On the Significance of the Comment Made by YANG Xiong Concerning SIMA Qian

YANG Xiong as a thinker in Han Dynasty praises SIMA Qian highly,and even compares him with Confucius.The significance of his praise lies in the following:firstly,his praise of SIMA Qian concerning his position in historiography in fact is the affirmation of the independence of the latter publicly and juxtaposes historiography with Confucianism;secondly,his comment on thecuriosity,learnednessandmiscellanyof the latter shows his grasp of the historiographical ideas in the first place,having Confucianism as the critical criteria.This method is representative in traditional historiographical field and reflects the richness of the historiography of SIMA Qian and his peculiar characteristics;thirdly,his comment on the feature ofreal documentationin Shiji stresses the importance of historiographical recording and writing.Real documentationdose not necessarily leads torefined historiographical writingbecause the former should be reinforced with ideas;the latter requires a combination of ideas and art.YANG Xiong's opinions and comments have great importance in Chinese history of historiography.