Sima Qian

This book is a timely response to a rather urgent call to seek an updated methodology in rereading and reappraising early Chinese texts in light of newly discovered early writings. For a long time, the concept of authorship in the formation and transmission of early Chinese texts has been misunderstood. The nominal author who should mainly function as a guide to text formation and interpretation is considered retrospectively as the originator and writer of the text. This book illustrates that although some notions about the text as the author’s property began to appear in some Eastern Han texts, a strict correlation between the author and the text results from later conceptions of literary history. Before the modern era, there existed a conceptual gap between an author and a writer. A pre-modern Chinese text could have had both an author and a writer, or even multiple authors and multiple writers. This work is the first study addressing these issues by more systematically emphasizing the connection of the text, the author, and the religious and sociopolitical settings in which these issues were embedded. It is expected to constitute a palpable contribution to Chinese studies and the discipline of philology in general.

The goal of this paper is to discuss patterns of behavior illuminated by material evidence of religious belief systems of Scythians, Saka, and Xiongnu mobile groups in Iron Age (ca. 1,000 -100 BCE) Central Eurasia. Highly mobile people, commonly glossed as Scythian, Sarmatian, Saka, and Xiongnu/Hsiung-nu, occupied land in southeastern Europe, the region north of the Caucasus Mountains, Kazakhstan, southern Siberia, Mongolia and China north of the Yellow
River. There are numerous ecological zones in this territory, ranging from extremely fertile agricultural lands (modern-day Ukraine and the region north of the Black Sea), forest-steppe, steppe, mountains, and desert (Mongolia, Xinjiang, and southern Kazakhstan). This vast region,
more than 2,800 km wide, is linked throughout this time period by patterns of similarity in archaeological remains.

The present paper aims to reveal how the “western period” of the Zhou dynasty (1046/5-256 BCE) was remembered, forgotten, and later reconstructed from pieces of memory. By juxtaposing the data of epigraphic sources against reminiscences about of the past in received texts from several centuries up to the Western Han (206 BC – AD 9) period,  it addresses the following questions:
1) How was the geopolitical constitution of the Zhou polity before 771 BC reflected in various literary texts:
– in the Poetry and Documents Classics, possibly manifesting representations of the edge between the Western and Eastern Zhou periods;
– in the Zuo zhuan, possibly reflecting representations of the Spring and Autumn period (770–403 BC);
– in various texts of the Warring States period (403–221 BC)?
2) How was the early Zhou period remembered during the Western Han times and how were available memories about its “western period” selected, manipulated and integrated in Sima Qian’s Records of the Historiographer ?
Surveying many sources of a heterogeneous nature and different origins, this paper makes some preliminary observations about alternative tendencies in the process of construction of the past in early China and tentatively discusses their possible political and social backgrounds.

Classical Daoism, Philosophical Daoism, Early Daoism: these terms are increasingly being seen as obsolescent by scholars in the last couple of decades. The general public – those who have heard of Daoism or have read a little bit of it – are largely unaware, despite the fact that for quite awhile writers have admitted that there were no “Daoists” in pre-Han China and that the two most famous “Daoists,” Laozi and Zhuangzi, surely never thought of themselves as Daoists. The more recent interest in what was once called “religious Daoism (Daojiao 道教),” as opposed to “philosophical Daoism (Daojia 道家),” has seen a shift towards using “Daoism” to refer only to the former.

In this series of blog posts I am going to explore this matter. First, I will look at the oldest evidence for a “Daoist school” in the Historical Records (Shiji 史記) and the Han Documents (Hanshu 漢書). Next I will look into both the text and the legendary man Laozi 老子, followed by Zhuangzi 莊子. Texts that will be mentioned along the way will include: the Laozi 老子, Zhuangzi 莊子, Hanfeizi 韓非子 (esp. Jie Lao 解老, Yu Lao 喻老), Lüshi Chunqiu 春秋左傳, Mengzi 孟子, Xunzi 荀子, Guanzi 管子 (esp. Neiye 內業), Huainanzi 淮南子, Heguanzi 鶡冠子, and the Huangdi Sijing 黃帝四經. I will also survey various scholars’ views on early Chinese “schools of thought.”

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We present a comparative analysis between a major piece of Ming literature from the Ming dynasty titled Chronicles of Eastern Zhou Powers by Feng Menglong and pre-Han classical texts such as The Grand Scribe's Records, Mozi, and Garden of Stories. These classical texts pertain to the thought of Sima Qian, also known as the first Grand Historian of China. This paper focuses on historical events during the reign of King Xuan of Zhou, and we consider through concrete examples how the thought of Sima Qian was dramatized in this piece of Ming literature.

https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/11/12/644

This study offers a new approach for studying biblical myth in two directions: first, by expanding the scope of investigation beyond the clearly mythological elements to other areas of biblical literature, and second, by drawing comparisons to classical Chinese literature. This article thus reconsiders the relationship between myth and history in both biblical and Chinese literature, while seeking to broaden the endeavor of the comparative method in biblical studies. Two examples are offered: (1) the story of Moses's call narrative and his relationship with Aaron in Exodus in light of the story of Xiang Liang and Xiang Ji in the Shiji; (2) the story of Saul and David in 1 Samuel compared with the story of Dong Zhuo and Lü Bu in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Both comparisons demonstrate the operation of Claude Lévi-Strauss's inversion principle. Conclusions regarding each of these literatures are presented separately, followed by cross-cultural insights and shared aspects in the study of myth, historiography, and religion.

The goal of this book is to introduce Chinese historical records on the one of the most interesting periods of ancient history of Inner Asia to Latvian readers. This period, lasting from the end of III century BC till the middle of I century AD, was the time of Xiongnu empire domination in this area. In 209 BC Xiongnu established the first steppe empire incorporating many ethnics groups of Inner Asia. Since that time they had become the main object of Chinese foreign policy.
The introduction chapter of the book focuses on brief history of relationships between Xiongnu and China, from the so-called “Golden Age” of Xiongnu (209-133 BC) till the time when Xiongnu empire was divided into North and South Xiongnnu in 48 AD. 
The most important sources on the history of Xiongnu are Chinese historical records. One of them was written by the ancient Chinese historian Sima Qian (145-87 BC), his book “Shi ji” or “Historical Records”, consisting of 130 chapters, represents a masterpiece of the ancient Chinese historiography. Chapter 110 provides a detailed description of history between Xiongnu and Chinese dynasties (Zhou, Qin and Western Han) till 97 BC. This chapter has already been translated into several European languages (Russian, English, German and French), however, not into Latvian. This book is the full translation of this chapter into the Latvian language. The translation is accompanied by detailed commentaries on a wide range of historical, geographic and cultural terms. 
    This book is also accompanied by a historical map showing the distribution of tribes and location of states in Central, Inner and East Asia during the middle of II century BC.

China’s historical tradition is extremely rich, with one of the key elements in this tradition being Shiji. Sima Qian continued what his father began, dedicating his life to compiling a 2,500 year history that encompassed the major historical figures and happenings between the Yellow Emperor and Emperor Wu of Han. Its vast scope is representative of Qian’s monumental effort—the first of its kind. It is now known as the first comprehensive history in China, as well as a critical reference to research on Han and pre-Qin periods.
After Shiji was made public, Sima Qian was lauded as “a true historian” and the Shiji as “faithful recording.” Nevertheless, from the Six Dynasties to the present, scholarly interest in the Shiji has oft included textual research on the historical elements recorded therein. During the Han dynasty, after the ban on books was lifted, many ancient books began being circulated once more. This sparked intelligentsia’s interest in and inquiry of ancient history, which in turn brought about a new trend in research—“seeking truth from the facts.” In light of this, it seems appropriate that before examining the historicity of the Shiji, there should be a study of Sima Qian’s sense of historicity and of his research methods. This study attempts to do just that by examining Sima Qian’s purpose and methods in compiling the Shiji, as well as changes in understanding and the contribution of the Shiji. A brief outline by chapter is given below:
Chapter 1 outlines the motivations for and methodologies of this research, as well as examines the historical source of the term “seeking truth from the facts.”
Chapter 2 explores the question of Sima Qian’s source materials for the Shiji. Over the last century, many scholars have discussed this topic, but a consensus has proven elusive. To that end, previous booklists are compiled and analyzed, with dubious entries being weeded out. Other works that the author has identified whilst reading the Shiji are also added to the list, raising the total number of identified works from 80-100 in past research to 162.
Chapter 3 looks at how Sima Qian’s travels filled in gaps in the textus receptus. In thirteen chapters, Sima Qian’s summary remarks mention some aspect of his travels. These are divided into four categories and analyzed in the hope of gaining a deeper understanding regarding the influence his travels had on his work.
Chapter 4 focuses on Sima Qian’s scholarly activities, discussing how his conversation and interactions with scholarly circles are reflected in the Shiji. The foundation of his scholarly activities was laid by his father, having Qian master pre-Qin characters by age ten. This would prove significant, as works written in the ancient characters became the main criterion by which Sima Qian would judge scholarly theories and historical interpretations. Because Sima Qian wanted to give a comprehensive portrayal of the Six Classics and the ideas of the Philosophers, his work contains many criticisms and corrections of current scholarly thought. It also contains recordings of things learned from his visiting with scholars and other contemporaries. In addition, Sima Qian employed a technique he called “transmitting doubts” for those parts of history where two or more versions existed but for which information was insufficient to adjudicate on accuracy. All of these are important aspects of his scholarly activities.
　　Chapter 5 lists several examples of faithful recording in the Shiji to demonstrate reasons for later scholars’ praise of his historicity. The examples fall into one of two categories: “not overstating virtues nor glossing over faults” and “not overstating faults nor glossing over virtues.” Examples show that Sima Qian, in addition to praising them, would also include critiques of historical figures he admired. By the same token, he would also praise tyrants and conniving ministers as circumstances warranted—the result of which is a very even-handedness in his writings.
　　Chapter 6 looks at six unearthed documents that have been discovered in the last one hundred years, comparing them with relevant content in the Shiji. The comparisons highlight new aspects of how the Shijii was compiled, how materials were selected, and how accurate Sima Qian’s writings are. The six documents are 1) the Bamboo Annals and other related chronologies, 2) the Zhanguo zonghengjai shu, 3) the Sun Bin’s Art of War, 4) writings found in the Tsing Hua University’s Bamboo Strips, 5) the Book of the Yellow Emperor, and 6) the “Law of the Scribes” from the Laws and Decrees of the Second Year.
　　Finally, Chapter 7 first addresses non-factual arrangements and writings in the Shiji, as seen in Qian’s motivation for writing it, as well as the work’s structure and content. This underscores the fact that historical accuracy is but the foundation of the Shiji, but not its main purpose. In addition to “gathering lost history throughout the kingdom, examining past events, and investigating the reasons for the success and failures, the rise and fall of nations,” Sima Qian emulates the narrative techniques of The Spring and Autumn Annals, “desiring to form a school of thought by delineating the line between Heaven and man, and by understanding changes from ancient to present.” However, after completing the Shiji, Sima Qian’s original intent gradually was lost as scholar’s understanding of the work underwent a complete change.

Keywords: Sima Qian, Shiji, historicity, faithful recording, school of thought

“Who do you do it for, who can you make listen?”  In this essay, I venture into the mind of Han Chinese historian Sima Qian and attempt to write a defense of Li Ling as I imagine Sima Qian would have written it.  On the one hand, I want to address Sima’s obvious esteem for General Li per his description in the letter to Ren An, on a human and a rational level, and to give alongside it an account that would prove satisfying to Emperor Wu—at least in such a manner that Sima would have tried to articulate it.  These two angles are, I believe, firmly inextricable for Sima Qian, and I hope to show through my imagining of what Sima might have written that Li Ling was capable of being both a good man politically and intrinsically, and to highlight that for Sima Qian, history teaches us that being able to empathize with or at the very least refrain from harshly and hastily judging another’s qualities and intentions opens up new perspectives and allows the student of history to embody other’s views in the present. Sima Qian’s nuanced and inflected approach to history can only be seen as a project worth undertaking if it has resonance with the contemporary political situation and works for the greater good.  Otherwise, the Shi Ji is a dead text and no more can be said of it than what Sima Qian places in the mouth of Xiang Yu, a man whom he does not portray with great reverence: “Writing is good only for keeping records of people’s names.”  This is obviously not the case for Sima, and as no man will risk life and limb for what is utterly useless to him, I want to try to illustrate by way of this intellectual exercise that history has lessons with present relevance in terms of an individual’s ability to perceive another’s motivations and qualities without relying solely on the benefit of hindsight—and thus to avoid certain human predilections towards error.

Textual study on the Jinteng chapter preserved in three different versions: the bamboo slips version in the collection of the Tsinghua University, the Jinteng chapter in the Book of Documents, and the version in Sima Qian's Record of the Grand Scribe. The three versions are compared for their representation of ritual practice which differ subtly but significantly. Such differences not only point to different and conflicting ideologies of their authors, but also the practice of rewriting and re-editing an existing story or legend to suit the ideas and needs of the authors. Because the Duke of Zhou is credited with the invention of "Confucian" ritual as the enfeoffed Lord of the Lu state,  the study further sheds new light on these claims.
《金謄》是《尚書》中的著名篇章，記錄周公禱祭祖先代替周武王生病的故事，以此解釋周公雖然没有做王，但可能在祖先那裹取得了合法的允許。除了《尚書》之外，過去我們巳知《史記》中應有《金謄》中的故事，與《尚書》大同小異。不過，最近發現的清華大學收藏的竹簡本，給我們機會重新對比《金樣》三個不同的版本。因爲祭祀的實踐在故事中占著關鍵位置，本文特別關注三個版本《金謄》中的儀式實踐和描寫，發現它們代表兩個不同且相反的儀式傳統。清華簡應該代表楚國或剔國的看法，即經過儀式和靈界的同意才能得到做王的認可和權力，《尚書》和《史記》應該代表魯國的看法，輕視儀式的重要性，而強調周家族血脈關係和周禮（指魯國），是一種輕｀｀史"重｀｀儒"的新趨勢。從戰圉 末期或秦漠的這種對立中，西周時代的周公變成兩派中的一位共同偶像，表明兩派把傳説和歷史中的周公，修改爲自己遣一派的理想人物。遺種情 況有助於我們認識到，戰國秦漢時期很可能没有一個關於周公的固定故事，雖然只有一個主題，但分別代表了不同政治觀念的人，把故事修改爲不同的理想故事，以凸顗他們各自的政治觀，卻不一定代表一種歷史事實。

Uma das descobertas não somente arqueológicas, mas também históricas, mais importante da China antiga, talvez apenas perdendo para a descoberta da dinastia Xia, o Exército de Terracota, não somente mostrou o poderio militar, tecnológico e artístico da china, como também, abriu portas para a confirmação da possível veracidade dos relatos de Sima Qian, o maior historiador antigo da China, que não apenas descreveu sobre o seu tempo, como também o passado da China, além dessa ajuda para a confirmação dos relatos escritos, o Exército de Terracota, abriu as portas para algo muito maior, a necrópole de Qin Shi Huangdi.

Death of Han Xin marks the turning point in the history of Chinese governance and literary representation of heroes. The era of continuous bloodshed and tyranny draws to an end, the Qin forces have fallen, and the Chu army has been defeated with Han Xin’s strategical brilliance. The new beginning for the structure in governance is being set by the emperor Gaozu and, similarly to any other major changes in power structure, the first decisions as the emperor are the most important for shaping the future of the empire. But the changes in social culture don’t only belong to the establishment of new laws, but to any major events that happen to the empire and the people. Gaozu’s decision to eliminate Han Xin, a very accomplished general who played a major role in Gaozu’s victory over the Chu army, sets a new tone to the societal structure of China and reflects on the unintended changes of the continuous tyranny and the people’s perception of the government.

Běijīng: Verlag für fremdsprachige Literatur / Wàiwén Chūbǎnshè 外文出版社, 2016; ISBN 978-7-119-09676-6.

In dieser Ausgabe liegt erstmals eine substanzielle Auswahl aus den »Aufzeichnungen des Chronisten« in deutscher Übersetzung vor. Es handelt sich um das erste bedeutende Werk der chinesischen Geschichtsschreibung. Die »Aufzeichnungen« entstanden um das Jahr 100 v.Chr. und sind die wichtigste Quelle für historische Ereignisse vom ersten Kaiser der Qin-Dynastie bis in die Han-Zeit.

Dies ist eine zwei- bzw. dreisprachige Ausgabe. Sie enthält den Ausgangstext, eine Übersetzung aus dem klassischen Chinesisch ins Deutsche von Gregor Kneussel (Bd. I und II) und Alexander Saechtig (Bd. III) sowie eine Übersetzung ins moderne Chinesisch von Ān Píngqiū 安平秋.

This is a compendium of texts on the topic of Yuezhi/Greater Yuezhi/Kushan and related studies.
The texts are quotes from monographs and journal articles ranging from 1738 to 2000.
They are confined to Western languages.
Although the collection is far from complete, most Western authors who contributed to our knowledge of Central and South Asian history from 300 BCE to 300 CE have been brought together here.
More texts will be added in due time.

Ancient historians, such as Herodotus and Sima Qian, believed the mobile peoples of Iron Age (c.1000–100 BCE) north central Eurasia (i.e. Scythian, Saka, Xiongnu) were nomadic, warlike barbarians. Accounts by ancient historians are paradigm setting, linked with behaviours observed in ethnographic contexts. Most research operates within this paradigm, prioritizing information from historic and ethnographic sources to archaeological evidence. This paper focuses on the cycle of historical inquiry and the way early descriptions have affected archaeological investigations into north central Eurasia, during the Iron Age. The degree of implied nomadism in this region is tested against archaeological evidence, presenting a more nuanced view of widespread material culture attributes and current limits to our understanding of mobility in six subregions of north central Eurasia, throughout the Iron Age.

Religion in the Iron Age (ca. 1,000 – 100 BCE) of Eurasia (southeast Europe, Central Asia, Siberia, northern China) can best be studied when looking for large-scale ritualized (Bell 2009) behavioral patterns visible in landscape utilization and burial practices.  While keeping the dynamic relationship between economic, political and religious aspects of culture in mind; recognizing religious and ritualized behaviors from archaeological evidence depends on multiple resources. Evidence offered by historical sources Herodotus and Sima Qian, ethnography and archaeology are contextualized and reviewed to establish patterned, religious usage within the Iron Age Eurasian landscape.

Delivered to Christopher Newport University Alpha Zeta Mu Chapter

In Russian history, there is a term used to describe an era in which everything seems to be, well, off. Called the time of troubles, this phrase has been used in the past to refer to what seem like cyclical moments in Russian history - when an individual, group, or people’s best efforts come to naught, and disaster seems to rule the day. But as is often true in matters of translation, this use of a simple, compact term belies a much deeper complexity. The term for time of troubles in Russian – smutnoe vremia – doesn’t just convey trouble, but anxiety, unease, and a sense of something always looming around the bend. I am sure you are all familiar with the feeling.

Qin State was one of the seven states at war during the Warring States Period and became Qin Dynasty after it eliminated the other six states. When we study the Si Ma Qian's Shi Ji(Historical Notes) which is the oldest, reliable and detailed source, we come across Lu Buwei Records which is the story of a merchant who has an important place in history because of his schemes since the time of Zhao who was the 28th lord of the Qin State. This merchant, who planned various schemes to make First Emperor Qin
Shi Huang ascend the throne, secured his place when Qin Lord Zhuang Xiang was declared an heir and became active in government matters when Qin Shi Huang ascended the throne. In this study, by making research on the only written account Shi Ji, we aim to see how a merchant could be so influential in Chinese history and how he had risen from a merchant to a statesman.

This is a chapter published in : Views from Within, Views from Beyond: Approaches to the Shiji as an Early Work of Historiography, edited by Lomová, Olga; van Ess, Hans; Schaab-Hanke, Dorothee
Abstract:
The “Biographies of Wealthy Merchants” (Huozhi liezhuan) is one of the most astonishing and debated chapters in Sima Qian’s Shiji. A common approach in modern and recent scholarship has been to assert this chapter as a first, but pitifully abortive attempt to appreciate the role of mercantile activity and techniques in human history: except for Ban Gu’s Hanshu which contains as well a chapter devoted to the merchants and their accumulation of wealth, later official histories do not leave any specific space to merchants. Sima Qian’s chapter shows a very complex structure and a great plurality of perspectives: it does not deal with mercantile activity as a delimited, particular one, but with mercantile techniques and mentality, which may be applied to any kind of business, and allows accumulating wealth. By comparing the “Biographies of Wealthy Merchants” in Shiji and Hanshu and encompassing the probable influence of Yang Xiong’s Fayan (especially its critical approach of the asserted relationship between wealth and filial respect), I try to place the assessment of merchants and of their activities in the larger frame of time in human society and the role of the Saint (shengren) in this time.