Sima Qian’s chivalrous spirit is a basic spirit of his conduct in life. In Sima Qian's era, the rulers adopted a policy of strangling chivalrous people. So how did Sima Qian's chivalrous spirit come into being? This is determined by his family environment, personality, social experience and progressive view of history. Some people in the Ming Dynasty believed that "Shi Qian was in trouble with Li Ling and could not be saved, and his life experience was difficult, so he felt the meaning of chivalry." In fact, this is only one of the reasons for the chivalry spirit. Sima Qian was influenced by his father Sima Tan who advocated Taoist ideas since he was a child. Sima Tan's "On the Essentials of the Six Schools" praised Taoism: "The technique is based on nothingness and uses conformity as its function. It has no potential and no permanent shape, so it can study the emotions of all things... There are laws and methods, and it is because of time and industry; There is no limit, there is no limit, everything is the same. "This is a law of thought that values ??nature and reality. It is with this law of thought that chivalrous people measure the laws, degrees, emotions, and power in life. They will not tolerate those who violate them, and they will not hesitate to "violate the prohibition with force." This law of thought is consistent with the spirit of chivalry. "On the Essentials of Six Schools" also says: "What is born of mortals is the spirit, and what is entrusted to it is the form... From this point of view, the spirit is the foundation of life, and the form is the tool of life." This emphasizes the human spirit. The importance is also consistent with the chivalrous spirit of the chivalrous person who "values ??justice over life". These thoughts of Sima Tan cannot help but have a profound influence on Sima Qian. As the saying goes, "When discussing the Great Dao, Huang Lao will be the first and then the Six Classics, and Xue Xia will retreat from being a virgin and become a traitor." (1) In addition to his father, Sima Qian's relatives, friends, teachers and friends also had a positive attitude toward him. The chivalrous spirit is very influential. Sima Qian's grandfather was Sima Xi, who "believed in the inevitable paintings, donated his personal interests to his friends, and took advantage of his lonely position." (2) Sima Qian's teacher Dong Zhongshu was "an honest man" and "took generosity as his responsibility." Among the "qualified" (3) men; Sima Qian's good friend Ren An, when Huo Qubing gained power and became "increasingly noble" and Wei Qing lost power and "retired", "he served under the general's old friend many times, often serving as a hussar. However, Ren An refused." (4) Another good friend, Tian Ren, was the youngest son of Uncle Tian of the Huang Lao faction. When Uncle Tian died, King Lu sent him a hundred gold temple. "(5) How much emphasis is placed on justice over profit! He also risked the execution of the traitor Sanhe Prefecture, who was "relying on the nobles and related to the Three Dukes" (6), and won the reputation of "not afraid of strong imperialism" (7); in addition, his friend Hu Sui was known as "his man" in history. He is a gentleman in his heart" (8); his friend Dongfang Shuo dared to "admonish directly" to the emperor, etc., all of which influenced Sima Qian's chivalrous spirit. Sima Qian has a romantic character. Yang Xiong said: "If you love too much, your son will grow up!... If your son grows up, he will love too much, and he will love strangeness." (9) Mr. Li Changzhi also said: "Love too much, and cannot bear it, is the breadth of Sima Qian's sympathy. Love of strangeness, especially The core of Sima Qian's romantic character... Sima Qian loves all strange things, but especially the strange people among people." (10) Because of this, Sima Qian has special sympathy for strange people who are oppressed and have no appeal, and who are in trouble and have no one to solve them. It eulogizes the "heroes of rural music", "heroes of commoners" and "heroes of Luxiang" who have silently dedicated themselves to this end, and praises the chivalrous spirit of all kinds of people. Sima Qian had three large-scale travel activities, traveling almost all over the country except Guangdong and Fujian. He consciously went deep into the people, "traveled with the heroes of Yan and Zhao", and had a broad understanding of the life of the lower class, which prompted him to collect and interview various chivalrous stories in the world. In the process of reading thousands of books, I naturally feel more chivalrous spirit. The deeds of chivalrous figures such as Jing Ke in "Historical Records" are selective references to the records of pre-Qin historical records. Sima Qian's rich life practice, low social status and unfortunate own experiences are important reasons for the formation and strengthening of the chivalrous spirit. Especially after Sima Qian suffered the disaster of Li Ling, he realized more clearly the tyrannical and cruel nature of rulers, and deeply realized the value of the chivalrous spirit of rescuing people in distress. Sima Qian's realistic spirit of good history and "studying the relationship between heaven and man, understanding the changes of ancient and modern times, and becoming a family" will inevitably break through the ideological fetters of feudal rulers and create confrontation with them. chivalrous spirit. To understand the profoundness and progress of Sima Qian's chivalrous spirit, we must compare it with the views of the ancients. Because the ancients had different understandings of "chivalry", they had different attitudes towards the spirit of chivalry. Not to mention the wide variety in literary and artistic works, even in historical books such as official history and barnyard notes, there are different descriptions and evaluations of the chivalrous spirit. Han Feizi's "Five Worms" was the first to put forward the concept of "Xia", believing that "Xia is characterized by martial arts and offending the forbidden", and is listed as one of the "Five Worms". Xun Yue's "Han Ji" calls the knights "the thieves of virtue." Although Ban Gu admitted that Guo Xie and others were knights with "unique appearance", he denounced them as "not moral" and "their crimes can no longer be tolerated." "Execute." (11) also fundamentally denies the meaning of chivalry. The official history after "Hanshu" no longer contains biographies of knights. In the history notes before "Historical Records", those who clearly wrote about chivalry include "Liezi", "Yan Danzi", etc. (12). "Lieh Zi" tells a story about the "Yu family's disaster": the wealthy Yu family "attacked Bo upstairs" for fun, and a knight led his followers to pass by. At this time, it happened that "the Bo scholar upstairs laughed, and the kite flew down and fell to the ground." "The knight said: 'The Yu family has been rich for a long time, and they often have the ambition to take advantage of others, so they insulted me and destroyed their family." Although this knight was a knight. Angry, yet quite reckless and cruel.

"Yan Danzi" was produced during the Qin and Han Dynasties. Although the story is generally similar to the content of Jing Ke's assassination of the King of Qin in "Historical Records: Biographies of Assassins", some are not consistent with historical facts (such as Jing Ke piercing the ear of the King of Qin with a dagger); some are bizarre. There are no classics (such as crows with white heads and horses with horns), which may have been written based on the rumors at that time. As Sima Qian said: "It is said that Jing Ke was ordered by Prince Dan to say, 'The sky rains millet and the horse grows horns'. It is too much. It is also said that Jing Ke hurt the King of Qin, which is not true." (13) From this point of view, in People before Sima Qian or his contemporaries had a negative attitude towards the theoretical discussion or image portrayal of chivalry, some distorted the image, and some did not portray it gloriously enough. None of them were as profound and touching as the chivalrous figures in "Historical Records". Radiating the light of chivalrous spirit. Sima Qian's discussion of chivalry and the portrayal of the image of chivalry are relatively concentrated in "Historical Records: Biography of Chivalry". Let’s look at its discussion first. In "Preface to the Biographies of Rangers", in order to clarify the connotation of chivalry, Sima Qian first distinguished between knights and "lonely gentlemen". I think that the latter regard themselves as noble, separated from the masses, and are ridiculed by the world. At best, they are just trying to keep themselves safe; and "although today's knight-errant's actions are not in line with justice, he will definitely believe in his actions in the future, and his promises will be true. If he does not If you love them, you will go to the troubles of soldiers, and you will live and die. If you don't be proud of your abilities and be ashamed of your virtues, there are still many people who are trustworthy and sacrifice yourself to save others. This is the basic connotation of Sima Qian’s chivalrous thought. Sima Qian also compared the virtuous prime ministers with the "heroes of Luxiang" and believed that "the followers of Yanling, Mengchang, Chunshen, Pingyuan and Xinling in modern times" relied on the social status and wealth of the relatives of the jade ministers to recruit talents. , can be called a "sage", but not a chivalrous person. Because of their reputation, "like their reputation throughout the world, everyone is praised as virtuous", that is, their virtues and reputation are known all over the world, which is achieved by their chivalrous spirit, "which is hard to hear." Obviously, what Sima Qian praised was the commoner Luxiang man. As for the "violent gangsters" who "have powerful cronies and clans that are more powerful than the Zhou Dynasty, set up financial services to help the poor, and bully and bully the lonely and weak", Sima Qian even disdained to compare them with knights-errants, and lamented that the secular world confuses the two. To sum up, it can be seen that in Sima Qian's view, only those whose code of conduct conforms to his chivalrous connotation and embodies the chivalrous spirit are the true chivalrous people. Let’s look at Sima Qian’s description of the knights Zhu Jia and Guo Xie. The chivalrous thoughts of the Zhu family of the Lu State were not affected by the environment. "All the people of Lu are Confucian, but the Zhu family is known for their chivalry." He saved hundreds of heroes, and the mortals were "indescribable", but he always "undefeated" "His ability is due to his virtue", and "Everyone who tries to do anything is afraid of seeing him." He rescued Ji Bu. Later, Ji Bu gained a distinguished status and refused to see him for the rest of his life. This is a typical example. He is frugal in clothes, slim down and simple in his travels, but he is keen on supporting people in a hurry: "To encourage people without supporting them, start with poverty and lowliness. The family has no money, and the clothes are not enough, the food is not rich, and the cattle cannot be ridden. He specializes in pursuing people. The image of such a righteous man who does not want fame and wealth, but is tyrannical and self-interested is still rare even today, two thousand years later. Guo Xie is a figure that Sima Qian is familiar with, and his image is also more colorful. In addition to his chivalrous spirit, Guo Xie also has his own personality traits. One is "self-rejoicing in being a chivalrous person", and the chivalrous behavior gradually matures. "Repay evil with kindness, give generously but expect little." "Having inspired people's lives, don't be hesitant about their achievements." For example, when Guo Xie goes out, everyone respects him, but there is a man who sits there and looks at him, and his guests want to treat him, but Guo Xie says "It's my fault for not cultivating my virtues. What's wrong with me!" He secretly interceded with the county officials on his behalf and exempted him from serving on duty many times. Such chivalrous practice is already a state of open-mindedness and noble sentiments! The second is to be able to respect people and not overstep others. Someone asked Guo Xie to go to Luoyang to act as a mediator between the enemies, but Guo Xie asked them to listen to the mediation of the sages in Luoyang and respect the local "virtuous heroes" and "virtuous officials" who dealt with the situation according to the actual situation. When Guo Xie arrived in another county, he first helped others and solved the problems that could be solved. "Those who couldn't do it would be disgusted by each other, and then they would dare to taste wine and food." Such respect for people can be described as a wise man who always thinks of the other person and always "gives in" to himself. Third, it can unite and influence people. Guo Jie's appearance is not striking, but he has extraordinary cohesion among the masses and can unite the masses to promote the chivalrous spirit with him. "Young men in the city and virtuous men from nearby counties have been passing by in the middle of the night for more than ten years. Please take care of the guests and support them." Those who admired his voice were famous for his heroic speech. "Guo Xie's huge influence in society caused more harm to the ruler than Guo Xie's personal power to kill people, so he was eventually killed. Sima Qian commented: "As the proverb goes: 'How can a person's appearance and fame be the same!' What a pity for the drama!" It was a pity that Guo Xie was killed, but he was also sure that his honor and reputation would be immortal. It can be seen that Sima Qian's discussion of the chivalrous spirit and his portrayal of the chivalrous spirit are completely consistent in essence, and his understanding of the chivalrous spirit is also unique and unprecedented. Heroes such as Zhu Jia and Guo Xie, who took chivalry as their own duty and had various chivalrous behaviors, were only a minority in history, and most of them were strangled and drowned by the rulers. It was impossible for Sima Qian to make more records. All walks of life in society In all walks of life, there are more chivalrous and chivalrous people. Although they are not chivalrous, they have a chivalrous spirit. "Historical Records" praises many people of all kinds who have certain qualities of chivalry, reflecting the richness of Sima Qian's chivalrous spirit. First, Sima Qian praised the chivalrous spirit that was better than resisting rape. For example, Cao Mo, Zhuan Zhu, Yu Rang, Nie Zheng, and Jing Ke in "The Biography of Assassins" fall into this category. Except for Cao Mo, who was originally a general of Lu, the other four were all commoner men. They all had the quality of "being true to their promises, not loving their bodies, and fighting for the hardships of a soldier", thus conforming to Sima Qian's chivalrous connotation.

What Sima Qian praised was not their assassination itself, but their chivalrous spirit. Although Cao Mo was not a knight-errant, he robbed Duke Huan of Qi out of resistance and justice, which was obviously a chivalrous spirit. Therefore, Sima Qian said at the end of the biography: "From Cao Mo to Jing Ke, there are five people who may or may not succeed in their mission. However, their intentions are relatively clear, and they do not deceive their ambitions. It is not arrogant to have their names be immortalized!" Regardless of whether their assassination was successful! Whether it is true or not, "its meaning" is affirmed. This "righteousness" is the chivalry of "not deceiving one's ambitions". "Historical Records" criticizes the tyranny of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and the tyranny of cruel officials. It can also be said that it foils, affirms and promotes the chivalrous spirit of resistance to violence. Secondly, it praised the chivalrous spirit of setting an example regardless of personal safety. This is the manifestation of chivalrous spirit in patriotism. The chivalrous spirit and patriotic thoughts at this time are consistent. For example, Mao Sui in "Pingyuan Biography", regardless of his personal safety, dared to take advantage of the situation in Chuqian with his chivalrous attitude, which promoted the alliance and rescued the siege of Handan. In "Lian Po and Lin Xiangru Lie", in order to safeguard the dignity of the country, Lin Xiangru dared to risk his own life to retrieve Heshibi; he dared to coerce the King of Qin to attack; for the sake of the country, he was willing to repeatedly give in to Lian Po, and believed in "putting the country first" The principle of righteousness is to be anxious and then to have personal enmity. Sima Qian commented: "Knowing death requires courage, not only because it is difficult to die, but also difficult to execute. Fang Linxiangru used the jade pillar and scolded the King of Qin to the left and right, but the power was not enough to kill him, but the soldiers may be cowardly and dare not take action. When Xiangru exerted his strength, his prestige The enemy country retreats and gives way to the famous Taishan Mountain. It can be said that it is both wise and brave! "A person who knows how to "execute" is a person with extraordinary chivalry, wisdom and courage, Lin Xiangru is like this, and Mao Sui is like this. "The Biography of Young Master Wei" records that after Hou Ying arranged the strategy of stealing military talismans and seizing military power, he committed suicide to encourage Young Master Wei to complete the great cause of saving Zhao Cunwei; Zhu Hai, who assisted Young Master Wei in seizing military power, explained that he did not pay homage to Young Master Wei on weekdays. The reason is that "small gifts are of no use", which shows that the two of them know how to "execute" the law and know how to grasp the major issues of state affairs. Once again, it extols the chivalrous spirit of not seeking repayment, acting bravely, and fighting without hesitation. For example, Lu Zhong, a native of Qi State, wandered to Zhao State and encountered the Qin army encircling Handan. In addition, Wei State sent Xin Yuanyan to persuade Zhao State to respect Qin as emperor. Attitude, Xin Yuanyan was finally persuaded, and it happened that Wei Gongzi seized the Jin army to rescue Zhao, and the Qin army retreated. Lord Pingyuan wanted to reward Lu Zhonglian, but he refused to accept it. "He resigned from Lord Pingyuan and went away, never to be seen again." (14) Sunshine and Fan Yuqi in "The Biography of Jing Ke" were willing to commit suicide in order to promote Jing Ke's cause of resisting violence. , is a touching chivalrous spirit. Fourth, praise the chivalrous spirit that is not snobbish and values ??friendship. "The Biography of Nie Zheng" records that after Nie Zheng assassinated Han Xiang Xia Lei, he disfigured himself and committed suicide. No one knows his name. Nie Zheng's sister Nie Rong, regardless of the danger of "sitting together", dared to go and explain Nie Zheng's origins to the city people, and because "how can I be afraid of death, and finally destroy the name of a good brother!" She died in sorrow at the corpse of her brother. beside. In this regard, Sima Qian used the discussions of some princes to praise: "Jin, Chu, Qi, and Wei heard about it, and they all said: 'She is not capable of governing alone, but her sister is also a fierce woman.'" Wei Qi had a grudge against the Yinghou of Qin and defected to his friend Yu Qing, the Shangqing of Zhao. Yu Qing "does not respect the seal of the Ten Thousand Households, Hou Qing and Prime Minister" (15) and traveled to Liang with Wei Qi to take refuge with Lord Xinling. Unexpectedly, Lord Xinling was afraid of Qin and hesitated. Wei Qi committed suicide, causing Yu Qing to lose his position as minister and be trapped in Liang Dynasty. Sima Qian commented: "Yu Qing knew the situation and made plans for Zhao. What a great job! He couldn't bear Wei Qi and died in Daliang. A mediocre man knew it was impossible, how could he be a wise man?" (16) On the surface, it seems to be a criticism. In fact, it is sympathy, as Li Changzhi said: "He was also a friend who did not respect the seal of Wanhuhou Qingxiang, and died in Daliang. Sima Qian should have especially sympathy for him at this time." (17) So Sima Qian's question. This sentence actually inspires readers to think: Yu Qing fully understands the stakes, and the reason why he does this is due to his valuable chivalrous spirit. Fifth, praise the chivalrous spirit of remaining steadfast in times of crisis and not following the crowd. In "The Biography of Tian Dan", King Tian Heng of Qi led more than 500 of his followers to the island after unifying the country. Liu Bang was afraid that he would cause chaos, so he sent someone to pardon his crimes and recruit him. Tian Heng was unwilling to obey the imperial edict, so Liu Bang had no choice but to send an envoy to coerce him again: "When Tian Heng comes, the big one will be the king, and the small one will be the hou'er. If he doesn't come, he will be killed with troops." As a last resort, Tian Heng and his two guests went there. Luoyang. When he arrived near Luoyang, Tian Heng committed suicide. Obviously, the purpose of this trip was not to find a king or a prince, but to protect the lives of his followers. Suicide is to maintain his noble moral integrity. This act of chivalry moved Liu Bang, who called him a "sage" who "came from commoners". Still suffering from his pain, he was buried with royal rites and his two guests were made captains. But the integrity of the two guests was unmoved. "After they were buried, the two guests walked beside their tombs, and they all cut their own throats and followed them." Liu Bang was greatly surprised. He thought that Tian Heng's retainers were all talented people, so he sent envoys there. Summon the 500 people who stayed on the island. As a result, "when they heard of Tian Heng's death, they all committed suicide." Who can say that these touching scenes of death for righteousness were not a heroic act of heroism and courage! At the end of the biography, Sima Qian said with great admiration: "Tian Heng's high integrity, the guests admired his righteousness and followed him to death, isn't he the most virtuous! I am so listed. There are many people who are good at painting, but they can't draw, so why?" Sima Qian said in "Historical Records" The chivalrous spirit shown in the film should be quite rich and profound.

Sima Qian chose "Fu Yi suave" and "extraordinarily suave people" (18) to enter the biography. In a sense, it is because they often show chivalry and contain the chivalrous spirit; and the chivalrous spirit is one of Sima Qian's characteristics. This "personality ideal" (19) is a kind of spirit in life and life, praising the chivalrous spirit, which "not only expresses his lofty and outstanding thoughts, but also expresses his brave, fearless and righteous noble personality.

"(20) References: (1) Ban Gu: "Hanshu: Biography of Sima Qian", page 2738, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1962 (2) Sima Qian: "Historical Records: Biography of Zou Yang", page 2473, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1959 (3 ) Sima Qian: "Historical Records·Biographies of Scholars", page 3128, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1959 (4) Sima Qian: "Historical Records·Biography of General Wei Huqi", page 2938, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1959 (5) Sima Qian: "Historical Records· "Biography of Uncle Tian", page 2778, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1959 (6) Sima Qian: "Biography of Uncle Tian in Historical Records", page 2781, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1959 (7) Sima Qian: "Biography of Uncle Tian, ??Records of the Grand Historian", page 2782, Beijing : Zhonghua Book Company, 1959 (8) Ban Gu: "Han Shu·Dou Tian Guan Han Biography" 2406 pages, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company 1962 (9) Yang Xiong: "Fayan·Junzi Chapter" (10) Li Changzhi: "Sima Qian's Personality and Personality" Style" 92 pages, Beijing: Sanlian Bookstore Publishing House, 1984 (11) Ban Gu: "Han Shu·Ying Xia Biography" 3702 pages, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company 1962 (12) Zhang Zhihe and Zheng Yuanchun: "Xia Ke in Chinese Literature and History" 186 Pages, Beijing: China Bookstore 1990 (13) Sima Qian: "Historical Records·Biographies of Assassins" 2538 pages, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company 1959 (14) Sima Qian: "Historical Records·Biographies of Lu Zhonglian" 2465 pages, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company 1959 (15) Sima Qian: "Historical Records: Biography of Yu Qing", page 2375, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1959 (16) Sima Qian: "Historical Records: Biography of Yu Qing", page 2376, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1959 (17) Li Changzhi: "Sima Qianzhi" Personality and Style" 99 pages, Beijing: Sanlian Bookstore Publishing House, 1984 (18) Sima Qian: "Historical Records: Tai Shigong's Preface", 3911 pages, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1959 (19) Chen Lancun: "History of the Development of Chinese Biographical Literature" 59 pages, Beijing: Chinese Language Press, 1999 (20) Han Zhaoqi: "History of Chinese Biographical Literature", 66 pages, Shijiazhuang: Hubei Education Press, 1992