Abstract:
A Review on Differences and Similarities Between Sima Qian and Ban Gu was a joint block edition of what was written by Ni Si in the South Song Dynasty and annotated by Liu Chenwong at the turn from the South Song to the Yuan Dynasty, hence the stated title of the work. This work now boasts two existing editions, i.e., the block print by Li Yuanyang in the 16th year of the imperial title of Jiajing, and that by Han Jingxu in the imperial title of Wanli. By comparing lexical and syntactic differences between the corresponding chapters of The Records of the Historian and The History of the Han Dynasty, A Review on Differences and Similarities between Sima Qian and Ban Gu explored gains and losses of the two works, thus establishing a new stylistic layout and mode of historical work research. Liu Chenwong’s comments presented three distinctions: emphasizing literary features, especially lexical analysis; noticing the grammatical and syntactic characteristics of the two works, and finally introducing literary critical devices to comments of historical figures.
