〈 ABSTRACT 〉
This is an article on the Sima Qian's selection and its meaning between the myth and the history, which is related to China's historical projects of today. In the Records of the Historian, Sima Qian selected the five emperors as ...
〈 ABSTRACT 〉
This is an article on the Sima Qian's selection and its meaning between the myth and the history, which is related to China's historical projects of today. In the Records of the Historian, Sima Qian selected the five emperors as real figures and eliminated their mythical elements. He intended to present a model of virtuous emperor through them. He also regarded Huaxia and non-Huaxia as the posterity of the Yellow Emperor, the first of the five emperors. Undoubtedly, there lied his belief in the virtue of the ancestor which has influence on the descendants. At the same time, when he invented the pedigree of threatening barbarian by assimilating its origin into Huaxia, his intention was to control it. Sima Qian held that Huaxia is the dominant, such Sinocentrism has remained along with the idea of Great Unification.
The Xia-Shang-Zhou Chronology Projet, the grand project aiming to seek the origin of ancient Chinese civilization, the Northeast Project, the exhibition on Liaohe civilization are China's nationalist projects. The diverse ethnic groups and cultures in various regions of China are regarded by the projects' scholars as inseparable parts of Chinese civilization. The idea of the unified multi-ethnic nation runs through the whole projects. To support this idea, these projects treat the myth and history as a tool for national cohesive force. In the process of each project, the mythical figures are interpreted historically, such historization of myth has a powerful archeological background. With that, the nationalist historical narratives have been validated through the more scientific approach than before.
The Records of the Historian is a master narrative which provides the powerful weapon for the history wars of today. But I think, contemporary views of Sima Qian are shaped by their present needs to construct a unitary national identity. The Records of the Historian is a great work for researching the relationship between nature and human, and for understanding the changes both past and present from the universal point of view, not for the national history of the Chinese.
主題語(Key words) : Sima Qian, Records of the Historian, selection, myth, history, pedigree, Great Unification, nationalist projects, Chinese civilization, master narrative, national identity