What is the role of Historical Records in China's history and literature?

Historical Records is not only a model of biographical literature, but also a model of ancient prose. Its writing skills, article style and language features all fascinated the later essayists. From the eight masters of ancient prose in the Tang and Song Dynasties to the first seven scholars in the Ming Dynasty and Tongcheng School in the Qing Dynasty, they all praised Historical Records, and their articles were deeply influenced by Sima Qian. The language of Historical Records is concise and vivid, translating many ancient words into written language of Han Dynasty, and quoting spoken language and proverbs appropriately, vividly and vividly. The language of Historical Records is mostly singular words, and it does not deliberately pursue the stability of antithesis, nor does it avoid repeating words. Free form, not stick to one pattern. Because of this, China ancient writers in history should use Historical Records as a model of ancient Chinese prose when criticizing the formalistic tendency of parallel prose and correcting the difficult ancient Olympic style.

Many biographies in Historical Records have twists and turns and vivid characters, which have accumulated valuable experience for later novel creation.

Many basic techniques of creating characters in the novel are used in Historical Records, such as: using language that conforms to the identity and character of the characters, expressing the character through specific events or trivial matters of life, and expressing the character in contradictions and conflicts. From the legends of the Tang Dynasty to the novels of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, we can see traces of Historical Records in characterization, plot arrangement and scene description. At the same time, ancient theorists also discussed the relationship between Historical Records and novels from the perspective of writing, and drew many incisive conclusions.