How to evaluate the "Records of the Grand Historian"?

The Records of the Grand Historian (史记), from the legendary Regulus to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, covers the entire history from the Three Emperors and Five Emperors to the Qin Emperor and the Han Emperor, encompassing all aspects and integrating them into one, with a clear vein and a complete narrative, and the author's purpose for writing the book is to "exhaust the interstices of the heavens and the people, to comprehend the changes of the ancient and modern times, and to make a family of words". The Records of the Grand Historian (史记) is an encyclopedia, which includes politics, economy, culture, law, military, ethics, morality, religion, literature, art, astronomy, medicine and so on in the scope of historiography. As a chronicle, the Shiji is different from the chronicle or country-specific style used in the previous history books, and reflects the historical content by centering on the biographies of the people. This is an extremely far-reaching innovation in historiography. Since then, from Ban Gu's Han Shu to the early Republic of China's Qing Historical Manuscripts, the histories revised over the past 2,000 years have basically followed the Shiji style.

The Historical Records is a large-scale book of 130 articles. According to the order of arrangement, including the "Chronicle" (biographies of emperors and kings) 12, "table" (in the form of a table, the emperors and lords of the successive dynasties of the major events in a concise row of records) 10, "book" (the canonical books), "the book" (the canonical books), "the book" (the canonical books), "the book" (the canonical books), "the book" (the canonical books). " (canonical books, documents) 8, "family" (the history of the vassals, nobles, and generals and ministers with significant contributions, "Confucius Family" and "Chen Shibu Family" are exceptions) 30, "biographies" (important biographies of different types, classes, and nationalities in different eras), and "biographies" (important biographies of different types, classes, and nationalities in different eras). (biographies of important historical figures of different types, classes, and nationalities in various eras, including the last "Preface to the Duke of Tai Shi") 70 articles.

The Shiji is also of high literary value. It succeeded in depicting numerous characters. Most of its characters, including almost all classes, strata, groups and trades, are written vividly, mainly through the important activities and deeds of the characters, which are expressed. Xiang Yu Ben Ji is one of the prominent representatives. Zheng Banqiao said, "In the hundred and thirty articles of the Historical Records, Xiang Yu Benji is the most important, and Xiang Yu Benji is the most important of the Battle of Julu, the Banquet of Hongmen, and the Siege of Gaixia." It is these three events, the three scenes of the character's activities, that the author has seized, with sympathetic brushstrokes, to drench the tragic character, who was powerful and unstoppable, and who rose and fell suddenly between eight years, and to emphasize his main character traits.

The Historical Records, with its remarkable achievements, occupies an exalted position in the history of historiography and literature, and its influence on later generations is extremely profound. Literally, Sima Qian pushed China's historical prose to a new peak, and all Tang and Song ancient writers cited the Shiji as a model, and all Ming and Qing ancient writers familiarized themselves with the Shiji. Lu Xun's high appraisal of the great historiographical and literary value of the Historical Records and its pithy generalization is the "Historical Records".