The Study On The Pre-Qin Period Recording System

The pre-Qin period Recording system is a history recording system in which the pre-Qin period historians followed the monarchy to record their words and deeds in real time and continuously,aiming to supervise them.This system has the same similarities with the contemporary secretary system in form,that is: Recording the words and deeds of the monarchy(or leader);Real-time and Continuity.However,there are differences between this two systems in essence: the pre-Qin period Recording system aimed to supervise the monarchy as the spiritual core,the contemporary secretary does not have such spiritual.The pre-Qin Recording system is the earliest official history record system in ancient China(although then historians did not have such consciousness).The historical materials generated by this system provide reliable historical source for important pre-Qin documents such as Chun Qiu(春秋)Zuo Zhuan(左传),Guo Yu(国语),Zhushu Ji Nian(竹书纪年)and so on.The importance of the system is evident.However,there isn’t comprehensive and systematic study of the rise and fall of the system so far.The pre-Qin period Recording system originated from the oral chronicle of the primitive society,through the divination chronicle of the late Shang Dynasty,and made a breakthrough in the early period of the Western Zhou Dynasty.However,it wasn’t take shape until the‘Republican administration’of the late Western Zhou Dynasty,when the Zhou Dynasty and various vassal states produced a chronicle named Bai Guo Chun Qiu(百国春秋)called by Mo Zi(墨子).When then historian were able to record the words and deeds of the monarchy in real time and continuously,and the purpose of this record was to supervise the monarchy.This marked the formal formation of the pre-Qin period Recording system.At that time,the historian pursued the principles of record everything about the monarchy faithfully,and should theoretically remember the achievements and demerits of the monarchy.However,due to the main purpose of the system is to supervise the monarch,there is special emphasis on‘demerit’.It goes without saying that under the pre-Qin period recording system,the historian supervised monarchy in real time and continuously,which is a strong restriction of the the monarchy.The fundamental reason why the historians were able to supervise the monarchy and the monarchy was will to accept such supervision.The fundamental reason for this is that the political ideology of the time was based on the idea of‘Rule by Moral(德治)’and the political system was based on the patriarchal system of feudalism,which were the ideological basis and institutional guarantee for the creation and survival of the system respectively.In the late Spring and Autumn period,when Confucius lived,the patriarchal feudal system began to disintegrate,and Confucius advocated the idea of‘Keeping a Secret for the Honorable(为尊者讳)’.From‘Recording monarchy’s Demerits Without Concealment(书法不隐)’to‘Keeping a Secret for the Honorable(为尊者讳)’,the spiritual core of the pre-Qin period recording system was eroded,marmonarchy the beginning of the decline of the pre-Qin period recording system.During the Warring States period,the idea of‘Rule by Law’replaced the idea of‘Rule by Virtue’as the ruling ideology of each country.and the centralized monarchy replaced the patriarchal feudal system.The ideological basis and institutional safeguards that sustained the pre-Qin period Recording system no longer existed,and the system inevitably went into decline.This can be seen by the fact that the decline in the number of annotated historians,the scarcity of annotated works,and the shift from‘Recording Faults(记过)’to‘Recording Merits(记功)’in history books about the monarchy.Confucian scholars from the Warring States to the two Han dynasties glorified the recording system as one of the‘Standard Features’of the‘Three Dynasties’(三代),which provided a strong ideological resource for the reconstruction of the notation system in the Northern Wei period.In addition,the topic of‘Jian(简)’‘Ce(策)’and the topic of‘Left historian and Right Historian(左史右史)’are main topics of the pre-Qin Recording system that have attracted the attention of ancient and modern historians.However,the existing research conclusions worth discussing:in the pre-Qin period,there were no two kinds of works named‘Jian(简)’‘Ce(策)’.The historical sources of Chun Qiu(春秋)Zuo Zhuan(左传)should be understood as‘Outline(纲)’and‘Mu(目)’,they together constitute the‘Bai Guo Chun Qiu(百国春秋).As for,it is neither enough to confirm nor falsified of if there was a division of‘Left historian and Right Historian(左史右史)’,due to the lack of powerful historical materials.However,according to the existing historical materials and the research results of modern scholars,the pre-Qin historians are always focused on the words of monarchy.