The Grand Scribe's Records: The Basic Annals of Pre-Han China

Grand Scribe's Records #1

by Sima Qian

..". an essential source for the study of events in early China, a guide to the moral philosophy of the gentlemen of Han, and a splendid work of literature which may be read for the pleasure of its style and the power of its narrative.... This work makes Shi ji and its scholarship accessible to any reader of English, and it is a model for any work in this field and style." --Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Oxford Journals

"Through such work as this, the scholary and literary community of the West will learn more of the splendour and romance of early China, and may better appreciate the lessons in humanity presented by its great historian." --Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies

..". Nienhauser's new translation is scrupulously scholarly... the design of this series is nearly flawless... the translation itself is very precise..." --Chinese Literature, Essays, Articles, Reviews

This project will result in the first complete translation (in nine volumes) of the Shih chi (The Grand Scribe's Records), one of the most important narratives in traditional China. Ssu-ma Ch'ien (145-c.86 B.C.), who compiled the work, is known as the Herodotus of China.

Genres: History, China, Nonfiction

416 pages, Hardcover

First published January 22, 1995

About the author

Sima Qian (Szu-ma Chien; 司馬遷 c. 145 or 135 BC – 86 BC) was a Chinese historian of the Han dynasty. He is considered the father of Chinese historiography for his work, the Records of the Grand Historian, a Jizhuanti-style (纪传体) general history of China, covering more than two thousand years from the Yellow Emperor to his time, during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han. Although he worked as the Court Astrologer (Chinese: 太史令; Tàishǐ Lìng), later generations refer to him as the Grand Historian (Chinese: 太史公; taishigong or tai-shih-kung) for his monumental work. (Wikipedia)

Reviews

[bkwurm · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is not an easy read. Written by the Grand Historian Sima Qian during the Han dynasty, this book covers the period from the legendary five emperors, the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, the warring states era and the Qin dynasty.

There is a great deal of repetition in the book. For example, in the narrative of the emperor Yao, there is an account of how Yao observed and tested his eventual successor, Shun. In the narrative of the emperor Shun, the account of how Shun was tested by Yao and eventually became emperor is repeated although in greater detail.

A great deal of the book is also little more than the recitation of succession of dukes of Qin. Occasionally, mention is made of usurpations, assassinations, etc, but no detail is given and the reader is left feeling short changed. But the account of the First Emperor is, despite all that, still engrossing.

[Lulu]

Ch. 1-7