Index: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Home > Records of the Grand Historian
The Records of the Grand Historian or the Records of the Grand Historian of China 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. Records of the Grand Historian is a modern Western name; The original Chinese title is 史記 ( pinyin: shi ji), which means "Historical Records". As the first systematic Chinese historical text, it tremendously influenced Chinese historiography and prose, and is comparable to Herodotus and his Historiai.The 130-chapter text classifies all information into several categories:
- 12 chapters of Benji (本紀 pinyin ben3ji4) contain all biographies of the prominent rulers from the mythical Yellow Emperor including Qin Shi Huang and the kings of Xia dynasty, Shang dynasty and Zhou Dynasty. The biograhies of four emperors and one empress dowager of the Han Dynasty before his age are also included.
- 30 chapters of Shijia (世家 pinyin shi4 jia1) contain all biograghies of notable rulers, nobility and bureaucrats mostly from the Spring and Autumn Period and Period of the Warring States.
- 70 chapters of Liezhuan (列傳 pinyin lie4 zhuan4) contain all biographies of important figures including Lao zi, Mocius, Sun TzuSun Tzu ( also commonly written in pinyin: Sun Z was the author of The Art of War an influential ancient Chinese book on military strategy. It is a common misconception to think that his writings refered to TACTICS (Or Tacticity). He is also one of the ea and Jing KeJing Ke Chinese character Jing1 Ke1) was a guest residing in the estates of Dan, crown prince of Yan and renowned for his failed assassination of the Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang who reigned from 221 BC to 210 BC. His story is told in the chapter entitle.
- 8 chapters of Shu (書 pinyin shu1) are the economic and cultural records of the time covered in the book.
- 10 chapters of Biao (表 pinyin biao3) 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 of the throne, Sima Qian's more liberal and objective prose had been renowned and followed by poets and novelists. Most chapters of Liezhuan were 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 KeJing Ke Chinese character Jing1 Ke1) was a guest residing in the estates of Dan, crown prince of Yan and renowned for his failed assassination of the Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang who reigned from 221 BC to 210 BC. His story is told in the chapter entitle's attempt at assassinating Qin Shi Huang was an eye-witness story passed on by the great-grandfather of his father's friend, who served as a low-ranked bureaucrat at Qinsmall seal script, 220 BC) Qin or Ch'in ( Wade-Giles) ( 778 BC- 206 BC) was a state during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods of China. It eventually grew to dominate the country and unite it for the first time, after which it is referred to court and happened to be attending the diplomatic ceremony for Jing Ke.
Read more »