Bilingual Comparison: Records of the Grand Historian (Upper and Lower)

Author: Sima Qian (Chinese), translated by Wu Shuping et al.
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2004-03-01
Features: Shiji (Records of the Grand Historian) originally did not have a fixed title. It was sometimes called "The Works of Sima Qian," "The Records of Sima Qian," or simply "Sima Qian." Shiji was originally a general term for ancient historical texts. Starting from the Three Kingdoms period, Shiji gradually became the specific name for "The Works of Sima Qian." Sima Qian, styled Zichang, was from Xuya in the commandery of Zuo Fengyi. He was born in the Zhongyuan year of Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty and died around the Zhenghe year of Emperor Wu. Sima Qian's father, Sima Tan, served as the Grand Historian in the central government of the Han Dynasty, responsible for managing imperial archives and collecting historical materials, as well as studying astronomy and calendars. Sima Tan had planned to compile a comprehensive history but died before realizing his ambition. On his deathbed, he instructed Sima Qian to complete the unfinished work. From a young age, Sima Qian was diligent in his studies, beginning to learn classical Chinese at the age of ten and later studying the Gongyang Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals and the Classical Texts of the Shangshu under Dong Zhongshu and Kong Anguo. In the third year of the Yuanshuo era of Emperor Wu, when Sima Qian was twenty, driven by his thirst for knowledge, he traveled across the famous mountains and rivers of his homeland, examining historical sites and collecting legends. Through field investigations of historical relics and historical facts from the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, Sima Qian broadened his horizons and gained knowledge, laying a solid foundation for later compiling Shiji. After Sima Tan's death, Sima Qian succeeded him as the Grand Historian, gaining access to a vast amount of books, documents, and state archives, which was an indispensable condition for him to compile Shiji. In the first year of the Taichu era, Sima Qian began compiling Shiji. In the second year of the Tianhan era, Li Ling led an army with Li Guangli to fight against the Xiongnu but was defeated and surrendered. Emperor Wu asked Sima Qian for his opinion on Li Ling. Sima Qian said that Li Ling's surrender was due to being outnumbered and lacking reinforcements, and that the blame did not solely lie with Li Ling. Emperor Wu believed Sima Qian was deliberately defending Li Ling and criticized Li Guangli, Emperor Wu's favorite brother-in-law. As a result, Sima Qian was imprisoned and subjected to castration. Three years later, he was released and redoubled his efforts to write Shiji. Around the second year of the Zhenghe era, he basically completed the compilation. Many years after Sima Qian's death, his grandson Yang Yun finally made this immortal masterpiece of over 520,000 characters known to the world. Shiji is a comprehensive history that spans from ancient times to the present, starting with the legendary Yellow Emperor and ending with the first year of the Yuanshou era of Emperor Wu, narrating the history of China for about three thousand years. According to Sima Qian, the book consists of twelve Běnjì (Basic Annals), ten Biǎo (Tables), eight Shū (Treatises), thirty Shìjiā (Hereditary Houses), and seventy Lièzhuàn (Biographies), totaling one hundred and thirty chapters. Ban Gu mentioned in the Sima Qian Biography in the Book of Han that Shiji was missing ten chapters. Zhang Yan of the Wei Dynasty during the Three Kingdoms period pointed out that these ten chapters were the Běnjì of Emperor Jing, the Běnjì of Emperor Wu, the Book of Rites, the Book of Music, the Book of Laws, the Table of Generals and Ministers since the Rise of the Han Dynasty, the Biography of the Astrologers, the Shìjiā of the Three Kings, the Biography of the Tortoise and Shell Diviners, and the Biography of Fu and Jin. Most later scholars disagreed with Zhang Yan's claim, but the incompleteness of Shiji is undeniable. The current edition of Shiji also consists of one hundred and thirty chapters, with a few chapters clearly not written by Sima Qian. During the reigns of Emperor Yuan and Emperor Cheng of the Han Dynasty, the scholar Chu Shaojun added to Shiji, and the passages in the current edition marked as "Chu Shaojun said" are his additions. Shiji drew on a wide range of sources. Works such as Shiben (World Genealogies), Guoyu (Discourses of the States), Guo (Strategies of the States), Qinji (Records of Qin), Chu-Han Chunqiu (Spring and Autumn Annals of Chu and Han), and the works of the Hundred Schools of Thought, as well as state documents and archives, and materials obtained through field investigations, were all important sources for Sima Qian's writing of Shiji. What is particularly valuable is that Sima Qian conducted a serious analysis and selection of the collected materials, discarding unreliable information. For some issues that could not be clarified, he either adopted a stance of doubt or recorded various different accounts. Due to the extensive sources and a rigorous attitude in compiling history, Shiji is known for its factual accounts and rich content.