A Review Of The Textual Research And Comments In Relation To Shiji In The Notes Of The Period From Song To Ming

Among traditional Chinese culture studies, The Study of Shiji is not only one of the oldest subjects but also a famous school of thought. The transmission and acceptance of Shiji was unprecedented in the Dynasties from Song to Ming, but this period was not a prosperous phase of the Study of Shiji. The monographs on the study of Shiji in this period were inferior in both quantity and quality to those of Tang Dynasty,s or Qing Dynasty,s. However, during this period,the composition of the notes was prosperous and its academic elements were highly increased. Therefore, the textual research and comments in relation to Shiji in the notes ranked as important in the Study of shiji. As a special form, the textual research and comments in relation to Shiji in the notes are scattered in different works with the form of entries, thereby rendering them somewhat disorderly and non-schematic; their value cannot be ignored though, among which especially the textual research and comments in relation to Shiji in the notes of the period from Song to Ming are supposed to win a place in the traditional Studies on Shiji.The textual research and comments in relation to Shiji in the notes of the period from Song to Ming can be divided into the following respects:The first is the textual researches of shiji. The source materials in Shiji are numerous and complicated, and so their origins are not coherent, and some contradictions and mistakes appear in it. This makes it necessary to do textual research. In the period from Song to Ming, the textual researches of Shiji in the notes involves wide coverage of content, including the textual research on affairs, time, names of characters and places, letters, and so on, and jot down doubtful questions,correct and complement the Annotations by Three Scholars on Shiji. The textual research helps to clarify truths, to solve some problems, and to correct some mistakes.The second are the comments on shiji. The comments became the mainstream of the Study of Shiji in the period from Song to Ming, in what in the notes mainly comprising the comments on history and literature. The historical comments on Shiji are mainly concerned with the author Sima Qian himself, the ideas in his work, the stylistic rules and layout, the choice of materials, and their interrelations. The literary comments on Shiji mainly involve its literary achievements, statue and influence in literary history, and its narrative characteristics, artistic styles and language skills as well. These comments make people not only have a better understanding of the author Sima Qian himself and the ideas in his work, but also have a deeper impression on the statue and influence of Shiji in the histories of Chinese historiography, literature and even culture.The last are the comments on the differences and similarities between Sima Qian and Ban Gu. In the period from Song to Ming, monographs on the comparison between Sima Qian and Ban Gu in terms of their similarities and differences appeared and gradually became an important part of the Study of Shiji and a special learning. But these monographs were quite few at that time, and their content and the methods used were monotonous. However, the comments on the differences and similarities between Sima Qian and Ban Gu in the notes are richer in content, including their advantages and disadvantages of content, differences and similarities in styles, forms, ideas, and so on.In terms of form, the notes became the important field in the textual research and comments in relation to Shiji in the period from Song to Ming, which is the inevitable result in the development of the Study of Shiji.In terms of content, the textual research and comments in relation to shiji in the notes are closely related to contemporary trend of thought, including the social thought, Neo-Confucianism in the period from Song to Ming, Ancient Prose Movement of Song Dynasty, Literary Archaist Movement of Ming Dynasty, and so on. In terms of their value and influence, the textual research and comment in relation to Shiji in the notes in the period from Song to Ming accumulated plentiful materials and provided the positive and negative experience for the emergence of Ping Lin Version in the mid and late phase of the Ming Dynasty and the advent of the climax of the study of Shiji in Qing Dynasty, which are benefiting today,s readers as well.