Records of the Grand Historian

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The Records of the Grand Historian (Traditional Chinese: 史記; Simplified Chinese: 史记; pinyin: Shǐjì) written from 109 BC to 91 BC, was the magnum opus of Sima Qian, in which he recounted Chinese history from the time of the mythical Yellow Emperor until his own time. As the first systematic Chinese historical text, it tremendously influenced Chinese historiography and prose, and is comparable to Herodotus and his Historiai.

The 130 volumes text classifies all information into several categories:

1. 12 volumes of Benji (本紀), contain all biographies of the prominent rulers from the mythical Yellow Emperor to Qin Shihuang and the kings of Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties. The biographies of four emperors and one empress dowager of the Western Han before his age are also included.
2. 30 volumes of Shijia (世家), contain all biographies of notable rulers, nobility and bureaucrats mostly from the period of Spring and Autumn to Warring States.
3. 70 volumes of Liezhuan (列傳), contain all biographies of important figures including Laozi, Mozi, Sunzi, and Jingke.
4. 8 volumes of Shu (書), are the economic and cultural records of the time covered in the book.
5. 10 volumes of Biao (表), are timelines of events.

Unlike subsequent official historical texts that adopted Confucian doctrine, proclaimed the divine rights of the emperors, and degraded any failed claimant to the throne, Sima Qian's more liberal and objective prose has been renowned and followed by poets and novelists. Most volumes of Liezhuan are vivid descriptions of events and persons, a reason for which is that the author critically used stories passed on from antiquity as part of the sources, balancing reliability and accuracy of the records. For instance, the material on Jing Ke's attempt at assassinating first emperor of China was an eye-witness story passed on by the great-grandfather of his father's friend, who served as a low-ranked bureaucrat at court of Qin and happened to be attending the diplomatic ceremony for Jing Ke.

[edit] References

• Sima Qian (1993), Records of the Grand Historian of China. Chin Dynasty. Translated by Burton Watson (New York, Columbia University Press). ISBN 0-231-08168-5 (hbk); ISBN 0-231-08169-3 (pbk)
• Sima Qian (1993), Records of the Grand Historian of China. Han Dynasty II. (Revised Edition). Translated by Burton Watson (New York, Columbia University Press). ISBN 0-231-08168-5 (hbk); ISBN 0-231-08167-7 (pbk)
• Ssu-ma Ch'ien (1961), Records of the grand historian of China, Translated from the Shih chi of Ssu-ma Ch'ien by Burton Watson (New York: Columbia University Press). ISBN 0-231-08165-0
• Ssu ma Ch’ien (1994), The Grand Scribe’s Records I: the basic annals of pre-Han China (editor—Nienhauser W.H. Jr.) (Bloomington: Indiana University Press). (An annotated translation.)
• Ssu ma Ch’ien (1994), The Grand Scribe’s Records VII: the memoirs of pre-Han China (editor—Nienhauser W.H. Jr.) (Bloomington: Indiana University Press). (An annotated translation.)
• Hulsewé A.F.P. (1993), “Shih chi”, Early Chinese Texts: a bibliographical guide (editor—Loewe M.) p.405–414 (Berkeley: Society for the Study of Early China).

[edit] See also

• Twenty-Four Histories

[edit] External links

• The Original Text in its Entirety (Chinese)
• A comparative reading on the texts in both modern and classical Chinese

es:Memorias históricas fr:Shiji ko:사기 (사마천) id:Catatan Sejarah Agung it:Shi Ji hu:A történetíró feljegyzései nl:Shiji ja:史記 no:Shiji pl:Zapiski historyka pt:Registros do Historiador vi:Sử ký Tư Mã Thiên zh:史记