also fulfills his duties as a historian, hoping that he can play an exemplary role like Confucius in "Spring and Autumn".
The Curse of Li Ling
During sima qian's writing of the "Records of History", he encountered the most tragic event of his life- suffering from corruption.
Sima Qian greatly admired Li Ling's Warring States Shilin style. After Li Ling surrendered to the Xiongnu, Sima Qian believed that Li Ling was in need of assistance at a time of suffering, so he chose to defend Li Ling and intercede.
Li Ling Image
Sima Qian believed that Li Ling's defeat of the Xiongnu was due to his bitterness. Although Li Ling was defeated, he had no choice but to surrender with fewer enemies and more enemies and strong with weakness, and it was because "he was exhausted and did not save the troops."
Therefore, Sima Qian tried to protect Li Ling. However, his statement was not understood and recognized by Emperor Wu of Han.
Emperor Wu of Han believed that Sima Qian was using the "Li Ling Incident" to criticize his policy of frequent conquest of the Xiongnu, and he was furious and put Sima Qian in prison, preparing to sentence him to death.
After Sima Moved to prison, because his family was poor and did not have enough money to redeem himself, in order to fulfill his father's last wishes, he had no choice but to accept the punishment of corruption to atone for his sins.
Sima Qian gained a deeper understanding of the world after the Li Ling Incident. He had to "live in secrecy", not only to fulfill his father's last wishes, but also to "become a family", so he wrote books in anger, eager to express his heart like the sages and sages of ancient times.
Sima Qian was educated by historians from an early age, and had the opportunity to travel the world, which was of great help to him in his future writing of the "History of History".
But what changed Sima Qian's fate was the "Li Ling Incident." After suffering from corruption, Sima Qian felt that he was greatly humiliated, but because he did not finish writing a book, he was willing to be tortured without remorse; and his immortal work "History of History" had a profound impact on the development of historiography and literature in later generations.