A Comprehensive History of Chinese Historical Thought: Volume on Qin and Han

Author: Wang Gaoxin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-12-01
Features: The Qin and Han dynasties were a crucial period in the history of Chinese historiography, achieving epoch-making accomplishments in the field of history.
Firstly, in terms of historical writing. According to the Records of the Han Dynasty·Bibliography, the works attributed to the Qin dynasty included 20 pieces titled Reports on Affairs; those attributed to Western Han scholars included six major works such as Lu Jia’s Chu-Han Spring and Autumn Annals and Sima Qian’s Records of the Grand Historian (i.e., Shiji), totaling 343 chapters. During the Eastern Han period, historical works numbered no fewer than 100, ased by Qing scholars. The statistics above only account for pure historical writings and do not include the works of philosophers. Most of these historical texts have been lost to time, but fortunately, the milestone works Shiji and Records of the Han Dynasty have been preserved.
Secondly, in terms of historical compilation. The most significant achievement of historical compilation during this period was Sima Qian of the Western Han dynasty, who wrote Shiji and established the annalistic and biographical style of historical writing. Later, Ban Gu of the Eastern Han dynasty composed Records of the Han Dynasty, transforming the continuous historical narrative into a dynastic one and standardizing the annalistic and biographical style into four formats: chronicles, biographies, treatises, and tables. This further developed the annalistic and biographical style pioneered by Shiji. The establishment of the annalistic and biographical style undoubtedly had a profound impact on ancient Chinese historiography. The achievements in historical compilation during this period were also reflected in Gou Yue’s Annals of the Han Dynasty, which further refined the chronological style. Gou Yue adopted a method of listing related events together, not only expanding the scope of chronological records but also making the content more focused, thereby significantly improving the shortcomings of previous chronological writings.
Lastly, in terms of historiographical thought. Historiographical thought refers not only to the understanding of objective history and historiography itself by historians but also includes the recognition of objective history by thinkers. In other words, the historiographical thought of the Qin and Han dynasties encompasses both the perspectives of historians like Sima Qian, Liu Xiang, Ban Gu, and Gou Yue on history and historiography, as well as the views of thinkers such as Dong Zhongshu, Wang Chong, and He Xiu on history. Without a doubt, the Qin and Han dynasties were an era that produced great historiographers and thinkers, making it also a period of exceptionally rich historiographical thought. The emergence of such abundant historiographical thought undoubtedly represents a very important aspect of the achievements of historiography during this time. The profound historiographical thought of the Qin and Han dynasties is undoubtedly a precious intellectual legacy left to later generations by the historians and thinkers of that era. Through the study of Qin and Han historiographical thought, we can deepen and enhance our understanding of the changes and developments in Chinese historiography, from the Qin and Han dynasties to ancient China as a whole; and from the perspective of objective history, it can help us better understand the changes and developments in Chinese history during this period. Therefore, attaching importance to the study of Qin and Han historiographical thought is undoubtedly of great significance.
The principle that "existence determines consciousness" tells us that as a form of social consciousness, historiographical thought cannot be separated from the social existence that gives rise to it. In reality, Qin and Han historiographical thought is a reflection of the social existence and the movement of social contradictions in the Qin and Han dynasties within the field of historiography. This requires us to study Qin and Han historiographical thought without separating it from the specific political, economic, and intellectual-cultural context of this historical period. We must not only focus on exploring the influence of the politics and economy of the Qin and Han dynasties on historiographical thought but also pay attention to the impact of Confucianism, the ruling ideology of the Han dynasty, on historiography. Only in this way can we gain a comprehensive understanding of historiographical thought during this period.