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55-631: Laoshang in Chinese means "old and elevated', and is probably a translation from a Xiongnu title, but might represent an attempt to phonetically represent a Xiongnu word. In 177 BCE or 176 BCE, following direction from his father Modu, Jiyu put an end to the danger of the Yuezhi, made their king's skull into a drinking cup, and chased them from Gansu. The Yuezhi migrated west. In 174 BCE, Modu died and Jiyu became Laoshang Chanyu. The Shiji chap. 110 says: "Shortly after this, Maodun died and his son Jizhu

110-675: A department of prisons, Fajia comes to mean something like Legalism, which contains Shang Yang and figures Sima Qian had described as Huang-Lao , as an early form of what would termed be Daoism. Fa standards would seem a major element of their philosophy, and by his own words, Sima Qian does favour Laozi and Zhuangzi over Shen Buhai and Han Fei . But it would be questionable if Sima Qian himself believed or intended that Shen Buhai , Shen Dao and Han Fei should go there, or he might have either used his father's categories, or at least discussed them alongside Shang Yang rather than Laozi and Zhuang Zhou . Giving Shang Yang his own individual chapter, he

165-611: A good deal of repetition between them. His manuscript was written on bamboo slips with about 24 to 36 characters each, and assembled into bundles of around 30 slips. Even after the manuscript was allowed to circulate or be copied, the work would have circulated as bundles of bamboo slips or small groups. Endymion Wilkinson calculates that there were probably between 466 and 700 bundles, whose total weight would have been 88–132 pounds (40–60 kg), which would have been difficult to access and hard to transport. Later copies on silk would have been much lighter, but also expensive and rare. Until

220-749: A group of people in northern Bactria known as the Hathal and turned their chief's skull into a drinking cup . From this western position the Xiongnu conducted yearly raids on the Han. In 161 BCE, Laoshang died and was succeeded by his son, Junchen Chanyu . This Chinese royalty–related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Records of the Grand Historian The Shiji , often known in English as Records of

275-622: A hiatus of around twenty years. The changes in the manuscript of the Shiji during this hiatus have always been disputed among scholars. That the text was more or less complete by ca. 91 BC is established in the Letter to Ren An ( 報任安書 ), composed in the Zhenghe ( 征和 ) era of Emperor Wu's reign. In this letter, Sima Qian describes his work as "spanning from the time of the Yellow Emperor to

330-621: A position which he held until his death. Although Sima Tan began writing the Records of the Grand Historian ( Shiji ), he died before it was finished; it was completed by his son, Sima Qian . The year of Sima Tan's death (110 BCE) was the year of the great imperial sacrifice fengshan ( zh:封禅 ) by Emperor Han Wudi , for which the emperor appointed another person to the rank of fangshi , bypassing Sima, probably causing him much consternation. An essay by Sima Tan has survived within

385-414: A result of Sima Qian's use of different source texts. After ca. 91 BC, the more-or-less completed manuscript was hidden in the residence of the author's daughter, Sima Ying ( 司馬英 ), to avoid destruction under Emperor Wu and his immediate successor Emperor Zhao . The Shiji was finally disseminated during the reign of Emperor Xuan by Sima Qian's grandson (through his daughter), Yang Yun ( 楊惲 ), after

440-481: Is also careful to balance the negative with the positive, for example, in the biography of Empress Dowager Lu which contains startling accounts of her cruelty, he points out at the end that, despite whatever her personal life may have been, her rule brought peace and prosperity to the country. Sima's family were hereditary historians to the Han emperor. Sima Qian's father Sima Tan served as Grand Historian, and Sima Qian succeeded to his position. Thus he had access to

495-627: Is based on an edition created in the early 1930s by the Chinese historian Gu Jiegang . Only two fragments of pre-Tang dynasty Shiji manuscripts have survived to the present, and both are held by the Ishiyama-dera temple in Ōtsu , Japan. Portions of nine Tang dynasty manuscripts survive: three fragments discovered among the Dunhuang manuscripts in the early 20th century, and six manuscripts preserved in Japanese temples and museums such as

550-648: Is the earliest collection of the Sanjiazhu commentaries on the Shiji ( 三家注 , literally: The Combined Annotations of the Three Experts ). In modern times, the Zhonghua Book Company in Beijing has published the book in both simplified Chinese for mass consumption and traditional Chinese for scholarly study. The 1959 (2nd ed., 1982) Sanjiazhu edition in traditional Chinese (based upon

605-432: Is the shortest of the five Shiji sections, and contains eight chapters (23–30) on the historical evolution of ritual, music, pitch pipes , the calendar, astronomy, sacrifices, rivers and waterways, and financial administration. The "Hereditary Houses" ( shìjiā 世家 ) is the second largest of the five Shiji sections, and spans chapters 31 to 60. Within this section, the earlier chapters are very different in nature than

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660-430: The Records of the Grand Historian . The essay is the last of the Shiji , called Yaozhi or Essential Points. It discusses the strengths and weakness of six kinds of governance. Using the concept of 'Jia', which can mean "expert" but like meant "family", the essay coined the categories of Yin-Yangjia , Fajia , Mingjia and Daojia . Ideas like Yin-Yang existed, but all Han dynasty thought involves yin-yang thinking, even

715-832: The Kōzan-ji temple in Kyoto and the Tōyō Bunko museum in Tokyo . Several woodblock printed editions of the Shiji survive, the earliest of which date to the Song dynasty (960–1279). The Shiji is about 526,500 Chinese characters long, making it four times longer than Thucydides ' History of the Peloponnesian War and longer than the Old Testament . Sima Qian conceived and composed his work in self-contained units, with

770-483: The Shiji date from the Northern and Southern dynasties (420–589) and the early Tang dynasty (618–907). Most historical editions of the Shiji included the commentaries of Pei Yin ( 裴駰 , 5th century), Sima Zhen (early 8th century), and Zhang Shoujie ( 張守節 , early 8th century). The primary modern edition of the Shiji is the ten-volume Zhonghua Book Company edition published in 1959 (revised in 1982), which

825-674: The Shiji with an account of the five rulers of supreme virtue, the Five Emperors , who modern scholars, such as those from the Doubting Antiquity School , believe to be originally local deities of the peoples of ancient China. Sima Qian sifted out elements of the supernatural and fantastic which seemed to contradict their existence as actual human monarchs, and was therefore criticized for turning myths and folklore into sober history. However, according to Joseph Needham , who wrote in 1954 on Sima Qian's accounts of

880-465: The "Tables" ( biǎo 表 ), which comprise one genealogical table and nine other chronological tables. They show reigns, important events, and royal lineages in table form, which Sima Qian stated that he did because "the chronologies are difficult to follow when different genealogical lines exist at the same time." Each table except the last one begins with an introduction to the period it covers. The "Treatises" ( shū 書 , sometimes called "Monographs")

935-433: The 'schools' relevant texts, using the categories in the imperial library a hundred years after Sima Qians death. They connect them with purported ancient Zhou dynasty departments. Daojia comes to mean something like Daoism around the same time. They become categories of texts in book catalogues, namely the Han states' own Book of Han under Ban Gu . Those later termed Daoists likely did not early know each other. While

990-604: The 121st chapter, "Biographies of Scholars", he writes, "I read the Imperial Decrees that encouraged education officials." Sima Qian wrote of the problems with incomplete, fragmentary and contradictory sources. For example, he mentioned in the preface to chapter 15 that the chronicle records of the Zhou dynasty states kept in the royal archive were burnt by Qin Shi Huang because they contained criticisms and ridicule of

1045-477: The Basic Annals, but slipping negative information into other chapters, and so his work must be read as a whole to obtain full information. For example, the information that Liu Bang (later Emperor Gaozu of Han), in a desperate attempt to escape in a chase from Xiang Yu 's men, pushed his own children off his carriage to lighten it, is not given in the emperor's biography, but in the biography of Xiang Yu. He

1100-593: The Five Emperors", he writes, 余嘗西至空桐，北過涿鹿，東漸於海，南浮江淮矣，至長老皆各往往稱黃帝、堯、舜之處，風教固殊焉，總之不離古文者近是。 I myself have travelled west as far as Kongtong , north past Zhuolu , east to the sea, and in the south I have sailed the Yangtze and Huai Rivers . The elders and old men of these various lands frequently pointed out to me the places where the Yellow Emperor , Yao , and Shun had lived, and in these places

1155-521: The Grand Historian or The Grand Scribe's Records , is a Chinese historical text that is the first of the Twenty-Four Histories of imperial China. It was written during the late 2nd and early 1st centuries BC by the Han dynasty historian Sima Qian , building upon work begun by his father Sima Tan . The work covers a 2,500-year period from the age of the legendary Yellow Emperor to

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1210-539: The Grand Historian . However, the book was also known by a variety of other titles, including Taishigongji ( 太史公記 ) and Taishigongzhuan ( 太史公傳 ) in ancient times. Eventually, Shiji ( 史記 ), or Historical Records became the most commonly used title in Chinese. This title was originally used to refer to any general historical text, although after the Three Kingdoms period, Shiji gradually began to be used exclusively to refer to Sima Qian's work. In English,

1265-748: The Jia are all flawed, orbiting his characteristically 'empty' Daojia, which then includes a description of a court of ministers with a Wu wei semi-inactive ruler. It's description, and the Shiji more generally, would suggest the Simas prefer a court with a wu wei semi-inactive ruler in a time when the central government was expanding. Despite a contrary statement by A.C. Graham , neither Tan nor Sima Qian name anyone under them. Although unknown interceding historians may have debated who may have fit under which categories, likely popular by their time, imperial archivists Liu Xiang (77–6BCE) and Liu Xin would have ratified

1320-525: The Jinling Publishing House edition, see below) contains commentaries interspersed among the main text and is considered to be an authoritative modern edition. The most well-known editions of the Shiji (all woodblock printed ) are: Sima Tan Sima Tan ( traditional Chinese : 司馬談 ; simplified Chinese : 司马谈 ; pinyin : Sīmǎ Tán ; Wade–Giles : Ssu-ma T'an ; c. 165–110  BCE )

1375-560: The People", a chapter in the Guanzi ), Shan Gao ("The Mountains Are High"), Chengma ( chariot and horses; a long section on war and economics), Qingzhong (Light and Heavy; i.e. "what is important"), and Jiufu (Nine Houses), as well as the Spring and Autumn Annals of Yanzi ." In his 64th chapter, "Biography of Sima Rangju ", the Grand Historian writes, "I have read Sima's Art of War." In

1430-499: The Qin state, and that the Qin annals were brief and incomplete. In the 13th chapter he mentioned that the chronologies and genealogies of different ancient texts "disagree and contradict each other throughout". In his 18th chapter, Sima Qian writes, "I have set down only what is certain, and in doubtful cases left a blank." Scholars have questioned the historicity of legendary kings of the ancient periods given by Sima Qian. Sima Qian began

1485-709: The Xiongnu under Laoshang overran Gansu and the Tarim Basin completely, driving out the Yuezhi and Sakas , who invaded Bactria and occupied Sogdia . The Yuezhi would be pushed out by the Wusun , forcing them further into Sogdia and driving out the Sakas. The Sakas went to Parthia and some to India . A group known as the Lesser Yuezhi fled into southern Gansu and merged with the Qiang population. Laoshang also defeated

1540-441: The accounts in the "Biographies" give profiles using anecdotes to depict morals and character, with "unforgettably lively impressions of people of many different kinds and of the age in which they lived." The "Biographies" have been popular throughout Chinese history, and have provided a large number of set phrases still used in modern Chinese. Unlike subsequent official historical texts that adopted Confucian doctrine, proclaimed

1595-488: The ambitious work and left behind some fragments and notes that may have been incorporated into the final text. After Sima's death in 110 BC, the Shiji was continued and completed by his son and successor Sima Qian , who is generally credited as the work's author. The exact date of the Shiji 's completion is unknown. It is certain that Sima Qian completed it before his death in approximately 86 BC, with one copy residing in

1650-789: The ancient Chinese court chronicle tradition, such as the Spring and Autumn Annals . The first five cover either periods, such as the Five Emperors , or individual dynasties, such as the Xia , Shang , and Zhou dynasties. The last seven cover individual rulers, starting with the First Emperor of Qin and progressing through the first emperors of the Han dynasty . In this section, Sima chose to also include de facto rulers of China, such as Xiang Yu and Empress Dowager Lü , while excluding rulers who never held any real power, such as Emperor Yi of Chu and Emperor Hui of Han . Chapters 13 to 22 are

1705-498: The case of Wu Qian, the marquis of Bian...." (The father of Marquis Bian, Wu Rui , was named prince ( 王 ; wáng ) of Changsha for his loyalty to Gaozu .) In his chapter on the patriotic minister and poet Qu Yuan , Sima Qian writes, "I have read [Qu Yuan's works] Li Sao , Tianwen ("Heaven Asking"), Zhaohun (summoning the soul), and Ai Ying ( Lament for Ying )". In the 62nd chapter, "Biography of Guan and of Yan", he writes, "I have read Guan's Mu Min ( 牧民 - "Government of

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1760-641: The corresponding chapters from the Hanshu . The earliest extant copy of the Shiji , handwritten, was made during the Southern and Northern Dynasties period (420–589 AD). The earliest printed edition, called Shiji jijie ( 史記集解 , literally Scribal Records, Collected Annotations ), was published during the Northern Song dynasty . Huang Shanfu 's edition, printed under the Southern Song dynasty ,

1815-575: The deep historical-mindedness of the Chinese—and that the Shang dynasty is perfectly acceptable. While the king names in Sima Qian's history of the Shang dynasty are supported by inscriptions on the oracle bones, there is, as yet, no archaeological corroboration of Sima Qian's history of the Xia dynasty . There are also discrepancies of fact such as dates between various portions of the work. This may be

1870-456: The divine rights of the emperors, and degraded any failed claimant to the throne, Sima Qian's more liberal and objective prose has been renowned and followed by poets and novelists. Most volumes of Liezhuan are vivid descriptions of events and persons. Sima Qian sought out stories from those who might have closer knowledge of certain historical events, using them as sources to balance the reliability and accuracy of historical records. For instance,

1925-415: The early Han dynasty archives, edicts, and records. Sima Qian was a methodical, skeptical historian who had access to ancient books, written on bamboo and wooden slips , from before the time of the Han dynasty. Many of the sources he used did not survive. He not only used archives and imperial records, but also interviewed people and traveled around China to verify information. In his first chapter, "Annals of

1980-511: The entire work. The 69 "Biographies" chapters mostly contain biographical profiles of about 130 outstanding ancient Chinese men, ranging from the moral paragon Boyi from the end of the Shang dynasty to some of Sima Qian's near contemporaries. About 40 of the chapters are dedicated to one particular man, but some are about two related figures, while others cover small groups of figures who shared certain roles, such as assassins, caring officials, or Confucian scholars. Unlike most modern biographies,

2035-453: The first century of the Han dynasty (i.e. the 2nd century BC) correspond exactly to the relevant chapters from the Book of Han ( Hanshu ). It is unclear whether those chapters initially came from the Shiji or from the Hanshu . Researchers Yves Hervouet (1921–1999) and A. F. P. Hulsewé argued that the originals of those chapters of the Shiji were lost and they were later reconstructed using

2090-576: The first chapter, "Annals of the Five Emperors", he writes, "I have read the Spring and Autumn Annals and the Guoyu ." In his 13th chapter, "Genealogical Table of the Three Ages", Sima Qian writes, "I have read all the genealogies of the kings ( dieji 諜記 ) that exist since the time of the Yellow Emperor." In his 14th chapter, "Yearly Chronicle of the Feudal Lords", he writes, "I have read all

2145-598: The imperial capital of Chang'an (present-day Xi'an ) and the other copy probably being stored in Sima's home. Little is known about the Shiji ' s early reception and circulation. Several 1st-century BC authors, such as the scholar Chu Shaosun ( 褚少孫 ; fl. 32–7 BC), added interpolations to it. Ten of the Shiji 's original 130 chapters were lost in the Eastern Han period (AD 25–220) and seem to have been reconstructed later. The first commentaries to

2200-613: The kings of the Shang dynasty (c. 1600 – c. 1050 BC): It was commonly maintained that Ssuma Chhien [Sima Qian] could not have adequate historical materials for his account of what had happened more than a thousand years earlier. One may judge of the astonishment of many, therefore, when it appeared that no less than twenty-three of the thirty rulers' names were to be clearly found on the indisputably genuine Anyang bones . It must be, therefore, that [Sima Qian] did have fairly reliable materials at his disposal—a fact which underlines once more

2255-674: The later Zhuangzi would seem familiar with the Daodejing , the first part does not demonstrate familiarity it. Although disconnected, as later used the Mingjia school of names would at least seem to represent an actual social category interacted with by the Mohists , earlier referred to by the Zhuangzi as debaters. Taken as having a common interest in disputative theories of language, they otherwise have different philosophies. Connected with

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2310-475: The later chapters. Many of the earlier chapters are chronicle-like accounts of the leading states of the Zhou dynasty , such as the states of Qin and Lu , and two of the chapters go back as far as the Shang dynasty . The later chapters, which cover the Han dynasty, contain biographies. The "Ranked Biographies" ( lièzhuàn 列傳 , usually shortened to "Biographies") is the largest of the five Shiji sections, covering chapters 61 to 130, and accounts for 42% of

2365-540: The manners and customs seemed quite different. In general those of their accounts which do not differ from the ancient texts seem to be near to the truth. The Grand Historian used The Annals of the Five Emperors ( 五帝系諜 ) and the Classic of History as source materials to make genealogies from the time of the Yellow Emperor until that of the Gonghe regency (841–828 BC). Sima Qian often cites his sources. For example, in

2420-468: The material on Jing Ke 's attempt at assassinating the King of Qin incorporates an eye-witness account by Xia Wuju ( 夏無且 ), a physician to the king of Qin who happened to be attending the diplomatic ceremony for Jing Ke, and this account was passed on to Sima Qian by those who knew Xia. It has been observed that the diplomatic Sima Qian has a way of accentuating the positive in his treatment of rulers in

2475-473: The military has it. It did not necessarily occur to Tan that anyone would later use them as historical categories, or put people under them. As new categories, Tan's contemporaries probably considered his Jia novel. Together with Mohism and Confucianism , he compares their purported strengths and weaknesses in promotion of what he dubs the Daojia, taking the essential points of the others. Tan's descriptions of

2530-437: The model for all subsequent dynastic histories of China. In contrast to Western historiographical conventions, the Shiji does not treat history as "a continuous, sweeping narrative", but rather breaks it up into smaller, overlapping units dealing with famous leaders, individuals, and major topics of significance. The original title of the work, as given by the author in the postface, is Taishigongshu ( 太史公書 ), or Records of

2585-422: The names of a total of fifteen scholars supposed to have added material to the Shiji during the period after the death of Sima Qian. Only the additions by Chu Shaosun ( 褚少孫 , c. 105 – c. 30 BC) are clearly indicated by adding "Mr Chu said," (Chu xiansheng yue, 褚先生曰 ). Already in the first century AD, Ban Biao and Ban Gu claimed that ten chapters in Shiji were lacking. A large number of chapters dealing with

2640-436: The present age and consisting of ten tables, twelve basic annals, eight treatises, thirty chapters on hereditary houses, and seventy biographies, together totaling 130 chapters." These numbers are likewise given in the postface to Shiji . After his death (presumably only a few years later), few people had the opportunity to see the whole work. However, various additions were still made to it. The historian Liu Zhiji reported

2695-493: 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 . The Shiji has been called a "foundational text in Chinese civilization". 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." The Shiji set

2750-573: The royal annals ( chunqiu li pudie 春秋曆譜諜 ) up until the time of King Li of Zhou ." In his 15th chapter, "Yearly Chronicle of the Six States", he writes, "I have read the Annals of Qin ( qin ji 秦記 ), and they say that the Quanrong [a barbarian tribe] defeated King You of Zhou [ca 771 BC]." In the 19th chapter, he writes, "I have occasion to read over the records of enfeoffment and come to

2805-481: The title is variously translated as Records of the Grand Historian , Historical Records , The Grand Scribe's Records , or Records of the Historian , although other titles are sometimes used. The work that became the Shiji was begun by Sima Tan , who was Grand Historian ( Tàishǐ 太史 , also translated "Grand Scribe") of the Han dynasty court during the late 2nd century BC. Sima Tan drafted plans for

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2860-413: The work was transferred to paper many centuries later, circulation would have been difficult and piecemeal, which accounts for many of the errors and variations in the text. Sima Qian organized the chapters of the Shiji into five categories, which each comprise a section of the book. The "Basic Annals" ( běnjì 本紀 ) make up the first 12 chapters of the Shiji , and are largely similar to records from

2915-475: Was a Chinese astrologist, astronomer, and historian during the Western Han dynasty . His work Records of the Grand Historian was completed by his son Sima Qian , who is considered the founder of Chinese historiography . Sima Tan studied astronomy with Tang Du, the I Ching under Yang He, and Daoism under Master Huang. He was appointed to the office of Court Astronomer ( Chinese : 太史令 ; pinyin : tài shǐ lìng ) at age 25 in 140  BCE ,

2970-742: Was probably opposed to their combination. Although a modern Sinologist might consider a historical usage of the categories revisionist, to it's credit, the Book of Han only presents their groupings as theoretical; Feng Youlan chose to take it as a legitimate attempt at historical theory. Emphasizing philosophical differences with the Confucians, Sinologist Herrlee G. Creel argued that it might have been intentionally misleading to list Shen Buhai together with Shang Yang under Fajia . But Creel himself quotes Liu Xiang, who readily recounts that, unlike Shang Yang, Shen Buhai vacilitated against punishments. If

3025-459: Was set up with the title of Old Shanyu . When Jizhu became Shanyu [in 174 BCE], Emperor Wen sent a princess of the imperial family to be his consort, dispatching a eunuch from Yan named Zhonghang Yue to accompany her as her tutor. In 166 BCE, Xiongnu forces under Laoshang raided within sight of Chang'an and carried off a large number of people and animals. In 165 BCE, the Xiongnu returned and raided within sight of Chang'an again. In 164 BCE,

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