06 reading notes: where does historical records begin?

China's classic ancient books are vast. Why do you want to read historical records first?

First of all, Historical Records has the best reputation, the widest circulation, the most wonderful story and the richest meaning among all the classics, so it is one of the first choices.

Secondly, Historical Records is a must-read book for intellectuals or educated people, and it is also an important classic for cultivating leaders.

The authors of Historical Records are Sima Tan and Sima Qian. Its content summarizes thousands of years of history from the Yellow Emperor to the Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty, and almost runs through all the important classics in the pre-Qin and even the Western Han dynasties. Reading Historical Records is equivalent to reading the essence of the pre-Qin period.

Historical Records occupies a high position in China's historiography. Mr. Lu Xun commented that Historical Records is "the swan song of historians, leaving Sao without rhyme".

Where did the historical records begin?

There are 130 records in Historical Records, which one the teacher usually starts with represents the lecturer's cognition of this book. The teacher's orientation of historical records is different, and the order of explanation is naturally different.

If Historical Records is regarded as literature and stories, beautiful words and wonderful stories are usually chosen, so many people start with the biographies of Xiang Yu and Gao Zu. If historical records are regarded as history, some people will start from the beginning, starting with biographies of five emperors, Xia Benji and Yin Benji. In this course, we regard Historical Records as a classic. Why did the author write this book? What did the author want to express in this book?

If Historical Records is regarded as a classic, in traditional culture education, the first item must be preface, which plays a very important role in a book and helps readers know what the author wants to say simply and clearly.

(Qing) Zhang Xuecheng explained the preface very well. He said: explain the original intention of the work clearly and take it from it when you see it. The preface of a book contains both narratives and works, in which "narratives" are the parts inherited from predecessors and "works" are the innovative parts of the author. In addition, for history books and historical materials, historians will choose historical materials, and when they get them, they can see a historian's ability. He will write down their principles in a book. From this point of view, The Seventy Prefaces of Taishigong is a very successful preface. Therefore, in order to understand Historical Records, we must first read Preface to Taishi Gong.

What are the values of Taishi Gongxu 70?

It occupies an important position in Historical Records, and its characters also occupy a very important position in the history of China. In the past, it was praised by predecessors as one of the three famous prefaces (Preface to Taishi Gongxu, Preface to Shuowen Jiezi and Preface to Literature General Examination), and the earliest and most famous of the three prefaces was Taishi Gongxu.

Therefore, when we read Historical Records, starting with Seventy Prefaces of Taishigong, it occupies a very important and irreplaceable position, both from the literary value of this preface itself and from the significance of reading Historical Records.