Selected Commentaries on the Records of the Grand Historian - China Literary and Historical Classics Lectures

Author: Yang Yi / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2006-05-01
Features: Critiquing Shiji is a text of equal standing in the world, while Xiyou Benji is a masterpiece of Shiji. Sima Qian often admired heroes and heroism, and Xiyou Benji is a text celebrating heroes. A heroic text must first portray heroes. In the Ming Dynasty, Li Zhi called Xiang Yu "a hero for all ages". How can this be proven?
In the "courage" of "": Xiang Yu was truly a warrior unmatched in bravery. Witness him slaying Song Yi in the general's tent as if trampling grass; breaking his cooking pots and crossing the river to crush the Qin army, intimidating the feudal lords; in the Battle of Pengcheng, he fought against hundreds of thousands of Han troops with just thirty thousand, routing the Han army and causing the Su River to run red with blood; in the escape from Gaoliang, twenty-eight riders moved freely amidst tens of thousands of soldiers. Every action was marked by fierce bravery, every move filled with heroic spirit.
In the "killing" of "": Xiang Yu also possessed an extremely ruthless side. In Xiyou Benji, Sima Qian uses extensive text to describe Xiang Yu's cruelty, such as killing the governor of Huji, slaying Song Yi, slaughtering the people of Xiangcheng, burying two hundred thousand Qin soldiers alive, razing Xianyang, and assassinating the Yi Emperor. Thus, Yang Weizhen remarked that Xiang Yu "killed as if he were eating".
In the "emotion" of "": During the siege of Gaoliang, Xiang Yu was reluctant to part with his beautiful woman and his white horse, singing a moving ballad and shedding tears. Connecting this to his youthful anecdotes, his image becomes fleshed out and vivid.
In the "fate" of "": Xiang Yu had no ambition to unify the world, so in this text, his rise and fall are "from obscurity to glory, from glory to ruin". He started with eight thousand men following his uncle in battle, rose to become the Western Chu who intimidated the world, and then gradually declined until his suicide at the Wu River. All this was due to his lack of a grand vision for ruling the world—he only cared about his own honor and returned east. This mindset led to Xiang Yu's tragic fate. "Xiang Yu's divine bravery is unparalleled in all ages. Sima Qian, with his divine-brave brush, wrote of a divine-brave man—this too is unparalleled in all ages." A heroic text requires a heroic brush. Sima Qian's portrayal of Xiang Yu is extraordinary, truly a heroic brush.
In recounting Xiang Yu's life, Sima Qian weaves the entire complexity of the late Qin War into the narrative, like a hundred rivers converging into one stream, telling the story in a flowing manner. Though it appears as a single biography, each stroke reveals countless layers—such as the stories of Xiang Liang, Chen Ying, the Yi Emperor, Zhang Han, and Tian Rong—all unraveled with ease,, blending, revealing the divine and the rational.
In the text, Sima Qian often uses the words "" (east) and "" (west) as focal points, such as "leading the army west," "returning east," and "having no westward intention, striking north against Qi." Generally, when Xiang Yu fought the Qin, he moved from east to west. After defeating the Qin, Tian Rong rebelled, and Xiang Yu marched west to east to suppress him. In his battles with Liu Bang, Xiang Yu again advanced westward before turning east and returning. Between east and west, a million troops surged. Through Sima Qian's penetrating brush, we can faintly hear the neighing of countless cavalry in the, as the of an era unfolds in this text. If it were not for a heroic brush, what other words could describe such a style?
The "Benji" (Biographies) style was by Sima Qian. Later historians considered it a privilege reserved only for emperors. However, Sima Qian did not intend it that way. For example, Xiyou Benji and Lühou Benji feature Xiang Yu and Lü Zhi, neither of whom were emperors, yet both were included in the "Benji." Sima Qian's intent, as Zhang Zhao put it, was: "To call them 'Benji' because they held the power of the world, and their fate was tied to the world's foundation." In other words, the "Benji" style was actually a way to write about those who wielded the power of the world, thereby capturing the events of the era. The "Benji" thus became a vessel for the great events of the time.
Later historians, though restricting the "Benji" to emperors, preserved this style of recording the great events of the era. P46-P48