Sima Qian's Understanding of Taishiling and His Writing of Shiji

Taishiling has a low social status.His primary responsibility is to manage the Astronomy and Calendar in the Western Han Dynasty.However,in the Western Zhou Dynasty,Taishi has a high status.Sima Qian's ancestor is a Taishi in the Western Zhou Dynasty;therefore,Sima Qian and his father consider that Taishiling should have a high social status in the Western Han Dynasty.They are proud of their ancestor's high status,so they consider they can also write the history to get people's respect and have a high social status as their ancestor. This is just his motive of writing Shiji.But the political pattern of unification restricts his understanding and expression of history;therefore,a thought of becoming the single opinion is actually a compromising expression of dissymmetry relation between the hope that Sima Qian and his father are respected as their ancestor and the fact of Taishiling's low social status.And because Sima Qian's historical thought is different from Confucianism after Emperor Wu in Western Han Dynasty;therefore,before the Song Dynasty,Sima Qian's motive of writing Shiji is not understood and accepted by people.