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History is composed of three elements: time, people, and events, so the ancient Chinese historical official revision books have formed three major examples: chronicle style, chronicle style, and chronicle script, which complement each other and constitute a complete unity. So what are the advantages and disadvantages of these three general cases, the captain will explain it to you in detail.
First, the chronicle
The Origin and Development of Chronicle Books
spring and autumn
The chronicle is based on time as the main axis, recording history according to the year, month and day, and is the earliest example of historical records. The chronicle was born in China very early, it is said that it can be traced back to the three emperors and five emperors period, the specific time of appearance is unknown, it should be since the birth of human civilization has been a chronicle.
Sima Guang
At present, the earliest surviving chronicle in China is the Zuo Chuan, and it is said that the author is Zuo Qiuming, a historian of the State of Lu in the late Spring and Autumn Period. From its birth to the fall of the Qing Dynasty, chronicles have been the most important example of official record history in ancient China. The most famous chronicle is the Zizhi Tongjian compiled by Sima Guang and others in the Northern Song Dynasty, which records more than 1,300 years of history from the Warring States to the Five Dynasties. The largest chronicle is the Records of the Great Qing Dynasty (qing shilu), with a word count of 44 million words, which records the origins of the 12 emperors of the Qing dynasty and their families.
The pros and cons of chronicle books
Zizhi Tongjian
The advantage of the chronicle is that it can record the time of the people who happened to it in a period of time, which helps people understand the time of the event and what the person involved did at that time.
The disadvantage of the chronicle is that the causes and consequences of the events and the life of the characters are distributed in many chapters, which are too fragmented and need to be found separately, so it is not easy to figure out the general process of the events and the life experiences of the characters. (For example, Yuan Shu of the Southern Song Dynasty found that the distribution of events was too scattered because he read the Zizhi Tongjian, so he created his own chronicle and rearranged the Zizhi Tongjian into the "Tongjian Chronicle at the End of the Chronicle of Tongjian".) ）
The origin and development of the Chronicle of History
The Ji Chuan body is based on the characters as the main axis, recording history in chronological order, derived from Sima Qian's "Records of History" in the Western Han Dynasty. The chronicle was born later in China than the chronicle, but much earlier than the chronicle, and appeared at the latest in the middle of the Western Han Dynasty.
Historical
At present, the earliest surviving chronicle in China is the "History of History", written by Sima Qian, a historian of the Western Han Dynasty, which records about 2500 years of history from the Yellow Emperor to the Han Wudi period. Since the birth of the "Chronicle of History", the Ji Chuan style has become the main example of the official history of ancient China, and the twenty-four histories are all Ji Chuan style. The largest chronicle is the Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, with more than 10,000 people and a word count of up to 8 million words.
Advantages and disadvantages of the Chronicle of History
Qin Shi Huang
A bit of the chronicle of the history book is that it can quickly solve a person's life and interpersonal relationships, see what time the person did what, and the biography of the person related to the person also has relevant records, which can supplement the life of the person.
The disadvantage of the chronicle is that there are multiple people involved in an event, so everyone will have a record of the event, which is easy to cause repeated accounts. At the same time, if there is an event in the records of multiple characters contradicting each other, it is not easy to make people understand which is correct and which is wrong (for example, the "History of Qin Shi Huang Benji" records that Qin Shi Huang was the son of King Xiang of QinZhuang, but the "History of Lü Buwei Lie" also said that Qin Shi Huang was the son of Lü Buwei). At the same time, the criteria for the selection of character biographies are difficult to grasp, and there are often some important figures who miss the phenomenon. At the same time, most of the characters selected by the Ji Chuan body are imperial generals, and ignoring the records of the characters in the city is not easy for people to understand the situation of the people at that time.
The origin and development of the chronicle at the end of the body history book
Southern song dynasty
The end of the Chronicle is based on events, recorded in chronological order, and originates from the Southern Song Dynasty Yuan Shu's "General Jian Chronicle at the End". The chronicle appeared later in China, much later than the chronicle and chronicle. Therefore, the history books at the end of the chronicle are much less than the chronicle and the chronicle. However, as soon as it was born, it was very important, becoming one of the three major chinese historical books alongside the chronicle and the chronicle.
Yuan Shu
The largest and earliest chronicle is Yuan Shu's "Tongjian Chronicle at the End of the Book", which records more than 1300 years of history from the Warring States to the Five Dynasties, and the full text is from the Zizhi Tongjian, Yuan Shu only rearranged the Tongjian without changing a word.
The pros and cons of the chronicle's end body
Warring states
The advantage of the end of the chronicle is that the timeline is coherent before and after can make people understand the causes and consequences of an event, so that people have a clear understanding of the event.
The disadvantage of the end of the chronicle is that it is difficult to choose the standard of events, and it is easy to cause omissions in some major events. (For example, Yuan Shu's "Tongjian Chronicle" records only three branches of Warring States history and the six kingdoms of Jin and Qin, and ignores many major events such as Li Wu's transformation method, Wu Qi's military method, and Zhao Wuling's king Hufu riding and shooting.) ）
There are also historical commentaries (such as the Western Han Jiayi's "On Passing the Qin"), the Outline Body (such as the Southern Song Dynasty Zhu Xi's "General Jian Outline"), the Huijian Style (such as the Tang Dynasty Du You's "General Classic"), and the Local Chronicle (such as the Eastern Jin Dynasty Chang Xuan's "Huayang Guozhi"), but the three most important examples are the chronicle style, the Ji Chuan style, and the Chronicle Ben End Body, and the three complement each other and become the most important reference materials for people to understand history.