Ban Gu's History of Early China
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Ban Gu's History of Early China By Anthony E. Clark

Chapter 1:  Inscribing the Past: A History of Chinese History
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He was thus skilled at narrating and putting in order the principles of events; he was discerning but not flowery, substantial but not crude, and the pattern and substance of his writing are balanced. Overall, these are the talents of a good historian.40

But while Biao admired Sima Qian’s narrative talents, he also complained that

if we could in fact cause Prefect Sima Qian to have relied upon the model words of the Five Classics and agreed with what sagely men (or otherwise, “The Sage” Confucius) considered to be right and wrong, then his intentions would not have been far from success.41

Despite one’s literary talents, it is the content that remains most important. Successful historical writing rests on proper reference to Confucian morality.

Ban Biao also disliked Sima Qian’s syntax and organization. In his essay, he complained that Sima Qian was too wordy, asserting that “his book could be pared without end and there would still remain a surplus of words, and there would be many places where [the text] would not make a unified work” .42 Not only did Biao object to Sima’s wordiness but he also complained that whereas Qian made a record of the styles (zi ) of some men such as Sima Xiangru (c. 179–117 BC), he did not record the styles of other important people of history, such as Xiao He (?–193 BC),43 Cao Shen (?–190 BC),44 Chen Ping (?–178 BC),45 and Dong Zhongshu.46 Sima Qian was inconsistent not only with styles but also when he recorded peoples’ prefectures and commanderies.