Historical writings

The beginning of human history lies so far back in time that it is shrouded in primitive darkness. For us who live in modern times, are no written records the only source of learning about the ancient world? During the time of Xuanyuan, the Yellow Emperor, lived Cang Jie, who served as a historian. So it has apparently been a practice since time immemorial to keep an office in charge of records. In the Book of Rites it is said: "Historians carry brushes in attendance on the king's left and right." Shi "historian" literally means "to keep records". In ancient times, the left-hand historian kept records of what was done, and the right-hand historian, of what was said... When the state of Qin unified the seven states, it was found that each of the warring states had its own ce "records". Since these were simple records without running commentaries, they used the term ce "bamboo slips" to designate them... Zichang (Sima Qian, the author of the Records of the Great Historian Shiji, created an) arrangement that, though differing from the ancient form, serves to relate historical facts in neat order. His merits include his effort to create a factual record without evasion or omission, his comprehensiveness in covering the sources, his purity of style, his extensive observations, and his logical clarity; and his faults include his love for the strange, contrary to the spirit of the Classics, and the absence of order in his arrangement of certain materials.

When Emperor Xiao Hui (r. 194-188 BC) was gathered to his fathers, his mother, Empress Lü, acted as regent, and both Ban Gu (author of the History of Former Han Hanshu) and Sima Qian devoted a sovereign annal to her. This is contrary to the principle found in the Classics, and did not do justice to the actual fact. Why? Because since the time of Baoxi (the mythical ruler Fuxi), nobody has ever heard of a female ruler! The hard fate the Han met with should not be made a pattern for all later dynasties. It was king Wu of Zhou (11th century BC) who first swore that a hen should not herald the approach of morning; and duke Huan of Qi (r. 685-644), in a conference, stated that no woman should be allowed to interfere with the affairs of the state...

When we come to the treatment of contemporaries, many facts are often distorted. While Confucius' judgments concerning the periods of duke Ding (r. 510-495) and duke Ai (r. 495-467) of Lu are couched in subtle language, secular opinions are still influenced by selfish interests. If the subject is from a family of great prestige and honor, he tends to be eloquently adorned, even though he may be a mediocrity. But should the subject be a frustrated scholar, all his virtue will not save him from ridicule. This blowing on the already frostbitten and puffing at the already bedewed, or fabrication of hot and cold with the brush, is a common distortion involved in writing about a contemporary, and a thing to be deeply deplored.