Records of the Grand Historian
1st-century BC history of ancient China / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Records of the Grand Historian, also known by its Chinese name Shiji, is a monumental history of China that is the first of China's Twenty-Four Histories. The Records were written in the late 2nd century BC to early 1st century BC by the historian Sima Qian, whose father Sima Tan had begun it several decades earlier. The work covers a 2,500-year period from the age of the legendary Yellow Emperor to the reign of Emperor Wu of Han in the author's own time, and describes the world as it was known to the Chinese of the Western Han dynasty.[1]
Author | Sima Qian |
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Original title |
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Country | China |
Language | Classical Chinese |
Subject | History |
Publication date | c. 91 BC |
Records of the Grand Historian | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Traditional Chinese | 史記 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 史记 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Literal meaning | "Scribal records" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Alternative Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 太史公書 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Literal meaning | "Records of the Grand Historian" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Records has been called a "foundational text in Chinese civilization".[2] After Confucius and Qin Shi Huang, "Sima Qian was one of the creators of Imperial China, not least because by providing definitive biographies, he virtually created the two earlier figures."[3] The Records set the model for all subsequent dynastic histories of China. In contrast to Western historiographical conventions, the Records do not treat history as "a continuous, sweeping narrative", but rather break it up into smaller, overlapping units dealing with famous leaders, individuals, and major topics of significance.[4]