Abstract: SimaQian is fascinated with the exotic but does not seek it. He tends to choose those with extraordinary life experiences as his biographical subjects, which reflects the new social force and requirement. His gravitates towards exotic stories and reveals the meaning hidden in them, often including an exploration of the characters. He strives to study the relationship between Heaven and man, and to penetrate changes both ancient and modern, thus uniting the discourse to one single school. This is not only characteristic of his objective of writing, but is pertinent to his writing approaches. His selection of biographical subjects, interpretation of them and a great many details and anecdotes in use are all situated in their historical context, including examination of morals and the appeal to “Tao of Heaven.” His scene-oriented approach to organizing materials enables him to elaborate on the most spectacular deeds of his subjects on the basis of miscellaneous historical facts, thus assigning narrativity and dramatics to their lives. In conclusion, SimaQian’s biographical approach still merits our learning today.

Key words:SimaQian, biographical approach, fascination with the exotic, Tao of Heaven, scene-oriented, Grant Hardy

Yang Zhengrun (1944 - ) is Professor of Chinese Literature at School of Humanities, Shanghai Jiaotong University. He is SJTU Director of Center for Life writing and Vice Chairman of China’s Society of Biography. His publication includes Biography: A Historical Survey (1994) and Poetics of Modern Biography (2010).