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125-690: This mountain has been proposed to be the homeland of the Yuezhi . According to archaeologist Lin Meicun (林梅村), this is the Dunhuang ( Chinese : 燉煌 ) mentioned in the Shiji by Sima Qian , which states that: Lin Meicun argued that the present Dunhuang ( Chinese : 敦煌, 燉煌 ), a Gansu oasis town, was founded around 111 BC, that is, later than the report of Zhang Qian on the Yuezhi (126 BC). Therefore,

250-517: A drinking cup out of his skull." ( Shiji 123. ) The wife of the murdered king became the new monarch of Greater Yuezhi. Nevertheless, in about 173 BC, the Wusun were apparently defeated by the Yuezhi, who killed a Wusun king known as Nandoumi. After their defeat by the Xiongnu, the Yuezhi split into two groups. The Lesser or Little Yuezhi moved to the "southern mountains", believed to be

375-583: A speech in which he paid tribute to a fallen PLA soldier. Sima Qian wrote eight rhapsodies ( fu ), which are listed in the bibliographic treatise of the Book of Han . All but one, the "Rhapsody in Lament for Gentlemen who do not Meet their Time" ( 士不遇賦 ) have been lost, and even the surviving example is probably not complete. Sima and his father both served as the taishi (太史) of the Former Han dynasty ,

500-462: A crushing victory. Modu boasted in a letter (174 BC) to the Han emperor that due to "the excellence of his fighting men, and the strength of his horses, he has succeeded in wiping out the Yuezhi, slaughtering or forcing to submission every number of the tribe." The son of Modu, Laoshang Chanyu (ruled 174–166 BC), subsequently killed the king of the Yuezhi and, in accordance with nomadic traditions, "made

625-581: A fraction of a cent. Women are held in great respect, and the men make decisions on the advice of their women. Zhang Qian also described the remnants of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom on the other side of the Oxus River (Chinese Gui ) as a number of autonomous city-states under Yuezhi suzerainty: Daxia is located over 2,000 li southwest of Dayuan, south of the Gui river. Its people cultivate

750-470: A general history affected later historiographers like Zheng Qiao (鄭樵) in writing Tongzhi and Sima Guang in writing Zizhi Tongjian . The Chinese historical form of dynasty history, or jizhuanti history of dynasties, was codified in the second dynastic history by Ban Gu 's Book of Han , but historians regard Sima's work as their model, which stands as the "official format" of the history of China . The Shiji comprises 130 chapters consisting of half

875-556: A general history of China covering more than two thousand years beginning from the rise of the legendary Yellow Emperor and the formation of the first Chinese polity to the reign of Emperor Wu of Han , during which Sima wrote. As the first universal history of the world as it was known to the ancient Chinese, the Records of the Grand Historian served as a model for official history-writing for subsequent Chinese dynasties and

1000-519: A highly admired example of literary prose style, studied widely in China even today. The Letter to Ren An contains the quote, "Men have always had but one death. For some it is as weighty as Mount Tai ; for others it is as insignificant as a goose down. The difference is what they use it for." ( 人固有一死，或重于泰山，或輕于鴻毛，用之所趨異也。 ) This quote has become one of the most well known in all of Chinese literature. In modern times, Chairman Mao paraphrased this quote in

1125-508: A long dialogue between Zhonghang and an envoy sent by the Emperor Wen of China during which the latter disparages the Xiongnu as "savages" whose customs are barbaric while Zhonghang defends the Xiongnu customs as either justified and/or as morally equal to Chinese customs, at times even morally superior as Zhonghang draws a contrast between the bloody succession struggles in China where family members would murder one another to be Emperor vs.

1250-438: A major impact on the course of history, regardless of whether they were of noble or humble birth and whether they were born in the central states, the periphery, or barbarian lands. Unlike traditional Chinese historians, Sima went beyond the androcentric, nobility-focused histories by dealing with the lives of women and men such as poets, bureaucrats, merchants, comedians/jesters, assassins, and philosophers. The treatises section,

1375-604: A million characters. The jizhuanti format refers to the organization of the work into benji (本紀) or 'basic annals' chapters containing the biographies of the sovereigns ('sons of heaven') organized by dynasty and liezhuan (列傳) or 'ordered biographies' chapters containing the biographies of influential non-nobles, sometimes for one prominent individual, but often for two or more people who, in Sima Qian's judgment, played similarly important roles in history. In addition to these namesake categories, there are chapters falling under

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1500-430: A moralizing approach to history with the historian high-guiding the good and evil to provide lessons for the present could be dangerous for the historian as it could bring down the wrath of the state onto the historian as happened to Sima himself. As such, the historian had to tread carefully and often expressed his judgements in a circuitous way designed to fool the censor. Sima himself in the conclusion to chapter 110 of

1625-526: A mountain in the Tian Shan , and that Qilian should be interpreted as a name for the Tian Shan. They have thus placed the original homeland of the Yuezhi 1,000 km further northwest in the grasslands to the north of the Tian Shan (in the northern part of modern Xinjiang ). Other authors suggest that the area identified by Sima Qian was merely the core area of an empire encompassing the western part of

1750-505: A palace eunuch to complete his histories, rather than commit suicide as was expected of a gentleman-scholar who had been disgraced by being castrated. As Sima Qian himself explained in his Letter to Ren An :       且夫臧獲婢妾猶能引決，況若僕之不得已乎。所以隱忍苟活，函糞土之中而不辭者，恨私心有所不盡，鄙沒世而文采不表於後也。古者富貴而名摩滅，不可勝記，唯俶儻非常之人稱焉。       If even the lowest slave and scullion maid can bear to commit suicide, why should not one like myself be able to do what has to be done? But

1875-490: A policy to which Sima was apparently opposed. Sima also broke new ground by using more sources like interviewing witnesses, visiting places where historical occurrences had happened, and examining documents from different regions and/or times. Before Chinese historians had tended to use only reign histories as their sources. The Shiji was further very novel in Chinese historiography by examining historical events outside of

2000-543: A position which includes aspects of being a historian, a court scribe, calendarist, and court astronomer/astrologer. At that time, the astrologer had an important role, responsible for interpreting and predicting the course of government according to the influence of the Sun, Moon, and stars, as well as other astronomical and geological phenomena such as solar eclipses and earthquakes , which depended on revising and upholding an accurate calendar. Before compiling Shiji , Sima Qian

2125-606: A revolt by the king of Kashgar . In around AD 85, the Kushanas also assisted the Chinese in an attack on Turpan , east of the Tarim Basin. Following the military support provided to the Han, the Kushan emperor requested a marriage alliance with a Han princess and sent gifts to the Chinese court in expectation that this would occur. After the Han court refused, a Kushan army 70,000 strong marched on Ban Chao in 86 AD. The army

2250-422: A scholar in reclusion ( 隱士 ; yǐnshì ) after leaving the Han court, perhaps dying around the same time as Emperor Wu in 87/86 BC. Although the style and form of Chinese historical writings varied through the ages, Records of the Grand Historian ( Shiji ) has defined the quality and style from then onwards. Before Sima, histories were written as certain events or certain periods of history of states; his idea of

2375-548: A time when the Yuezhis had not yet encountered Buddhism. The area of the Hindu Kush ( Paropamisadae ) was ruled by the western Indo-Greek king until the reign of Hermaeus (reigned c.  90 BC –70 BC). After that date, no Indo-Greek kings are known in the area. According to Bopearachchi , no trace of Indo-Scythian occupation (nor coins of major Indo-Scythian rulers such as Maues or Azes I ) have been found in

2500-610: A traitor's death, the world has united in scoffing at him and has been loath to study his policies ... Su Qin arose from the humblest beginnings to lead the Six States in the Vertical Alliance, and this is evidence that he possessed an intelligence surpassing the ordinary person. For this reason I have set forth this account of his deeds, arranging them in proper chronological order, so that he may not forever suffer from an evil reputation and be known for nothing else. Such

2625-531: A very literary style, making extensive use of irony, sarcasm, juxtaposition of events, characterization, direct speech and invented speeches, which led the American historian Jennifer Jay to describe parts of the Shiji as reading more like a historical novel than a work of history. For an example, Sima tells the story of a Chinese eunuch named Zhonghang Yue who became an advisor to the Xiongnu kings. Sima provides

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2750-705: A war against the Tochari in 124 BC. Several relationships between these tribes and those named in Chinese sources have been proposed, but remain contentious. After they settled in Bactria, the Yuezhi became Hellenized to some degree – as shown by their adoption of the Greek alphabet and by some remaining coins, minted in the style of the Greco-Bactrian kings, with the text in Greek. According to Sergey Yatsenko,

2875-666: A year in Transoxiana and Bactria , wrote a detailed account in the Shiji , which gives considerable insight into the situation in Central Asia at the time. Zhang Qian also reported: the Great Yuezhi live 2,000 or 3,000 li [832–1,247 kilometers] west of Dayuan , north of the Gui [ Oxus ] river. They are bordered on the south by Daxia [ Bactria ], on the west by Anxi [ Parthia ], and on

3000-415: Is a descendant of Qin general Sima Cuo (司馬錯), the commander of Qin army in the state's conquest of Ba and Shu . Before his castration, Sima Qian was recorded to have two sons and a daughter. While little is recorded of his sons, his daughter later married Yang Chang (楊敞), and had sons Yang Zhong (楊忠) and Yang Yun (楊惲). It was Yang Yun who hid his grandfather's great work, and decided to release it during

3125-405: Is a reply to a lost letter by Ren An to Sima Qian, perhaps asking Sima Qian to intercede on his behalf as Ren An was facing execution for accusations of being an opportunist and displaying equivocal loyalty to the emperor during the rebellion. In his reply, Sima Qian stated that he is a mutilated man with no influence at court. Some later historians claimed that Sima Qian himself became implicated in

3250-583: Is also depicted in the Wu Shuang Pu by Jin Guliang. Sima Qian was born at Xiayang in Zuopingyi (near present-day Hancheng , Shaanxi ). He was probably born around 145 BC, although some sources say he was born about 135 BC. In about 136 BC, his father Sima Tan was appointed to the position of "grand historian" ( tàishǐ 太史 , alternatively "grand scribe" or "grand astrologer") at

3375-515: Is because I regretted that it had not been completed that I submitted to the extreme penalty without rancor. When I have truly completed this work, I shall deposit it in the Famous Mountain. If it may be handed down to men who will appreciate it, and penetrate to the villages and great cities, then though I should suffer a thousand mutilations, what regret should I have? Upon his release from prison in 97/96 BC, Sima Qian continued to serve in

3500-527: Is called the city of Lanshi and has a market where all sorts of goods are bought and sold. The next mention of the Yuezhi in Chinese sources is found in chapter 96A of the Book of Han (completed in AD 111), relating to the early 1st century BC. At this time, the Yuezhi are described as occupying the whole of Bactria, organized into five major tribes or xīhóu . These tribes were known to the Chinese as: The Book of

3625-435: Is only those who were masterful and sure, the truly extraordinary men, who are still remembered.       僕竊不遜，近自託於無能之辭，網羅天下放失舊聞，考之行事，綜其終始，稽其成敗興壞之理 ... 凡百三十篇，亦欲以究天人之際，通古今之變，成一家之言。草創未就，適會此禍，惜其不成，是以就極刑而無慍色。僕誠已著此書，藏諸名山，傳之其人通邑大都，則僕償前辱之責，雖萬被戮，豈有悔哉！       I too have ventured not to be modest but have entrusted myself to my useless writings. I have gathered up and brought together

3750-421: Is suspicious and doubtful, clarifies right and wrong, and settles points which are uncertain. It calls good good and bad bad, honours the worthy, and condemns the unworthy. It preserves states which are lost and restores the perishing family. It brings to light what was neglected and restores what was abandoned. Sima saw the Shiji as being in the same tradition as he explained in his introduction to chapter 61 of

3875-494: The Records of the Grand Historian and completed it before 91 BC, probably around 94 BC. Three years after the death of his father, Sima Qian assumed his father's previous position as taishi . In 105 BC, Sima was among the scholars chosen to reform the calendar. As a senior imperial official, Sima was also in the position to offer counsel to the emperor on general affairs of state. In 99 BC, Sima became embroiled in

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4000-695: The Taichu calendar , which was officially promulgated in 104 BC. Sima was acutely aware of the importance of his work to posterity and its relationship to his own personal suffering. In the postface of the Records , he implicitly compared his universal history of China to the classics of his day, the Guoyu by Zuo Qiuming , " Li Sao " by Qu Yuan , and the Art of War by Sun Bin , pointing out that their authors all suffered great personal misfortunes before their lasting monumental works could come to fruition. Sima Qian

4125-648: The Tókharoi and Asii . During the 1st century BC, one of the five major Greater Yuezhi tribes in Bactria, the Kushanas , began to subsume the other tribes and neighbouring peoples. The subsequent Kushan Empire , at its peak in the 3rd century AD, stretched from Turfan in the Tarim Basin in the north to Pataliputra on the Gangetic plain of India in the south. The Kushanas played an important role in

4250-477: The Book of Han , which was written under the supervision of the imperial dynasty, Shiji was a privately written history since he refused to write Shiji as an official history covering only those of high rank. The work also covers people of the lower classes and is therefore considered a "veritable record" of the darker side of the dynasty. In Sima's time, literature and history were not seen as separate disciplines as they are now, and Sima wrote his magnum opus in

4375-777: The Han call them by their original name, Da Yuezhi. A later Chinese annotation in Zhang Shoujie's Shiji (quoting Wan Zhen 萬震 in Nánzhōuzhì 南州志 ["Strange Things from the Southern Region"], a now-lost 3rd-century text from the Wu kingdom ), describes the Kushans as living in the same general area north of India, in cities of Greco-Roman style, and with sophisticated handicraft. The quotes are dubious, as Wan Zhen probably never visited

4500-679: The Ili Valley (on the modern borders of China and Kazakhstan), where they reportedly displaced elements of the Sakas . They were driven from the Ili Valley by the Wusun and migrated southward to Sogdia and later settled in Bactria . The Greater Yuezhi have consequently often been identified with peoples mentioned in classical European sources as having overrun the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom , like

4625-522: The Li Ling affair for speaking out in defense of the general, who was blamed for an unsuccessful campaign against the Xiongnu . Given the choice of being executed or castrated, he chose the latter in order to finish his historical work. Although he is universally remembered for the Records , surviving works indicate that he was also a gifted poet and prose writer, and he was instrumental in the creation of

4750-631: The Mahayana sutras into Chinese. They went to China and established translation bureaus, thereby being at the center of the Silk Road transmission of Buddhism . In the Records of the Three Kingdoms (chap. 3), it was recorded that in 229 AD, "The king of the Da Yuezhi [Kushanas], Bodiao 波調 ( Vasudeva I ), sent his envoy to present tribute, and His Majesty (Emperor Cao Rui ) granted him

4875-534: The Oxus , in the region of northern Bactria , or Transoxiana (modern Tajikistan and Uzbekistan ). The Yuezhi were visited in Transoxiana by a Chinese mission, led by Zhang Qian in 126 BC, which sought an offensive alliance with the Yuezhi against the Xiongnu. His request for an alliance was denied by the Yuezhi, who now had a peaceful life in Transoxiana and had no interest in revenge. Zhang Qian, who spent

5000-548: The Paropamisade and western Gandhara . The Hindu Kush may have been subsumed by the Yuezhi, who by then had been dominated by Greco-Bactria for almost two centuries. As they had done in Bactria with their copying of Greco-Bactrian coinage, the Yuezhi copied the coinage of Hermeaus on a vast scale, up to around 40 AD, when the design blends into the coinage of the Kushan king Kujula Kadphises . Such coins may provide

5125-778: The Qilian Mountains on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau , to live with the Qiang . The so-called Greater or Great Yuezhi began migrating north-west in about 165 BC, first settling in the Ili valley , immediately north of the Tian Shan mountains, where they defeated the Sai (Sakas): "The Yuezhi attacked the king of the Sai who moved a considerable distance to the south and the Yuezhi then occupied his lands" ( Book of Han 61 4B). This

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5250-473: The Shiji declared that he was writing in this tradition where he stated:       孔氏著春秋，隱桓之閒則章，至定哀之際則微，為其切當世之文而罔褒，忌諱之辭也。       When Confucius wrote the Spring and Autumn Annals , he was very open in treating the reigns of Yin and Huan, the early dukes of Lu; but when he came to the later period of Dukes Ding and Ai, his writing was much more covert. Because in

5375-533: The Shiji where he wrote:       或曰：天道無親，常與善人。若伯夷、叔齊，可謂善人者非邪。積仁絜行如此而餓死。... 盜蹠日殺不辜，肝人之肉 ... 竟以壽終。是遵何德哉。 ... 余甚惑焉，儻所謂天道，是邪非邪。       Some people say "It is Heaven's way, without distinction of persons, to keep the good perpetually supplied." Can we say then that Boyi and Shuqi were good men or not? They clung to righteousness and were pure in their deeds yet they starved to death ... Robber Zhi day after day killed innocent men, making mincemeat of their flesh ... But in

5500-543: The Sinosphere in general until the 20th century. Sima Qian's father, Sima Tan , first conceived of the ambitious project of writing a complete history of China, but had completed only some preparatory sketches at the time of his death. After inheriting his father's position as court historian in the imperial court, he was determined to fulfill his father's dying wish of composing and putting together this epic work of history. However, in 99 BC, he would fall victim to

5625-508: The Tang – Song period. The great use of characterisation and plotting also influenced fiction writing, including the classical short stories of the middle and late medieval period (Tang- Ming ) as well as the vernacular novel of the late imperial period. Sima had immense influence on historiography not only in China, but also in Japan and Korea. For centuries afterwards, the Shiji was regarded as

5750-693: The Tarim Basin . There they introduced the Brahmi script, the Indian Prakrit language for administration, and Greco-Buddhist art , which developed into Serindian art . Following this territorial expansion, the Kushanas introduced Buddhism to northern and northeastern Asia, by both direct missionary efforts and the translation of Buddhist scriptures into Chinese. Major Kushan missionaries and translators included Lokaksema (born c.  147 CE ) and Dharmaraksa ( c.  233  – c.  311 ), both of whom were influential translators of

5875-507: The Tocharian languages , there is no evidence for any such link. Three pre-Han texts mention peoples who appear to be the Yuezhi, albeit under slightly different names. In the 1st century BC, Sima Qian – widely regarded as the founder of Chinese historiography – describes how the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) bought jade and highly valued military horses from a people that Sima Qian called

6000-571: The Wūzhī , led by a man named Luo. The Wūzhī traded these goods for Chinese silk , which they then sold on to other neighbours. This is probably the first reference to the Yuezhi as a lynchpin in trade on the Silk Road , which in the 3rd century BC began to link Chinese states to Central Asia and, eventually, the Middle East, the Mediterranean and Europe. The earliest detailed account of

6125-666: The Yangtze River to Changsha Kingdom (modern Hunan ), where he visited the Miluo River site where the Warring States -era poet Qu Yuan was traditionally said to have drowned himself. He then went to seek the burial place of the legendary rulers Yu on Mount Xianglu and Shun in the Jiuyi Mountains (modern Ningyuan County , Hunan). He then went north to Huaiyin (modern Huai'an , Jiangsu) to see

6250-604: The 1st and 2nd centuries, the Kushan Empire expanded militarily to the north and occupied parts of the Tarim Basin , putting them at the center of the lucrative Central Asian commerce with the Roman Empire . The Kushanas collaborated militarily with the Chinese against their mutual enemies. This included a campaign with the Chinese general Ban Chao against the Sogdians in 84 CE, when the latter were trying to support

6375-473: The 3rd century BC, Bactria had been conquered by the Greeks under Alexander the Great and since settled by the Hellenistic civilization of the Seleucids . The resulting Greco-Bactrian Kingdom lasted until the 2nd century BC. The area came under pressure from various nomadic peoples and the Greek city of Alexandria on the Oxus was apparently burnt to the ground in about 145 BC. The last Greco-Bactrian king, Heliocles I , retreated and moved his capital to

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6500-418: The 7th year of the Modu era (203 BC). In this war, a large area of the territory originally belonging to the Yuezhi was seized by the Xiongnu and the hegemony of the Yuezhi started to shake. The third war probably was in 176 BC (or shortly before), and the Yuezhi were badly defeated. Shortly before 176 BC, led by one of Modu's tribal chiefs, the Xiongnu invaded Yuezhi territory in the Gansu region and achieved

6625-412: The Confucian classics, he systemically compared the information with other documents. Sima mentioned at least 75 books he used for cross-checking. Furthermore, Sima often questioned people about historical events they had experienced. Sima mentioned after one of his trips across China that: "When I had occasion to pass through Feng and Beiyi I questioned the elderly people who were about the place, visited

6750-596: The Dunhuan referred to in the Shiji cannot be the city currently bearing that name, and is most likely an oasis near Turpan . Place names such Dunhong and Qilian may have had Indo-European etymologies, from at two possible sources. For example: According to a Tang Dynasty commentator on the Shiji , qilian was a Xiongnu word for "sky" – although Xiongnu may also have borrowed the word from an Indo-European language. Yuezhi The Yuezhi were an ancient people first described in Chinese histories as nomadic pastoralists living in an arid grassland area in

6875-407: The Han court as zhongshuling ( 中書令 ), a court archivist position reserved for eunuchs with considerable status and with higher pay than his previous position of historian. The Letter to Ren An was written by Sima Qian in reply to Ren An in response to the latter's involvement in Crown Prince Liu Ju 's rebellion in 91 BC. This is the last record of Sima Qian in contemporary documents. The letter

7000-406: The Kabul Valley. In about 140–130 BC, the Greco-Bactrian state was conquered by the nomads and dissolved. The Greek geographer Strabo mentions this event in his account of the central Asian tribes he called " Scythians ": All, or the greatest part of them, are nomads. The best known tribes are those who deprived the Greeks of Bactriana : the Asii, Pasiani, Tochari, and Sacarauli, who came from

7125-440: The Kushanas as the Yuezhi. The Kushanas expanded to the east during the 1st century AD. The first Kushan emperor, Kujula Kadphises , ostensibly associated himself with King Hermaeus on his coins. The Kushanas integrated Buddhism into a pantheon of many deities and became great promoters of Mahayana Buddhism , and their interactions with Greek civilization helped the Gandharan culture and Greco-Buddhism flourish. During

7250-407: The Later Han (5th century CE) also records the visit of Yuezhi envoys to the Chinese capital in 2 BC, who gave oral teachings on Buddhist sutras to a student, suggesting that some Yuezhi already followed the Buddhist faith during the 1st century BC (Baldev Kumar 1973). Chapter 88 of the Book of the Later Han relies on a report of Ban Yong , based on the campaigns of his father Ban Chao in

7375-491: The Li Ling affair, where Li Ling and Li Guangli , two military officers who led a campaign against the Xiongnu in the north, were defeated and taken captive. Emperor Wu attributed the defeat to Li Ling, with all government officials subsequently condemning him for it. Sima was the only person to defend Li Ling, who had never been his friend but whom he respected. Emperor Wu interpreted Sima's defence of Li as an attack on his brother-in-law, Li Guangli, who had also fought against

7500-502: The Li Ling affair. Although there are many theories regarding the exact dating as well as the true nature and purpose of the Letter to Ren An , one common interpretation suggests that the letter, in part, tacitly expressed a refusal to play an active role in securing a reduced punishment for Ren An. The early-20th-century scholar Wang Guowei stated that there are no reliable records establishing when Sima Qian died. He and most modern historians believe that Sima Qian spent his last days as

7625-450: The Mongolian plain, the upper reaches of the Yellow River , the Tarim Basin and possibly much of central Asia, including the Altai Mountains , the site of the Pazyryk burials of the Ukok Plateau . By the late 3rd century the Xiongnu monarch Touman even sent his eldest son Modu as a hostage to the Yuezhi. The Yuezhi often attacked their neighbour the Wusun to acquire slaves and pasture lands. Wusun originally lived together with

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7750-455: The Sima ancestors. To this day, people living in the village with surnames Feng and Tong are forbidden from intermarrying on the grounds that the relationship would be incestuous. According to the Book of Han , Wang Mang sent an expedition to search for and ennoble a male-line descent of Sima Qian as 史通子 ("Viscount of Historical Mastery"), although it was not recorded who received this title of nobility. A Qing dynasty stele 重修太史廟記 ( Records of

7875-412: The Xiongnu as savages who had the appearance of humans, but the minds of animals. In his comments about the Xiongnu, Sima refrained from evoking claims about the innate moral superiority of the Han over the "northern barbarians" that were the standard rhetorical tropes of Chinese historians in this period. Likewise, Sima in his chapter about the Xiongnu condemns those advisors who pursue the "expediency of

8000-404: The Xiongnu less favorably, so the debate was almost certainly more Sima's way of criticizing the Chinese court system and less genuine praise for the Xiongnu. Sima has often been criticized for "historizing" myths and legends as he assigned dates to mythical and legendary figures from ancient Chinese history together with what appears to be suspiciously precise genealogies of leading families over

8125-620: The Xiongnu without much success, and sentenced Sima to death. At that time, execution could be commuted either by money or castration . Since Sima did not have enough money to atone for his "crime", he chose the latter and was then thrown into prison, where he endured three years. He described his pain thus: "When you see the jailer you abjectly touch the ground with your forehead. At the mere sight of his underlings you are seized with terror ... Such ignominy can never be wiped away." Sima called his castration "the worst of all punishments". In 96 BC, on his release from prison, Sima chose to live on as

8250-449: The Xiongnu. As their soldiers numbered more than a hundred thousand, they were strong and despised the Xiongnu. In the past, they lived in the region between Dunhuang and Qilian . The area between the Qilian Mountains and Dunhuang lies in the western part of the modern Chinese province of Gansu , but no archaeological remains of the Yuezhi have yet been found in this area. Some scholars have argued that "Dunhuang" should be Dunhong ,

8375-408: The Yuezhi in the region between Dunhuang and Qilian Mountain. The Yuezhi attacked the Wusuns, killed their monarch Nandoumi and took his territory. The son of Nandoumi, Kunmo fled to the Xiongnu and was brought up by the Xiongnu monarch. Gradually the Xiongnu grew stronger, and war broke out with the Yuezhi. There were at least four wars according to the Chinese accounts. The first war broke out during

8500-593: The Yuezhi is found in chapter 123 of the Records of the Great Historian by Sima Qian , describing a mission of Zhang Qian in the late 2nd century BC. Essentially the same text appears in chapter 61 of the Book of Han , though Sima Qian has added occasional words and phrases to clarify the meaning. Both texts use the name Yuèzhī , composed of characters meaning "moon" and "clan" respectively. Several different romanizations of this Chinese-language name have appeared in print. The Iranologist H. W. Bailey preferred Üe-ṭşi . Another modern Chinese pronunciation of

8625-419: The Yuezhi kingdom through the Silk Road , though he might have gathered his information from the trading ports in the coastal south. Chinese sources continued to use the name Yuezhi and seldom used the Kushan (or Guishuang ) as a generic term: The Great Yuezhi are located about seven thousand li [2,910 km] north of India. Their land is at a high altitude; the climate is dry; the region is remote. The king of

8750-402: The Zhou dynasty (originally serving as vassals to the Zhou kings), as well as the histories of contemporary aristocratic houses established during the Han dynasty. In all, the Records consist of 12 Basic Annals, 10 Tables, 8 Treatises, 30 House Chronicles, and 70 Ordered Biographies. The last of the Ordered Biographies is the postface. This final chapter details the background of how the Shiji

8875-453: The age of ten Sima was able to "read the old writings" and was considered to be a promising scholar. Sima grew up in a Confucian environment, and Sima always regarded his historical work as an act of Confucian filial piety . In 126 BC, around the age of 20, Sima Qian began an extensive tour around China as it existed in the Han dynasty. He started his journey from the imperial capital, Chang'an (modern Xi'an ), then went south across

9000-504: The author himself. The postface concludes with a self-referential description of the postface as the 70th and last of the Ordered Biographies chapters. Sima was greatly influenced by Confucius's Spring and Autumn Annals , which on the surface is a succinct chronology from the events of the reigns of the twelve dukes of Lu from 722 to 484 BC. Many Chinese scholars have and still do view how Confucius ordered his chronology as

9125-417: The basic accuracy of the Shiji including the reigns and locations of tombs of ancient rulers. Sima's Shiji is respected as a model of biographical literature with high literary value and still stands as a textbook for the study of classical Chinese. Sima's works were influential to Chinese writing, serving as ideal models for various types of prose within the neo-classical ("renaissance" 复古 ) movement of

9250-638: The basic annals section, the Emperor Gaozu is portrayed as a good leader whereas in the section dealing with his rival Xiang Yu, the Emperor is portrayed unflatteringly. Likewise, the chapter on Xiang presents him in a favorable light whereas the chapter on Gaozu portrays him in more darker colors. At the end of most of the chapters, Sima usually wrote a commentary in which he judged how the individual lived up to traditional Chinese values like filial piety, humility, self-discipline, hard work and concern for

9375-525: The biographies sections and the annals section relating to the Qin dynasty (as a former dynasty, there was more freedom to write about the Qin than there was about the reigning Han dynasty) that make up 40% of the Shiji have aroused the most interest from historians and are the only parts of the Shiji that have been translated into English. When Sima placed his subjects was often his way of expressing obliquely moral judgements. Empress Lü and Xiang Yu were

9500-539: The book dealing with the Xiongnu "barbarians" might indicate his disapproval of the foreign policy of the Emperor Wu. In writing Shiji , Sima initiated a new writing style by presenting history in a series of biographies. His work extends over 130 chapters—not in historical sequence, but divided into particular subjects, including annals , chronicles , and treatises —on music, ceremonies, calendars, religion, economics, and extended biographies. Sima's work influenced

9625-483: The carpets with vivid embroidered scenes discovered in Noin-Ula were made by the Yuezhi in Bactria , and were obtained by the Xiongnu through commercial exchange or tributary payment, as the Yuezhi may have remained tributaries of the Xiongnu for a long time following their defeat. Embroidered carpets were among the highest-prized luxury items for the Xiongnu. The figures depicted in the carpets are believed to reflect

9750-404: The categories of biao (表) or 'tables', containing graphical chronologies of royalty and nobility, and shu (書) or 'treatises', consisting of essays giving a historical perspective on various topics like music, ritual, or economics. Most importantly, the shijia (世家) chapters, or 'house chronicles', document important events in the histories of the rulers of each of the quasi-independent states of

9875-535: The clothing and customs of the Yuezhi while they were in Bactria in the 1st century BCE-1st century CE. The graves of Tillya Tepe , complete with numerous artifacts, dated to the period between the 1st century BCE and the 1st century CE, probably belonged to the Yuezhis/early Kushans after the fall of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom and before the rise of the Kushan Empire . They correspond to

10000-531: The conquerors of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom during the 2nd century BC, and are widely believed to have originated as a dynastic clan or tribe of the Yuezhi. The area of Bactria they settled came to be known as Tokharistan . Because some inhabitants of Bactria became known as Tukhāra (Sanskrit) or Tókharoi (Τοχάριοι; Greek), these names later became associated with the Yuezhi. The Kushana spoke Bactrian , an Eastern Iranian language . In

10125-802: The country on the other side of the Jaxartes [Syr Darya], opposite the Sacae and Sogdiani . Writing in the 1st century BC, the Roman historian Pompeius Trogus attributed the destruction of the Greco-Bactrian state to the Sacaraucae and the Asiani "kings of the Tochari". Both Pompeius and the Roman historian Justin (2nd century AD) record that the Parthian king Artabanus II was mortally wounded in

10250-500: The course of several millennia (including his own where he traces the descent of the Sima family from legendary emperors in the distant past). However, archaeological discoveries in recent decades have confirmed aspects of the Shiji , and suggested that even if the sections of the Shiji dealing with the ancient past are not totally true, at least Sima wrote down what he believed to be true. In particular, archaeological finds have confirmed

10375-425: The courts, providing a broader history than the traditional court-based histories had done. Lastly, Sima broke with the traditional chronological structure of Chinese history. Sima instead had divided the Shiji into five divisions: the basic annals which comprised the first 12 chapters, the chronological tables which comprised the next 10 chapters, treatises on particular subjects which make up 8 chapters, accounts of

10500-649: The development of trade on the Silk Road and the introduction of Buddhism to China . The Lesser Yuezhi migrated southward to the edge of the Tibetan Plateau . Some are reported to have settled among the Qiang people in Qinghai , and to have been involved in the Liang Province Rebellion (184–221 AD) against the Eastern Han dynasty . Another group of Yuezhi is said to have founded the city state of Cumuḍa (now known as Kumul and Hami ) in

10625-474: The earliest known names of Yuezhi yabgu (a minor royal title, similar to prince), namely Sapadbizes and/or Agesiles , who both lived in or about 20 BC. After that point, they extended their control over the northwestern area of the Indian subcontinent, founding the Kushan Empire , which was to rule the region for several centuries. Despite their change of name, most Chinese authors continued to refer to

10750-582: The eastern Tarim. A fourth group of Lesser Yuezhi may have become part of the Jie people of Shanxi , who established the Later Zhao state of the 4th century AD (although this remains controversial). Many scholars believe that the Yuezhi were an Indo-European people. Although some scholars have associated them with artifacts of extinct cultures in the Tarim Basin, such as the Tarim mummies and texts recording

10875-431: The effective rulers of China during reigns Hui of the Han and Yi of Chu, respectively, so Sima placed both their lives in the basic annals. Likewise, Confucius is included in the fourth section rather the fifth where he properly belonged as a way of showing his eminent virtue. The structure of the Shiji allowed Sima to tell the same stories in different ways, which allowed him to pass his moral judgements. For example, in

11000-428: The end he lived to a great old age. For what virtue did he deserve this? ... I find myself in much perplexity. Is this so-called "Way of Heaven" right or wrong? To resolve this theodical problem, Sima argued that while the wicked may succeed and the good may suffer in their own life-times, it is the historian who ensures that in the end good triumphs. For Sima, the writing of history was no mere antiquarian pursuit, but

11125-480: The entire Chinese court system where the Emperor preferred the lies told by his sycophantic advisors over the truth told by his honest advisors as inherently corrupt and depraved. The point is reinforced by the fact that Sima has Zhonghang speak the language of an idealized Confucian official whereas the Emperor's envoy's language is dismissed as "mere twittering and chatter". Elsewhere in the Shiji Sima portrayed

11250-416: The grave of Han dynasty general Han Xin , then continued north to Qufu , the hometown of Confucius , where he studied ritual and other traditional subjects. After his travels, Sima was chosen to be a Palace Attendant in the government, whose duties were to inspect different parts of the country with Emperor Wu in 122 BC. Sima married young and had one daughter. In 110 BC, at the age of 35, Sima Qian

11375-599: The greatest history book written in Asia. Sima is little known in the English-speaking world as a full translation of the Shiji in English has not yet been completed. His influence was derived primarily from the following elements of his writing: his skillful depiction of historical characters using details of their speech, conversations, and actions; his innovative use of informal, humorous, and varied language; and

11500-485: The ideal example of how history should be written, especially with regards to what he chose to include and to exclude, and his choice of words as indicating moral judgments. Seen in this light, the Spring and Autumn Annals are a moral guide to the proper way of living. Sima took this view himself as he explained:       夫春秋 ... 別嫌疑，明是非，定猶豫，善善惡惡，賢賢賤不肖，存亡國，繼絕世，補敝起廢。       It [ Spring and Autumn Annals ] distinguishes what

11625-417: The imperial court. The grand historian was a relatively low-ranking official whose main duty was to formulate the yearly calendar, identifying which days were ritually auspicious or inauspicious, and present it to the emperor prior to the new year . His other duties included traveling with the emperor for important rituals and recording daily events both at the court and around the country. By his account, by

11750-448: The land and have cities and houses. Their customs are like those of Ta-Yuan. It has no great ruler but only a number of petty chiefs ruling the various cities. The people are poor in the use of arms and afraid of battle, but they are clever at commerce. After the Great Yuezhi moved west and attacked the lands, the entire country came under their sway. The population of the country is large, numbering some 1,000,000 or more persons. The capital

11875-529: The late 1st century AD. It reports that one of the five tribes of the Yuezhi, the Guishuang , had managed to take control of the tribal confederation: More than a hundred years later, the xihou of Guishuang, named Qiujiu Que attacked and exterminated the four other xihou . He set himself up as king of a kingdom called Guishuang (Kushan). He invaded Anxi ( Parthia ) and took the Gaofu region. He also defeated

12000-407: The latter case he was writing about his own times, he did not express his judgements frankly, but used subtle and guarded language. Bearing this in mind, not everything that Sima wrote should be understood as conveying didactical moral lessons. But several historians have suggested that parts of the Shiji , such as where Sima placed his section on Confucius's use of indirect criticism in the part of

12125-537: The legendary Yellow Emperor and extended to his own time, and covered not only China, but also neighboring nations like Korea and Vietnam . In this regard, Sima was significant as the first Chinese historian to treat the peoples living to the north of the Great Wall like the Xiongnu as human beings who were implicitly the equals of the Middle Kingdom, instead of the traditional approach which had portrayed

12250-437: The less fortunate. Sima analyzed the records and sorted out those that could serve the purpose of Shiji . He intended to discover the patterns and principles of the development of human history. Sima also emphasized, for the first time in Chinese history, the role of individual men in affecting the historical development of China and his historical perception that a country cannot escape from the fate of growth and decay. Unlike

12375-415: The moment", that is advise the Emperor to carry policies such as conquests of other nations that bring a brief moment of glory, but burden the state with the enormous financial and often human costs of holding on to the conquered land. Sima was engaging in an indirect criticism of the advisors of the Emperor Wu who were urging him to pursue a policy of aggression towards the Xiongnu and conquer all their land,

12500-446: The more orderly succession of the Xiongnu kings. The American historian Tamara Chin wrote that though Zhonghang did exist, the dialogue is merely a "literacy device" for Sima to make points that he could not otherwise make. The favorable picture of the traitor Zhonghang who went over to the Xiongnu who bests the Emperor's loyal envoy in an ethnographic argument about what is the morally superior nation appears to be Sima's way of attacking

12625-409: The name is Ròuzhī , based on the thesis that the character 月 in the name is a scribal error for 肉 ; however Thierry considers this thesis "thoroughly wrong". The account begins with the Yuezhi occupying the grasslands to the northwest of China at the beginning of the 2nd century BC: The Great Yuezhi was a nomadic horde. They moved about following their cattle, and had the same customs as those of

12750-618: The north by Kangju [beyond the middle Jaxartes /Syr Darya]. They are a nation of nomads , moving from place to place with their herds, and their customs are like those of the Xiongnu. They have some 100,000 or 200,000 archer warriors. In a sweeping analysis of the physical types and cultures of Central Asia, Zhang Qian reports: Although the states from Dayuan west to Anxi (Parthia), speak rather different languages, their customs are generally similar and their languages mutually intelligible. The men have deep-set eyes and profuse beards and whiskers. They are skilful at commerce and will haggle over

12875-451: The old home of Xiao He , Cao Can , Fan Kuai and Xiahou Ying , and learned much about the early days. How different it was from the stories one hears!" Reflecting the traditional Chinese reverence for age, Sima stated that he preferred to interview the elderly as he believed that they were the most likely to supply him with correct and truthful information about what had happened in the past. During one of this trips, Sima mentioned that he

13000-467: The old traditions of the world which were scattered and lost. I have examined the deeds and events of the past and investigated the principles behind their success and failure, their rise and decay [...] in one hundred and thirty chapters. I wished to examine into all that concerns heaven and man, to penetrate the changes of the past and present, completing all as the work of one family. But before I had finished my rough manuscript, I met with this calamity. It

13125-436: The pretense that Prince Tan could via the use of magic make the clouds rain grain and horses grow horns. Sima constantly compared accounts found in the manuscripts with what he considered reliable sources like Confucian classics like the Book of Odes , Book of History , Book of Rites , Book of Music , Book of Changes and Spring and Autumn Annals . When Sima encountered a story that could not be cross-checked with

13250-437: The reason I have not refused to bear these ills and have continued to live, dwelling in vileness and disgrace without taking my leave, is that I grieve that I have things in my heart which I have not been able to express fully, and I am shamed to think that after I am gone my writings will not be known to posterity. Too numerous to record are the men of ancient times who were rich and noble and whose names have yet vanished away. It

13375-470: The rebellion as a result of his friendship with Ren An and was executed as part of the purge of the crown prince's supporters in court; however, the earliest-attested record of this account dates from the 4th century. Moreover, it has also been pointed out that Sima Qian would have been reluctant to render substantive aid to Ren An, given the severe consequences that he suffered for supporting General Li Ling, as well as Ren An's failure to act on his behalf during

13500-514: The reign of Emperor Xuan . According to local legend, Sima Qian had two sons, the older named Sima Lin (司馬臨) and younger named Sima Guan (司馬觀), who fled the capital to Xu Village (徐村) in what is now Shanxi province during the Li Ling affair, for fear of falling victim to familial extermination . They changed their surnames to Tong (同 = 丨+ 司) and Féng (馮 = 仌 + 馬), respectively, to hide their origins while continuing to secretly offer sacrifices to

13625-434: The reign of the Xiongnu monarch Touman (who died in 209 BC) who suddenly attacked the Yuezhi. The Yuezhi wanted to kill Modu, the son of the Xiongnu king Touman kept as a hostage to them, but Modu stole a good horse from them and managed to escape to his country. He subsequently killed his father and became ruler of the Xiongnu. It appears that the Xiongnu did not defeat the Yuezhi in this first war. The second war took place in

13750-469: The remainder". Reflecting these rigorous analytic methods, Sima declared that he would not write about periods of history where there was insufficient documentation. As such, Sima wrote "the ages before the Ch'in dynasty are too far away and the material on them too scanty to permit a detailed account of them here". In the same way, Sima discounted accounts in the traditional records that were "ridiculous" such as

13875-530: The ruling families which take up 30 chapters, and biographies of various eminent people which are the last 70 chapters. The annals follow the traditional Chinese pattern of court-based histories of the lives of various emperors and their families. The chronological tables are graphs recounting the political history of China. The treatises are essays on topics such as astronomy , music, religion, hydraulic engineering and economics. The last section dealing with biographies covers individuals judged by Sima to have made

14000-470: The simplicity and conciseness of his style. Even the 20th-century literary critic Lu Xun regarded Shiji as "the historians' most perfect song, a ' Li Sao ' without the rhyme" ( 史家之絶唱，無韻之離騷 ) in his Outline of Chinese Literary History ( 漢文學史綱要 ). Sima's famous letter to his friend Ren An about his sufferings during the Li Ling Affair and his perseverance in writing Shiji is today regarded as

14125-558: The state calls himself "son of heaven". There are so many riding horses in that country that the number often reaches several hundred thousand. City layouts and palaces are quite similar to those of Daqin [the Roman Empire]. The skin of the people there is reddish white. People are skilful at horse archery. Local products, rarities, treasures, clothing, and upholstery are very good, and even India cannot compare with it. The Central Asian people who called themselves Kushana , were among

14250-517: The title of King of the Da Yuezhi Intimate with the Wei (Ch: 親魏大月氏王, Qīn Wèi Dà Yuèzhī Wáng )." Sima Qian Sima Qian (Chinese: 司馬遷 ; ( [sɹ̩́mà tɕʰjɛ́n] ); c.  145  – c.  86 BC ) was a Chinese historian during the early Han dynasty . He is considered the father of Chinese historiography for his Records of the Grand Historian ,

14375-538: The western part of the modern Chinese province of Gansu , during the 1st millennium BC. After a major defeat at the hands of the Xiongnu in 176 BC, the Yuezhi split into two groups migrating in different directions: the Greater Yuezhi and Lesser Yuezhi . This started a complex domino effect that radiated in all directions and, in the process, set the course of history for much of Asia for centuries to come. The Greater Yuezhi initially migrated northwest into

14500-457: The whole of the kingdoms of Puda and Jibin. Qiujiu Que (Kujula Kadphises) was more than eighty years old when he died. His son, Yan Gaozhen ( Vima Takto ), became king in his place. He returned and defeated Tianzhu (Northwestern India) and installed a General to supervise and lead it. The Yuezhi then became extremely rich. All the kingdoms call [their king] the Guishuang (Kushan) king, but

14625-596: The writing style of other histories outside of China as well, such as the Goryeo (Korean) history the Samguk sagi . Sima adopted a new method in sorting out the historical data and a new approach to writing historical records. At the beginning of the Shiji , Sima declared himself a follower of Confucius's approach in the Analects to "hear much but leave to one side that which is doubtful, and speak with due caution concerning

14750-472: Was "the first historically recorded movement of peoples originating in the high plateaus of Asia." In 132 BC the Wusun , in alliance with the Xiongnu and out of revenge from an earlier conflict, again managed to dislodge the Yuezhi from the Ili Valley, forcing them to move south-west. The Yuezhi passed through the neighbouring urban civilization of Dayuan (in Ferghana ) and settled on the northern bank of

14875-467: Was apparently exhausted by the time it reached its objective and was defeated by the Chinese force. The Kushanas retreated and later paid tribute to the Chinese emperor Han He (89–106). In about 120 AD, Kushan troops installed Chenpan—a prince who had been sent as a hostage to them and had become a favorite of the Kushan Emperor—on the throne of Kashgar , thus expanding their power and influence in

15000-418: Was composed and compiled, and gives brief justifications for the inclusion of the major topics, events, and individuals in the work. As part of the background, the postface provides a short sketch of the history of the Sima clan, from legendary times to his father Sima Tan. It also details the dying words of Sima Tan, tearfully exhorting the author to compose the present work, and contains a biographical sketch of

15125-404: Was involved in the creation of the 104 BC Taichu Calendar 太初暦 (太初 became the new era name for Emperor Wu and means "supreme beginning"), a modification of the Qin calendar. This is the first Chinese calendar whose full method of calculation (暦法) has been preserved. The minor planet "12620 Simaqian" is named in his honour. Sima Qian is the son of court astrologer (太史令) Sima Tan , who

15250-433: Was only able to put together an outline of the work before he died. The postface of the completed Shiji , there is a short essay on the six philosophical schools that is explicitly attributed to Sima Tan. Otherwise, there are only fragments of the Shiji that are speculated to be authored by Sima Tan or based on his notes. Fueled by his father's inspiration, Sima Qian spent much of the subsequent decade authoring and compiling

15375-443: Was overcome with emotion when he saw the carriage of Confucius together with his clothes and various other personal items that had belonged to Confucius. Despite his very large debts to Confucian tradition, Sima was an innovator in four ways. To begin with, Sima's work was concerned with the history of the known world. Previous Chinese historians had focused on only one dynasty and/or region. Sima's history of 130 chapters began with

15500-515: Was rather a vital moral task as the historian would "preserve memory", and thereby ensure the ultimate victory of good over evil. Along these lines, Sima wrote:       蘇秦兄弟三人，皆游說諸侯以顯名，其術長於權變。而蘇秦被反閒以死，天下共笑之，諱學其術。 ... 夫蘇秦起閭閻，連六國從親，此其智有過人者。吾故列其行事，次其時序，毋令獨蒙惡聲焉。       Su Qin and his two brothers all achieved fame among the feudal lords as itinerant strategists. Their policies laid great stress upon stratagems and shifts of power. But because Su Qin died

15625-582: Was sent westward on a military expedition against some "barbarian" tribes. That year, his father fell ill due to the distress of not being invited to attend the Imperial Feng Sacrifice. Suspecting that his time was running out, he summoned his son back home to take over the historical work he had begun. Sima Tan wanted to follow the Annals of Spring and Autumn , the first chronicle in the history of Chinese literature . It appears that Sima Tan

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