Inheritance and development of pre-Qin historical prose in Shiji

Sima Qian's Shiji not only adopted a large number of historical materials from Zuo Zhuan and the Strategies of the Warring States, but also drew on their writing techniques and language styles. For example, the Zhao Shijia is very similar to the Zuo Zhuan, and the biographies of the Prince of Ping Yuan and the Duke of Wei are very similar to the Strategies of the Warring States.

The spirit of "Spring and Autumn Annals" and "Zuo Zhuan" has been inherited by the good historians since Sima Qian, and has become the principle of the historians' writings in the past. Since Sima Qian, the historians have been inspired by the Zuo Zhuan. The authors of Zuo Zhuan often expressed their views and evaluations of historical events and figures through the mouths of "gentlemen" or others, and this technique was also inherited by later historians.

Expanded Information

Pre-Qin prose is divided into two categories: pre-Qin historical prose and pre-Qin prose of the sons.

Pre-Qin historical prose is rich in content and diverse in form. There are chronicles of Zuo Zhuan, and country-specific Guoyu and Zhanguo Ce, etc. They preserve the Chinese Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods. They have preserved a great deal of historical materials of China's Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, and are the source of Chinese narrative prose with high literary value.

The prose of the pre-Qin and Qin zhuzi arose in the era of the hundred schools of thought in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods. The main ones are The Analects of Confucius, Mencius, Mozi, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Hanfeizi, etc., which express the ideological views and political ideas of each school.

The narrative prose of the pre-Qin dynasties, such as Zuozhuan, Guoyu, and Zhanguo Ce, had a profound influence on the literary creation of later generations. Their narrative traditions and language arts have been particularly important in the creation of historical literature, essays and novels.

Baidu Encyclopedia - Historical Prose