The book Historical Records includes twelve biographies (records of emperors' political achievements in past dynasties), thirty biographies (records of the rise and fall of princes and nobles in vassal states and Han dynasties), seventy biographies (records of important people's words and deeds, mainly narrating ministers, and finally preface) and ten tables (chronology of major events).
Eight books (about ceremony, music, rhythm, calendar, astronomy, meditation, water conservancy and finance), a total of 130, with more than 526,500 words.
Extended data:
Historical Records is a general history that runs through ancient and modern times. It describes the history of China for about 3,000 years from the legendary Huangdi to the first year of Emperor Wudi's yuanshou.
According to Sima Qian, the book has 12 biographies, tables 10, 8 books, 30 aristocratic families and 70 biographies, totaling 130. Ban Gu mentioned in the Biography of Sima Qian in Hanshu that there are ten missing pieces in Historical Records.
Wei pointed out that these ten articles are Biographies of Emperor Jing, Biographies of Emperor Wu, Book of Rites, Le Shu, Law and Discipline, Biographies of Generals since Han Dynasty, Biographies of Japanese People, Biographies of Three Kings, Biographies of Tortoise and Fujin. Most descendants disagree with Zhang Yan's statement, but the incompleteness of Historical Records is beyond doubt.
Today's Historical Records is also 130, and several chapters are obviously not written by Sima Qian. Chu Sun Shao, a doctor in the Han Dynasty, wrote Historical Records when he was Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and the "Mr. Chu's Theory" in Historical Records was his supplement.
Historical records are widely used. At that time, the national documents and archives such as Shi Ben, Mandarin, National Policy, Ji Qin Chu and Han Chunqiu, and A Hundred Schools of Thought contend, as well as the materials obtained from field investigation, were all important sources for Sima Qian to write Historical Records.
What is particularly valuable is that Sima Qian carefully analyzed and screened the collected materials and eliminated some nonsense.
For some problems that cannot be clarified, we either take a skeptical attitude or record various opinions. Due to its extensive materials and serious attitude in compiling history, Historical Records is informative and rich in content.
Baidu encyclopedia-historical records