Chapter 23 Section 9: Sima Qian’s Family Tradition and Family Education

Sima Qian, a historian of the Han Dynasty, has left a lasting impression through the ages with his "Historical Records".On his road of governing history and becoming a talent, the most interesting thing for the world is the story of family education. Sima Qian was born in a family of historians for generations. In the pre-Qin period, he studied in the government, and the historians were hereditary. Sima Qian's ancestor, Sima's family, was a historian in the Zhou Dynasty.Sima Qian's father, Sima Tan, was in the post of Taishi Ling when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was in power.The duty of Taishi Ling is to take charge of the central government's astronomical ephemeris, divination and sacrificial offerings, and to keep documents and archives and books and classics.Sima Tan once "studied Tianguan from the capital of Tang Dynasty, received "Yi" from Yanghe, and learned Taoism from Huangzi".The author of "On the Essentials of the Six Schools" comprehensively summarized and analyzed hundreds of schools and schools in the pre-Qin period. He is a historian full of independent opinions.

Under the guidance of his father, Sima Qian studied hard since he was a child to inherit his father's career.In addition, he was talented and intelligent, and he was able to recite ancient prose when he was 10 years old, and he had some contact with some ancient history books.A little longer, the father asked his son to learn from Su Confucianism, a famous teacher at that time, and study "Guwen Shangshu", "Zuo Zhuan", "Guoyu", "Guoce", "Chu-Han Chunqiu" and other pre-Han Dynasty works At the same time, my father also meticulously taught the necessary knowledge and skills for making Taishi Ling, such as collecting folk relics and ancient books, keeping and sorting books and books, studying astronomy and ephemeris, divination and sacrifices, etc.All of these, as the family education that the son inherited the father's position, was also the necessary official education at that time, and the Sima father and son were all careful.

However, since the conscientious Sima Tan wrote "On the Essentials of the Six Schools", he had a long-cherished wish to compile a great history. He attempted to summarize the continuous history of the development of the Chinese nation by sorting out ancient books from the pre-Zhou Dynasty, and Inherit the past and inspire the future, and use it as a reference for the Ming Lord and Xianjun who benefited from the unification of the world.Sima Qian served his father day and night, and his father's preparations for history compilation and oral instruction on history and family history undoubtedly became the main conditions for him to study history and compile "Historical Records" in the future.

In 110 B.C., Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty established the feudal family of the Han family and conferred Zen on Mount Tai.As the order of the Taishi, Sima Tan was detained in Zhounan and was not allowed to follow him, so he died in anger.When dying, Sima and his son met between Heluo.His father took Sima Qian's hand, and said in tears: "Qian'er, my ancestor was the Tai Shiguan of the Zhou family. Since the last life, he has shown his fame to Yu Xia, and he has been an official official. The decline in the future generations, is it possible that it has declined in my place? Is it? No! You will return to be Taishi and inherit the career of my ancestors. Today, the emperor takes over the lineage of a thousand years and enshrines Chan Taishan, but I can’t follow it. It’s fate, it’s fate! After I die, you must be Taishi You are the Taishi, don't forget what I want to discuss." The father's words deeply touched the son's heart, and Sima Qian bowed his head and wept, remembering every word in his heart.The father was very sad that his ambition was not fulfilled and he was about to pass away. He warned his son intermittently: "In the past four hundred years, the princes have merged and the wars have continued, so that the historical records have ceased to be cut off. Gentleman, as an official historian, I have not had time to discuss it, and the literature and history of the world have not been revised. This is the only mistake I am deeply afraid of, and I hope that you will never forget it!" Sima Qian accepted his father's teachings and entrustments at the end of his life, and was determined to live up to his father's legacy.

Later, Sima Qian inherited his father's position as Taishi Ling and began to take charge of the royal collection.In the golden chamber of the royal stone chamber, he eagerly read various books and historical materials.At the same time, in order to compile history books, in addition to extensively collecting and sorting out the existing national library materials, he also used the convenience of serving as the emperor's bodyguard to travel to the famous mountains and rivers of the motherland, inspecting historical sites and customs in various places, in order to obtain the first First-hand historical information.According to records, as early as 20 years old, Sima Qian "traveled to the south of the Yangtze River and Huaihe River, went to Kuaiji, explored the caves of Yu, peeped at Jiuyi, and floated in Yuan and Xiang; The legacy of Confucius, the hometown shoots Zou and Yi; the poor Po, Xue, and Pengcheng, and passes through Liang and Chu to return." After moving to the official doctor, he also traveled and inspected Ba, Shu, Qiong (qiongqiong), Ruo (zeze), Kunming and other places in the Southwest.These extraordinary experiences became the rare conditions for him to compile "Historical Records".

Because Sima Qian was taught by his family since he was a child, and he always took his father's dying entrustment and teaching as his great motivation, so he persevered in completing the writing of the great work "Historical Records" in the face of his own adversity, which not only fulfilled his father's last wish, And it has set a model for the son to follow the father to imitate through the ages.