〈項羽本紀〉是《史記》中最精采的篇章之一，其中，主要由鉅鹿之戰、鴻門宴及垓下之圍，表現出項羽一生興起、轉折、敗亡的三件事。《漢書‧司馬遷傳》中讚賞《史記》乃：「其文直，其事核，不虛美，不隱惡」，此於〈項紀〉中即有鮮明的呈現。本文從四個面向加以探討：首先，項羽並未稱帝，司馬遷所以為其立「本紀」，從理論面來看，主要是：明統、紀實；見通變、觀盛衰；項、梁對比互見，不以成敗論英雄。其次，從情感面來看，司馬遷對項羽本人有一定的欣賞，〈項紀〉中呈現其優點有豪邁不羈，自尊自重；破釜沉舟，神勇懾人；珍重情誼，義薄雲天。其三，項羽英雄氣短，最終走向敗亡，自刎於烏江，其中敗亡之因乃其生性殘暴，大失民心；性躁學疏，力征經營；不善用人，吝於施惠；虛榮自矜，不聽諫言，缺乏自省等致命缺失。由以上分析可見項羽具有雙重面向，史公「不虛美，不隱惡」，選用典型化事件，並運用個性化的語言、複筆、對比、互見法等藝術手法，巧妙、如實地呈現其雙重、矛盾的人格與行事，在讚嘆中，又有深切的惋惜。

As one of the most brilliant chapters in the Record of History, Biographic Sketch (benji) of Xiang Yu, which had been affirmed by Ban Gu that all it states, in which there is a lack of baseless praise and error-varnishing, is straightforward and verifiable, is well known as highlighting the life of Xiang Yu through the battle of Julu, the feast at Hongmen, as well as the event of being surrounded in Gaixia, which refer to Xiang Yu’s rise and decline in power, and to his failure in accomplishing the national unification, respectively. My discussion can be divided into four parts. (1) the reasons why Sima Qian wrote a benji for Xiang Yu, who had not been definitely being an emperor, theoretically speaking, include: (i) recording what have actually happened; (ii) revealing the change in the world; (iii) observing the rule of the rise and fall occurred in human society; (iv) in comparing Xiang Yu with Xiang Liang, the way of judging whether one is a hero or not under a “success－failure” framework is denied. (2) Sima Qian’s appreciation of Xiang Yu can be seen among a great amount of positive descriptions (generous, confident, brave, passionate, righteous…etc) of him in his benji. (3) Xiang Yu’s failure is due to several character faults, which include (i) cruel to the people; (ii) impatient in reading and being addicted to fighting; (iii) has no talent for employing his staffs and usually holds a bad attitude; (iv) so pretentious and rejects advices from others; (v) lack of reflecting his own behaviors. (4) Based on what are mentioned above, it can be said that there must be a double faced Xiang Yu realized by Sima Qian who, by means of some artistic expressions including a selection of representative events and a performance of vivid descriptions, is successful in pointing out the double-sided even the conflict in Xiang Yu’s character.