The Influence of Historical Literature on Ancient Chinese Novels

First of all, on the whole, as the first large-scale work in China centered on the depiction of characters, the Historical Records provided an important foundation and many possibilities for the development of literature in future generations. Although the Shiji was written about actual historical figures, the characters were actually typified through "interplay", i.e., by highlighting some of the main characteristics of the characters, by comparing and contrasting different characters, and by fictionalizing the details. In the early literature of all peoples, there was such a phenomenon, which was a way for human beings to recognize themselves through artistic means. It is only in Chinese literature that the first typified characters appeared in historical writings, which is a special case. Thus, the Historical Records established a number of important character archetypes for Chinese literature. In the novels and dramas of later generations, many of the various characters written about, such as emperors, heroes, chivalrous men, and officials, evolved from the characters of the Shiji.

In terms of the novel, besides character types, its genre and narrative style were also significantly influenced by the Shiji. Traditional Chinese novels are often called "biographies", unfold in biographical form, have biographical beginnings and endings, take the characters' lives as a whole, unfold their plots in strict chronological order, and often have direct comments by the author, all of which are important features that are mainly derived from the Shiji.

In terms of biographical literature, as the biographical form of the Shiji was inherited by the later historical books, a large number of biographies of historical figures were produced as a result. Although the literature of the later historical books is significantly inferior to that of the Historical Records, their number is as vast as the sea, and if the outstanding biographies are extracted from them, they are also extremely considerable. In addition, the various forms of biographies, such as biographies, family biographies, and epitaphs outside of the Shiji, are also related to the tradition of biographical literature initiated by the Shiji.

The Historical Records is also a vividly visualized historical biography. Its literary excellence has always been praised by our literary circles, and it has pioneered the biographical literature in China. Sima Qian is like a brilliant painter, with his very evocative brush, for us to draw a vivid portrait of the characters; and like a sculptor who is good at capturing the moment, with his sharp knife, for us to shape a different style of statues. In the gallery of characters in the Records of the Grand Historian, we can not only see the heroism of those kings and lords who have done something in history, but also the scholars and diners who hide themselves with wonderful plans, the pre-Qin scholars who contend with a hundred schools of thought, the assassins who "die for the sake of the one who knows himself", the rogues who have made promises and will be sincere, the merchants who are richer than the princes and lords, as well as the healers and diviners and haiku and other characters, giving people the enjoyment of beauty and style. The style of various characters, giving people the enjoyment of beauty and enlightenment of thought. Sima Qian creatively melted literature and history into one furnace, and wrote down an image of history for us. That is why Mr. Lu Xun praised the Historical Records as "the best song of the historians and the unrhymed "Li Sao"". Because of this, among the vast historical works in ancient China, the readership of the Records of the Grand Historian is second to none

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