The Study Of Shi Ben

The paper takes Shi Ben as its study subject and consists of five parts:The first part is the introduction. In this part, I review the studies made by previous and contemporary scholars on Shi Ben, and then I demonstrate the value of researches about the book.In the second part, I discuss some important issues of the book, such as its circulation, author, circulating editions and the lost and so on and so forth. Based on other relevant ancient records and the extant scattered writings in Shi Ben, I attempt to present a clearer development of the studies.In the third part, I want to study the titles of chapter, content and styles of Shi Ben. It is known there are ten chapter titles of the book. I make a comparison of Shi Ben with The Book of Rites edited by Dai De and Historical Records, which have close relationship in literature. After comparing the language forms of the extant scattered writings in Shi Ben and the counterparts of the description of genealogy in Historical Records, Emperor's Biography, The Hereditary of a Noble, Biography of Historical Figures, I try to infer the styles of Shi Ben and analyze the content of it deeply. Because the book is lost too long and the original cannot be restored again, I struggle to revalue it and attempt to be closer to the truth and tentatively return it to the original form.The fourth part concerns about the value and influences of Shi Ben. The book is compiled according to various special topics. It initiates the investigations of the civilization history and society history, shows great progress in compilatory studies of history and history outlook in the pre-Qin period, and contributes to the establishment of our unified ethnic point of view. Moreover, Shi Ben has a significant influence on Historical Records in materials, styles and compilatory thought. It also affects books about genealogy and surname from then on. The above chapters are the main body of the dissertation.The last part makes a brief analysis of eight editions of Shi Ben in Qing Dynasty about their length, style and quality. Since all these editions are not perfect, it is needed to make use of the new achievements about content and styles of Shi Ben, collect materials extensively, reedit it for the scholars, and further the study of it.