What is the Chronicles? What are the contents of the Historical Records ?

The Records of the Historian is the first general history of China written by Sima Qian. It records more than 3,000 years of history (philosophy, politics, economy, military, etc.) from the era of the Yellow Emperor in ancient legends to the first year of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. The "Records of the Historians" originally did not have a fixed title, or "Taishi Gongshu", or "Taishi Gongchuan", or "Taishi Gongchuan", also known as "Taishi Gong".

"Historical Records" was originally a general name for ancient history books, and since the Three Kingdoms period, "Historical Records" has gradually become a special name for "Taishi Gongshu" from the general name of historical books. The "Records of the Historians" and the later "Book of Han" (Bangu), "Book of the Later Han" (Fan Ye, Sima Biao), and "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms" (Chen Shou) are collectively known as the "First Four History". Liu Xiang and others believe that this book is "good at order and reason, argument but not flashy, quality but not slang".

and Sima Guang's "Zizhi Tongjian" is called "the double of historiography".

Sima Qian's work "Historical Records" of the Western Han Dynasty is divided into five parts: the book, the family, the biography, the table, and the book. The whole book of "Historical Records" includes 12 books, 30 families, 70 biographies, 10 tables, and 8 books.

1. The Present Chronicle. The records in this book are all emperors (except for Xiang Yu, the overlord of Western Chu). "Benji" is the outline of the whole book, which takes the change of dynasties as the body, and records the emperor's speech and administrative achievements by year, month and time.

Among them, there are five articles that record the history of the pre-Qin period, in order of the Five Emperors, Xia, Yin, Zhou, and Qin; The seven chapters that record the history of the Qin and Han dynasties are Qin Shi Huang, Xiang Yu, the overlord of Chu, Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, Lu Pheasant, the Emperor Liu Heng of the Han Dynasty, the Emperor Liu Qi of the Han Dynasty, and the Emperor Liu Che of the Han Dynasty.

Second, the family. "The Family" records the hereditary historical sites of princely feudal kingdoms and the deeds of particularly important people. Such as "Jin Family", "Chu Family", "Chen Shi Family" and so on.

3. Biography. "Biography" is the life deeds of representatives of various aspects other than emperors and princes and the biographies of ethnic minorities. Such as "The Biography of Lao Tzu Han Fei", "The Biography of Sun Tzu Wu Qi", "The Biography of Lian Po Lin Xiangru" and so on.

Fourth, the table. "Table" uses ** to briefly list the lineage, characters and major events of historical events.

5. Books. The "book" describes the development of the system, covering the system of ritual music, astronomy and military law, social economy, and the geography of rivers and canals.

Shiji is a history book in the form of a chronicle.

Historical Records, one of the twenty-four histories, originally known as "Taishi Gongshu" or "Taishi Gongji" and "Taishi Ji", is a historical book written by the Western Han Dynasty historian Sima Qian, is the first general history of Chinese history, the work is written from the era of the Yellow Emperor in ancient legends to the four years of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. In the first year of Taichu (104 BC), Sima Qian began the creation of the book, which took 14 years before it was completed.

It is listed as the first of the "Twenty-four History", and together with the Book of Han, the Book of the Later Han and the Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms, it is called the "First Four History", which has had a profound impact on the development of historiography and literature in later generations. The method of compiling history in the form of chronicles pioneered by him has been inherited by the "official history" of later dynasties. "Historical Records" is also considered to be an excellent literary work, has an important position in the history of Chinese literature, and was praised by Lu Xun as "the swan song of historians, the "Lisao" without rhyme", and has high literary value.

Liu Xiang and others believe that this book is "good at order and reason, argument but not flashy, quality but not slang".