Selections from Records of the Historian

by Sima Qian, Yang Xianyi (Translator), Gladys Yang (Translator)

Copiously illustrated selection from Sima Qian.

Genres: China, History

187 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

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

[Matthew]

Started reading this the other day and I am still trying to get a handle on this. Even mid-20th century China was extraordinarily different from the places in which I've spent my life. it''s going to be a minute on this one. My earliest impression is that the writings euro-mediterranean authors of antiquity typically come to us revised and reinterpreted so as to minimize their superstitious or long outmoded ideas. Such a process likely took place in the translation and editing of this work but with different concerns in mind. I am reading this book as part of a process of gaining an understanding those differences.

I will say this author reminds me more of some of the "compilers" of the Roman era than Greeks of an earlier era. I haven't, though read Herodotus for comparison and my knowledge of Roman writers is either through quotes or second-hand.