Records of the Grand Historian
The
Records of the Grand Historian () 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:#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.#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.#70 volumes of
Liezhuan (列傳), contain all biographies of important figures including
Laozi,
Mozi,
Sunzi, and
Jingke.#8 volumes of
Shu (書), are the economic and cultural records of the time covered in the book.#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 of the throne, Sima Qian's more liberal and objective prose had 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.
* Sima Qian (1993),
Records of the Grand Historian of China. Chin Dynasty. Translated by Burton Watson (New York, Columbia University Press). ISBN 0231081685 (hbk); ISBN 0231081693 (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 0231081685 (hbk); ISBN 0231081677 (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 0231081650
*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).
*
Twenty-Four Histories*
The Original Text in its Entirety (Chinese)*
A comparative reading on the texts in both modern and classical Chinese
