Ancient historian Sima Qian

Sima Qian is a historical star we admire. His success is mainly reflected in three aspects: first, he is knowledgeable and versatile, second, he is highly motivated, and third, he is diligent. No matter what situation we are facing, we should lock our goal, work hard, and success is in our hands.

---------Zhuge Changqing

Sima Qian (135 BC to 87 BC) was born in Xiayang (now Hancheng, Shaanxi). He was born into a family of historiographers, and his ancestors have served as the royal crown prince since the Zhou Dynasty, in charge of literature, history and astrology. After the accession of Emperor Wu, his father Sima Tan served as a Taishiling for 30 years. Sima talks about erudition and is proficient in astronomy, the study of the Book of Changes and the study of Huang and Lao. Sima Qian read "ancient Chinese" from the age of 10 and received his father's enlightenment education. His long history of family learning had a profound impact on his later academic path. Later, he went to Chang'an with his father and studied the Ancient Book of History and the Spring and Autumn Annals with Kong Anguo and Dong Zhongshu, the famous classics masters at that time. At the age of 19, he is a doctoral candidate. At the age of 20, six people, including Dr. Chu Tai, began to travel around the world. His footprints reached Kuaiji and visited the remains of Xia Yu; Once in Gusu, I looked at the five lakes where Fan Li was boating; Arrive in Huaiyin and visit Han Xin; Once in Fengpei, visit the hometown of Liu Bang and Xiao He; Go to Daliang, visit Yimen, and investigate the situation of the Qin army's diversion of water into Daliang; After visiting Chu, visit the palace site of Chunshenjun; I visited Xuedi to investigate the manor of Meng Changjun; I visited Zou Lu and worshipped Confucius and Mencius' hometown. In addition, he also crossed Zhuolu in the north, climbed the Great Wall, toured Yuanxiang in the south, and reached Kongtong in the west. The heroic tour broadened his horizons and increased his knowledge. After returning to Chang'an, Emperor Wu attached great importance to this well-informed and knowledgeable young man. He ordered him to be a doctor and sent him to Sichuan with the order of the emperor to reach the southwest of Kunming today

Reading thousands of books and traveling thousands of miles laid a solid foundation for Sima Qian to write books and make speeches later. In the first year of Yuanfeng (110 BC), Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty granted Mount Tai, and Sima Tan, who was appointed as the official of Taishi but could not follow the line, died of anger at Mao. Before he died, he said sadly to Sima Qian, "After I die, you will be the Taishi. After I become the Taishi, don't forget my last wish. Now the Han Dynasty is prosperous, and there is a unification in the sea. There are wise rulers and loyal officials and righteous men on the top. As the Taishi, I can't record it, and I feel guilty. You must finish my unfinished business!" Sima Tan said after his death, Sima Qian succeeded his father as the Taishi Order, It gave him the opportunity to read all the literary and historical classics, various schools of thought, and various archives and historical materials collected in the gold cabinet in the stone room of the Royal Library. In the first year of the Taichu era (104 BC), he reformed the calendar with more than 20 people, including Sun Qing, Hu Sui, the Chinese doctor, Deng Ping, Luo Xiahong, and Tang Du, the astronomer. Through the cooperation of these experts, repeated calculation and selection, a new calendar was finally created in May of this year, which is the famous "Taichu Calendar". The Taichu Calendar changed the first month of the year to the first month of the year (the Qin calendar began with October). The number of days in January was 29.53 days, and the number of days in a year was 365.25 days. This was the most advanced calendar in the world at that time, and also the first major reform in the history of the calendar of the country A. After that, he followed his father's will and prepared to prepare the "Tai Shi Gong Ji" ("Shi Ji").

In the second year of the Tianhan Dynasty (99 BC), his colleague Li Ling was besieged when he set out to attack the Huns, and surrendered to the Huns when the grain was exhausted. When the news reached Chang'an, Emperor Wu was furious. All the civil and military officials of the court denounced Li Ling's surrender as shameful. Sima Qian was silent. Emperor Wu asked him what he had to say. Sima Qian, who was full of bookish anger, said frankly, "Li Ling turned a thousand miles into a war, and the goal was poor, and the ancient famous general was no more than that. Although he surrendered, it was understandable. I thought that as long as he did not die, he would still be loyal to the Han Dynasty." After hearing Sima Qian's words, the angry Emperor Wu of Han believed that he was defending Li Ling, and was deliberately belittling Li Guangli, who was fighting the Huns and was very unhappy at that time, So he ordered Sima Qian to be sentenced to death (or replaced by corruption). In the era of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, those who were sentenced to death could pay 500000 yuan to reduce their death. However, Sima Qian, who was not well off, could not afford the money, so he had to be sentenced to "corruption" (palace punishment) to choose the way of "stealing life". Unfortunately, Sima Qian's spirit was greatly stimulated. He once wanted to commit suicide. But he remembered his father's last words, and encouraged himself with the ancients Confucius, Qu Yuan, Zuo Qiuming, Sun Tzu, Han Fei and others to be angry and active in adversity. Finally, he survived the humiliation with surprising will. Sima Qian, who was physically and mentally battered and lived a humiliating life, knew that "death is inherent in human beings, and death is either heavier than Mount Tai or lighter than a feather". He is determined to finish the history book that his father asked him to finish in the year of candlelight. After six years of imprisonment, the first year of Zhenghe (93 BC) was finally released from prison. Emperor Wu cherishes Sima Qian's talent and appoints him as the middle secretary. From then on, he devoted himself to writing, and finally completed the great work "The Records of the Historian", which is "to study the time between heaven and man, to understand the changes of ancient and modern times, and to become the words of the Chinese family".

"Records of the Historian", formerly known as "Official Records of Taishi", also known as "Official Records of Taishi" and "Records of Taishi", was not called "Records of the Historian" until the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Sima Qian intended to make it "a famous mountain in Tibet, with its deputy in the capital, and become a sage and gentleman in later generations". When Emperor Xuandi of the Han Dynasty, Yang Yun, the grandson of Sima Qian, made it public. At that time, there were a few missing articles to make up for the later generations such as Chu Shaosun.

"Records of the Historian" is the first general history of the biographical style in Chinese history, and has created a grand precedent for the general history of the biographical style. The "Records of the Historian" contains twelve basic records and seventy biographies, as well as thirty aristocratic families, ten tables and eight books, with a total of one hundred and thirty chapters and five hundred and twenty-five thousand six hundred words, recording the historical events from the Yellow Emperor to the Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty for about three thousand years.

"This book" is the general outline of the whole book. It records the lineage of emperors of all dynasties in chronological form. The oldest ones are mainly dynasties, while the later ones are mainly emperors or actual rulers. "This discipline" is essentially a national chronicle of events, which plays an important role in guiding the outline.

The "Aristocratic Family" also records the vassal vassal, the founder of the country and the people with special status and special influence. It may not involve the whole country, but it has a great impact on a certain country or a certain aspect of the social life of the whole country. Most of them can be regarded as "the history of other countries", such as the "Jin Aristocratic Family", the "Chu Aristocratic Family", the "Confucius Aristocratic Family", and the "Chen Shi Aristocratic Family".

The "biographies" take up the most space and can be divided into two categories: one is biographies of characters, one is special biographies of one person, and the other is joint biographies of two or more people. The biographies are arranged according to the nature of characters. The range of characters recorded is very wide, involving aristocrats, bureaucrats, politicians, economists, militarists, philosophers, writers, economists, strategists, hermits, lobbyists, assassins, rangers, doctors, diviners, haiyu and other social strata. The other is the record of foreign or domestic minorities, involving the history of Sino-foreign relations and the history of domestic ethnic relations. The former type of biographies includes "Biography of Boyi", "Biography of Sun Tzu Wu Qi", "Biography of Assassins", "Biography of Confucianism", etc; The latter category includes "Xiongnu Biography", "South Vietnam Biography", "Southwest Yi Biography", "Korean Biography", etc. "Biography" plays a substantial and concrete role in "this discipline".

The "table" lists the lineage, titles and brief political achievements of emperors, vassals, nobles, generals and ministers, and is distinguished by its age and history. Today's view can also be divided into two categories: event table and character table, such as "three generations table", "twelve marquis table", "high ancestor meritorious minister and marquis table", "general minister and famous minister table since the rise of the Han Dynasty", and so on. The role of "table" is to be visual and intuitive, which is easy to see. It can complement the shortcomings of "book", "family" and "biographies", and it can also save a lot of words, so that the record is not cumbersome.

"Book", which describes the calendar, rites and music, Fengchan, water conservancy, economy and other laws and regulations in different categories, reflects all aspects of social life, and is a very important part of the Historical Records, such as "Book of Rites", "Book of Music", "Calendar", "Book of Rivers and Channels", "Book of Peace", and so on. Among them, the "Pingzhun Book" is the most splendid, which records the social and economic conditions, especially the evolution of the economic policies of the Han Dynasty, and sets the precedent for the "food and goods record" in the official history of future generations.

Historically, people have called the Records of the Historian a biographical history book, emphasizing the importance of this book and biographies. In fact, as a part of the whole book, tables, books and aristocratic families all have independent values that can not be replaced by records and biographies. Strictly speaking, it should be a comprehensive history book. Sima Qian not only recorded a large number of historical facts in the Records of the Historian, but also wanted to "examine his actions, integrate them from beginning to end, and check the discipline of his success and failure, and make good or bad", so as to "study the relationship between heaven and man, understand the changes of ancient and modern times, and become a family word". He should explore some reasons from the complicated historical facts and put forward his own views. Therefore, he is not only a organizer of historical events, but also a great thinker.

In addition to the Historical Records, Sima Qian also wrote eight pieces of Fu, all of which have been scattered. Only the 30 volumes of Art and Literature Collection contain the fragments of "The Sad Man Never Met Fu".

His "Report to Ren'an (Shaoqing) Book" is a famous argumentative essay. The article describes the process of his court punishment for the Liling incident; It expressed the grief and indignation of loyalty and suspicion and innocent punishment, and exposed the tyranny and cruelty of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and the politics of cruel officials at that time; Finally, he expressed his determination to write the book and create the Records of the Historian.

Sima Qian's academic thought occupies an important and prominent position in the history of ancient Chinese ideology and culture. "Records of the Historian" was praised by Lu Xun as "the best song of historians, and the most prosaic", which deserved it.

 千古史学家司马迁

        司马迁是我们敬仰的历史明星。他的成功，主要表现在三个方面：一是博学多才，二是斗志昂扬，三是勤奋努力。不论我们面临什么样的形势，都要锁定目标，勤奋努力，成功就在我们手中。

                                           ---------  诸葛长青

     司马迁（前135 ~ 前87）字子长，夏阳（今陕西韩城）人。他生于史官世家，祖先自周代起就任王室太史，掌管文史星卜。父亲司马谈在武帝即位后，任太史令达三十年之久。司马谈博学，精通天文、 《易》学和黄老之学。司马迁十岁起诵读「古文」，并接受其父的启蒙教育。渊源久长的家学对他后来治学道路有深刻的影响。后随父去长安，同当时著名经学大师孔安国、董仲舒学习《古文尚书》和《春秋》。十九岁为补博士子弟。二十岁随博士褚太等六人「循行天下」，开始了他的游历生活。他的足迹到达会稽，访问夏禹的遗迹；到过姑苏，眺望范蠡泛舟的五湖；到达淮阴，访求韩信的故事；到过丰沛，访问刘邦、萧何的故乡；到过大梁，访问夷门，并考察秦军引河水灌大梁的情形；到过楚，访问春申君的宫殿遗址；到过薛地，考察孟尝君的封邑；到过邹鲁，拜仰孔孟的家乡。此外，他还北过涿鹿，登长城，南游沅湘，西至崆峒。壮游使他开阔了眼界，增长了知识。回到长安后，武帝对这个广闻博识、学问丰富的年轻人十分重视，命他为郎中，让他带着皇帝的命令出使巴蜀，到达今天昆明一带大西南地区.

        读万卷书，行万里路，奠定了司马迁以后着书立说的厚实基础。元封元年（前110），汉武帝封泰山，司马谈以职任太史公而不能从行，愤懋而死。临终前他难过地对司马迁说：「我死以后，你必为太史。做了太史，莫忘了我的遗愿。今大汉兴盛，海内一统，上有明主贤君，下有忠臣义士。我身为太史，而未能记载，愧恨不已。你一定要完成我未竟之业！」司马谈死后，司马迁继任父职为太史令，使他有机会读遍皇家藏书处石室金柜收藏的文史经籍，诸子百家，及各种档案史料。太初元年（前104），他以太史令身分和中大夫孙卿、壶遂及历官邓平、落下闳、天文学家唐都等二十余人，改革历法。经这批专家通力合作，反复计算、选择，终于在这年五月造成新历，这就是著名的《太初历》。《太初历》改以正月为一岁之首（秦历以十月为一岁之始），一月的日数为二十九点五三天，一岁一年一的日数是三百六十五点二五天，这是当时世界上最先进的历法，也是甲国历法史上进行的第一次大改革。此后，他秉父遗志看手准备编写《太史公记》（《史记》）。

　　天汉二年（前99），他的同僚李陵出征匈奴时被围，在矢尽粮绝的情况下投降匈奴。消息传到长安，武帝大怒。朝廷的文武百官，都大骂李陵投降可耻。司马迁不作声。武帝问他有什么意见，书生气十足的司马迁百言不讳地说：「李陵转战千里，矢尽道穷，古代名将也不过如此。他虽投降，尚属情有可原。臣以为只要他不死，他还是会效忠汉朝的。」盛怒中的汉武帝听了司马迁这番话，认为他是为李陵辩解，是在故意贬低当时正在打匈奴而又很不顺利的李广利，于是命令把司马迁判为死罪（或以腐刑代替）。汉武帝时代，判了死罪的可以出钱五十万减死一等。但家境并不富裕的司马迁拿不出这一笔钱，只能受「腐刑」（宫刑）来选择「偷生」这条路。不幸的遭遇，使司马迁精神受到极大刺激，曾一度想自杀，但他想起了父亲的遗言，又以古人孔子、屈原、左丘明、孙子、韩非等在逆境中发愤有为鼓励自己，终于以惊人的意志忍辱负重地活了下来。身心备受摧残、忍辱含垢生活的司马迁深知，「人固有一死，死有重于泰山，或轻于鸿毛」。他决心以残烛之年，完成父亲要他完成的史书。经过六年的囚禁生活，征和元年（前93）终于出狱。武帝对司马迁的才能还是爱惜的，任命他为中书令。从此他埋首奋发著述，终于完成了「究天人之际，通古今之变，成中家之言」的巨著──《史记》。　　

       《史记》，原名《太史公书》，又称《太史公记》、《太史记》，至东汉末年才百称为《史记》。司马迁意在使其「藏之名山，副在京师，俟后世圣人君子」。汉宣帝时，司马迁外孙杨恽把它公之于世。其时已有少量缺篇，为后人褚少孙等补足。　　

     《史记》是中国史学上第一部纪传体通史，开创了纪传体通史的恢宏先河。《史记》有本纪十二，列传七十，此外还有世家三十、表十、书八，共一百三十篇，五十二万五千六百字，记载了从黄帝至汉武帝约三千年间史事。　　

       「本纪」是全书的总纲，以编年为体，记载历代帝王的世系，年代久远的以朝代为主，年代稍近的以帝王或实际当权者为主。「本纪」实质上是全国编年大事记，起提纲挚领的作用。　　

      「世家」亦以编年为体，记述王侯封国、开国功臣和有特殊地位、特殊影响的人物。其事或许并非牵涉全国，然于某一封国或全国社会生活的某一方面有巨大影响，多数可视为「国别史」，诸如「晋世家」、「楚世家」、「孔子世家」、「陈涉世家」等。　　

       「列传」所占篇幅最多，可分两大类：一类是人物传记，有一人一传的专传，有两人或数人的合传，按人物性质排列立传。所记人物范围极广，涉及贵族、官僚、政治家、经济家、军事家、哲学家、文学家、经学家、策士、隐士、说客、刺客、游侠、医士、占卜者、俳优等社会各个阶层。另一类是对外国或国内少数民族的记载，涉及中外关系史和国内民族关系史。前一类列传有「伯夷列传」，「孙子吴起列传」、「刺客列传」、「儒林列传」等；后一类有「匈奴列传」、「南越列传」、「西南夷列传」、「朝鲜列传」等。「列传」对「本纪」起了充实和具体化的作用。　　

      「表」，以谱列帝王、诸侯、贵族、将相大臣的世系、爵位和简要政绩，以年代远近、史事繁简而别为世表、年表、月表。今人观之，也可分为大事表和人物表两类，诸如「三代世表」、「十二诸侯年表」、「高祖功臣侯者年表」、「汉兴以来将相名臣年表」等。「表」的作用是形象、直观，便于观览，可补「本纪」、「世家」、  「列传」之不足，又可省去不少文字，使记载免于繁冗。　　

      「书」，分门别类记述历代历法、礼乐、封禅、水利、经济等典章制度，反映了社会生活的各个方面，是《史记》很重要的部分，诸如「礼书」、「乐书」、「历书」、「河渠书」、「平准书」等等。其中尤以「平准书」最为精彩，记社会经济状况，特别是汉朝经济政策的演变，开后代正史「食货志」之先河。　　

     历来人们称《史记》是纪传体史书，强调本纪和列传的重要性。其实，作为全书的组成部分，表、书、世家都有纪、传不能代替的独立的价值，严格地说，它应是纪传志书体，是一种综合体史书。　　司马迁在《史记》里不仅记载了大量史实，并且要「考其行事，综其始终，稽其成败兴坏之纪」，来「究天人之际，通古今之变，成一家之言」。他要从错综复杂的历史事实中探索出一些道理，提出自己的看法来。因此，他不只是一个史事的整理者，而且是一个伟大的思想家。　　

     除《史记》外，司马迁还作赋八篇，均已散夫，唯《艺文类聚》卷三十引有《悲士不遇赋》片段。 　　

     他的《报任安（少卿）书》，是一篇著名的论说散文。文中叙述了他因李陵事件而受宫刑的过程；抒发了忠而见疑、无辜受刑的悲愤，暴露了汉武帝的专横残忍及当时的酷吏政治；最后，表达了自已发愤着书、创作《史记》的决心。　　

     司马迁的学术思想，在中国古代思想文化史上占有重要突出的地位。《史记》被鲁迅誉为「史家之绝唱，无韵之离骚」，是当之无愧的。

(This article is an original article by Zhuge Changqing, and the pictures are selected from the Internet. Welcome to forward it, and please indicate the source for forwarding)

Introduction to Zhuge Changqing: Zhuge Changqing, the inheritor and promoter of traditional Chinese culture, is willing to "learn from sages, promote virtue, revitalize China and benefit the world" together with people with the same ideals in the world.

(Zhuge Changqing: zhuge8031@163.com ）

Zhuge Changqing mailbox：

zhuge8031@163.com

Zhuge Changqing's Chinese Dream

Learn from sages and carry forward virtue

Revitalizing China for the benefit of the world

 （本文是诸葛长青原创文章，图片选自网络。欢迎转发，转发引用请注明出处）

诸葛长青简介：诸葛长青，中国国学传统文化传承弘扬者，愿与天下志同道合者一起“学习圣贤、弘扬善德、振兴中华、造福世界”。

（诸葛长青：zhuge8031@163.com）

Zhuge Changqing mailbox：

zhuge8031@163.com

  诸葛长青中国梦  

学习圣贤 弘扬善德

振兴中华 造福世界

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