Historical Records, formerly known as Taishi Gongshu, Taishi GongGong Ji and Taishi Gongshiji, is a biographical history book written by Sima Qian, a historian of the Western Han Dynasty. It is the first biographical general history in the history of China, which records the history of four years and more than 3,000 years from the legendary Huangdi era to the early years of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.

Historical Records is divided into five parts: biography, table, book, family and biography. Among them, biography and biography are the main body. It takes emperors and other political center figures in history as the main line of compiling history books, and the division of labor among various styles is clear. Among them, "Biography", "Biography" and "Biography" account for most of the book's length, and all of them record history with writing characters as the center. As a result, Sima Qian created a new style of history books-"Biography".

I. Discipline

Ji is the outline of the whole book, which records the words and deeds of emperors according to the time of year and month. Five of them recorded the history of pre-Qin, followed by the five emperors of Xia, Yin, Zhou and Qin. There are seven articles recording the history of Qin and Han Dynasties, followed by Qin Shihuang, Chu Xiangyu, Emperor Gaozu Liu Bang, Gao Zhi, Han Heng, Han Jingdi Liu Qi and Emperor Wudi.

Second, the table

Table lists lineages, people and historical events in tables.

Third, books.

The Book describes the development of the system, involving the system of rites and music, astronomical military law, social economy, river geography and other aspects.

Fourth, family.

The "aristocratic family" describes the historical relics of the vassal's seal of the country and the deeds of particularly important people.

Biography of verbs (abbreviation for verb)

Biography is the life stories of other representatives except emperors and generals and the biographies of ethnic minorities.

Appreciation of Works Historical Records is a legend. Qin Shihuang's deeds in his later years are interspersed with many strange things and the existence of gods, which indicates the demise of the Qin Empire. When writing about the rise of Emperor Gaozu, Liu Wei's feelings about the dragon and his son, Liu Bang's drunken beheading of the giant snake and other legends all show his supernatural nature.

In addition to absurd legends, many true stories written in historical records are also legendary. Lu Zhonglian, a strange person, solves problems without taking anything, is detached from things, is far-fetched and will never see you again. The one in Stay at Houjia is a legendary figure, while the four noble people in this article are equally abrupt, like immortals.