Shiji Suoyin Yin Shu Kao Shi (Volume 1 and 2)

Author: Cheng Jinzao
Publisher:
Publication Date: 1998-10-01
Features: Professor Cheng Jinzao of the Chinese Department at Beijing Foreign Studies University has dedicated his life to studying the Records of the Grand Historian, publishing the monograph Insights into the Records of the Grand Historian (published by Shaanxi People's Publishing House) and numerous research papers on the Records of the Grand Historian in journals such as New Construction and History, Philosophy, and Literature. This book is another monograph by the author on the study of the Records of the Grand Historian.
From the Han to the Jin dynasties, due to the fragmented copying of manuscripts, there were significant differences in the text of the Records of the Grand Historian. Xu Guang of the Jin dynasty wrote the Comprehensive Commentary on the Records of the Grand Historian, recording the variations of the text at that time, with differences often being substantial. During the Liu Song dynasty of the Southern Dynasties, Pei Zhen, while compiling the Comprehensive Annotations to the Records of the Grand Historian, lamented deeply: “When examining this book, the sentences differ in number and content, making it impossible to discern the truth. Yet the confused people of the world arbitrarily choose between them, with right and wrong intermingling, and truth and error entangled.” This was the state of the Records of the Grand Historian in the 5th century.
By the early Tang dynasty, Sima Zhen, while writing the Comprehensive Explanations to the Records of the Grand Historian, found that the issues with the Records of the Grand Historian had become even more complex. To address these problems, he cited over four hundred books for clarification. Now, over a thousand years later, most of the books he cited have been lost, and even those that survive may differ from the current editions. Through meticulous research and excavation, this book clarifies these issues.
The Comprehensive Explanations cites a wide variety of books with different names, sometimes even mistakenly identifying the Lüshi Chunqiu as the Chunqiu. The author has resolved all such issues, none of which were in vain. The book not only compiles the full titles of all the cited books in the Comprehensive Explanations but also introduces the basic information about the ancient books cited. This is also an important aspect of studying the Records of the Grand Historian. Readers can learn from this what materials Sima Qian relied on when writing the Records of the Grand Historian, thereby deepening their understanding of the book. On the other hand, it also reveals how other ancient texts cited the Records of the Grand Historian after its publication.
Thus, although the topic of this book is somewhat obscure and its readership may not be very broad, it holds significant academic value. The author's work remains highly meaningful. Through meticulous effort, the author has reconstructed the citations of the Comprehensive Explanations to over four hundred ancient books. Many of these books are long lost, allowing readers to see their general appearance without the labor of searching through them. The book undoubtedly serves as an index for readers. The author's summaries of each book are rich in content yet concise and clear, and his arguments are balanced and rigorous. For example, regarding the Confucian annotations to the Book of Documents, the book cites Wu Chengshi's views as a conclusion. Wu's evaluation of the Confucian annotations is more comprehensive than that of the Qing dynasty scholars.