Records of the Grand Historian (Han Dynasty II)
Records of the Grand Historian (Han Dynasty II)
By Sima Qian
Translated by Burton Watson
1993 (Revised Edition)
Co-published with Columbia University Press
xviii + 506 pages
ISBN 0231-08166-9
Sima Qian (145?–90? BC) is the first major Chinese historian. His Shi ji, or Records of the Grand Historian, records the history of China and much of the adjacent world from the remote past to his own time. These three volumes contain a new translation of the history of the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) and a revised version of the Han dynasty (from 206 up to c. 90 BC) portion of the Records.
Western readers will value this book not only for its historical importance, but perhaps even more for Sima Qian's warm interest in people. His brief, keen characterizations, his skilful use of dialogue, and his method of presenting different aspects of a figure in the different chapters give Sima Qian's history the engrossing power of a novel.
This second volume of the history of the Han dynasty consists of chapters dealing principally with the reign of Emperor Wu, one of the most energetic and strong-willed of China's rulers. Here the historian is chronicling events he has witnessed and writing of the men he personally knows or has known. In Nagano Hōzan's (1783–1837) words, "He makes us see in our minds the character of the men of the time, and this is why he is a great historian."
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Introduction — xi
Translator’s Note — xviii
Part I: Heaven, Earth, and Men
Shi ji 28: The Treatise on the Feng and Shan Sacrifices — 3
Shi ji 29: The Treatise on the Yellow River and Canals — 53
Shi ji 30: The Treatise on the Balanced Standard — 61
Part II: Statesmen, Generals, and Foreign People
Shi ji 107: The Biographies of the Marquises of Weiqi and Wuan — 89
Shi ji 108: The Biography of Han Changru — 107
Shi ji 109: The Biography of General Li Guang — 117
Shi ji 110: The Account of the Xiongnu — 129
Shi ji 111: The Biographies of General Wei Qing and the Swift Cavalry General Huo Qubing — 163
Shi ji 20: The Chronological Table of Marquises Enfeoffed from the Jianyuan Era on: Introduction — 185
Shi ji 112: The Biographies of the Marquis of Pingjin and Zhufu Yan — 187
Shi ji 113: The Account of Southern Yue — 207
Shi ji 114: The Account of Eastern Yue — 219
Shi ji 115: The Account of Chaoxian — 225
Shi ji 123: The Account of Dayuan — 231
Shi ji 116: The Account of the Southwestern Barbarians — 253
Shi ji 117: The Biography of Sima Xiangru — 259
Shi ji 120: The Biographies of Ji An and Zheng Dangshi — 307
Part III: The Plotters of Revolt
Shi ji 118: The Biographies of the Kings of Huainan and Hengshan — 321
Part IV: The Collective Biographies
Shi ji 121: The Biographies of the Confucian Scholars — 355
Shi ji 119: The Biographies of the Reasonable Officials — 373
Shi ji 122: The Biographies of the Harsh Officials — 379
Shi ji 124: The Biographies of the Wandering Knights — 409
Shi ji 125: The Biographies of the Emperors’ Male Favourites — 419
Shi ji 127: The Biographies of the Diviners of Lucky Days — 425
Shi ji 129: The Biographies of the Money-makers — 433
Finding List of Chapters of the Shi ji — 455
Index — 457
Map
China and Its Neighbours in the Former Han — 506
Review(s)
Review(s)
'Burton Watson's elegant renditions will continue to be useful, especially when readers are primarily interested in the Shiji as literature.'
—CLEAR
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AUTHOR(s)
Sima Qian set these aims for himself: to separate fact from legend, to be accurate in geographical details, and to give as full an account as possible of historial events and the lives of those concerned. His achievement is a landmark in Chinese history which has maintained its eminent position for 2,000 years. Chinese, Japanese, and Korean scholars have never ceased to read, admire, and love the Shi ji.
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TRANSLATOR(s)
Burton Watson is a world renowned translator of Chinese and Japanese literature and an adjunct professor of Chinese and Japanese at Columbia University. He lives in Osaka, Japan.