Original debut article / Dong Yuanben (Suqian, Jiangsu)
(Illustration 1: Sima Qian)
Wang Anshi once wrote a small essay entitled "Confucius Shijia Discussion", which questioned Sima Qian's use of "Shijia" as Confucius's biography in the "Records of History". Sima Qian wrote biographies of historical figures, and the principles he himself determined were: emperors entered the family, princes entered the family, and gongqing and his following were listed. Wang Anshi believed that Confucius's influence exceeded that of many emperors, and Sima Qian should use the "Benji" as confucius's biography. In fact, Yuan Ben felt that Sima Qian and Wang Anshi were both wrong.
Sima Qian established a classification of the dignity and inferiority of biographies, and posterity often said that he had two biographies in the "Records of History" that violated the principles he had established, one was the "Xiang Yu Benji" and the other was "Confucius Family". Regarding the "Xiang Yu Benji", such as the Northern Song Dynasty Sima Guang's "Zizhi Tongjian", the "Qin Ji" is followed by the "Han Ji", And Xiang Yu's deeds are listed in the "Qin Ji" and "Han Ji" respectively, and Sima Guang does not accept that there is a brief Xiang Yu era between Qin and Han. In fact, after the destruction of Qin, Xiang Yu established himself as the overlord of Western Chu and divided the princes, and most of the warlords who were divided, including Liu Bang, accepted it, and they recognized Xiang Yu as the co-lord of the world, that is, the four years between Qin and Han before Liu Bang defeated Xiang Yu and took the world was indeed the era of Xiang Yu. Sima Qian thus took this ji as Xiang Yu's biography, which is in line with the principle of historical materialism.
(Illustration 2: Confucius)
However, "The Family of Confucius" is different.
Confucius's highest status during his lifetime was that of Sikou of the State of Lu. The State of Lu was only a local administrative unit of the Zhou Dynasty, and the status of the State of Lu was far lower than that of the Duke of the Zhou Dynasty, and of course lower than that of the King of the State of Lu. According to Sima Qian's principle of establishing the lineage, the monarch of the State of Lu should be included in the family lineage, and the secretary of the Zhou Dynasty should belong to the column, so Confucius can actually only be included in the column.
After Confucius's death, was he posthumously awarded the title equivalent to the Son of Heaven by the emperor? There is. However, Sima Qian and his previous era had not yet posthumously named Confucius as a prince, and Sima Qian's writing of Confucius in the name of "Shijia" could only be based on the national policy of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty at that time on "deposing hundreds of families and respecting Confucianism alone", that is, it could only be Confucius's social influence at that time. However, according to social influence, it should not be a reason for Sima Qian to change the principle of establishing a biography, and if it is possible to establish a biography for them by virtue of the social influence of historical figures, then Lao Tzu in the "Records of History" should also be included in the family and should not be a column biography. In this sense, wang Anshi questioned Sima Qian's writing of Confucius in the family, which is reasonable. Of course, Sima Qian, as a Confucian disciple, also had the reason for writing Confucius in the family because he worshipped Confucius, which was Sima Qian's selfishness in "cheating".
(Illustration 3: Wang Anshi)
However, Wang Anshi, in the "Confucius Family Discussion", proceeded from Confucius's influence and then believed that Confucius's influence on future generations exceeded that of many emperors, and that Confucius should be established as a biography of Confucius in the "Benji", which is incorrect.
In Sima Qian's time, Confucianism had just been valued by the imperial court, and the so-called national policy of Emperor Wudi of Han to "depose a hundred families and respect Confucianism alone" was more of a slogan, and the most important means for Emperor Wudi of Han to govern the world was still the rule of law. However, from the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Confucianism was increasingly valued by feudal emperors, and the typical sign was that many emperors posthumously awarded Confucius's titles, titles or official titles after the end of the Western Han Dynasty. The Hanping Emperor posthumously named Confucius the Duke of Xuanni in the first year of the Yuan Dynasty (1 AD), the Zhou Jing Emperor posthumously named Confucius the Duke of Zou in the second year of the Elephant (580 AD), Emperor Gaozong of Tang posthumously named Confucius the "Taishi" in the first year of the Qianfeng Dynasty (666 AD), Wu Zetian posthumously named Confucius the "Duke of Longdao" in the first year of the Tianzhi Era (690 AD), and Emperor Xuanzong of Tang posthumously named Confucius the "King of Wenxuan" in the 27th year of the New Century. Dukes and taishi belong to the category of public secretaries, of course, they can only enter the "column biography"; the "king" in the Han and Tang dynasties generally refers to local princes who can enter the "family", but Tang Xuanzong deliberately compared King Wenxuan with King Wu of Zhou when he posthumously sealed Confucius, which shows that Tang Xuanzong posthumously titled Confucius as the "co-lord of the world", which is the level of the son of heaven. That is to say, if we proceed from these posthumous titles of Confucius before Tang Xuanzong, historians during the Tang Xuanzong period can re-establish the biography of Confucius with the "Benji".
The Emperors of the Northern Song Dynasty began to believe in Taoism, and they deliberately and appropriately suppressed Confucius. In the second year of Zhihe (1055 AD), Emperor Renzong of Song banned Tang Xuanzong's posthumous title of Confucius "King Wenxuan" and demoted Confucius to the title of "Yan Shenggong", and Confucius re-became "Gongqing" from "Co-Lord of the World", and in this year Wang Anshi was thirty-five years old and appointed as the Governor of Changzhou. Throughout the Song Dynasty, the title of Confucius was not promoted again, only the Western Xia Emperor during the Southern Song Dynasty restored Confucius to the title of "Emperor Wenxuan" of the Tianzi level, but the Song Dynasty would not accept the title of Confucius by the Western Xia of the Small State of Yidi. In short, in Wang Anshi's time, whether from the perspective of influence or from the posthumous title, if the people of the time re-revised the biography of Confucius, Confucius should not be a historical figure in the "Benji", not to mention that Wang Anshi himself was also known at that time for opposing Confucius's old Confucianism and advocating his own neo-Confucianism.
(Editor: Dong Yao)