Records of the Grand Historian (Volume IX)
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Summary
The Shiji comprises 130 chapters: twelve Annals (recording the achievements of successive rulers), thirty Hereditary Houses (chronicling the rise and fall of vassal states and Han nobles), seventy Biographies (recording the words and deeds of important figures, chiefly officials, with the final chapter being the author's preface), ten Tables (chronologies of major events), and eight Treatises (on rites, music, pitch standards, calendrics, astronomy, the Feng and Shan sacrifices, water conservancy, and finance). Encompassing all things while achieving coherence and clarity, it faithfully records developments in politics, economy, military affairs, and culture in ancient times.
The Shiji is also an outstanding literary work with an important place in Chinese literary history. In historiographical terms, it preserves several thousand years of historical material and possesses extraordinary value, being ranked first among the Twenty-Four Histories. It pioneered the biographical method of recording events and was esteemed by generations of historians and scholars. In literary terms, its descriptive language is vivid, its characterizations are striking, its reasoning is incisive, and its narration is flexible. Liu Xiang and others praised the work as "skilled in presenting events and reasoning, argumentative without ostentation, plain without vulgarity."
Editor's review
Who it's for
A good fit for
- Researchers specializing in Qin and Han history who need to verify primary sources
- University history students seeking to deepen their coursework reading
- Readers with a strong interest in Emperor Wu of Han's military and diplomatic affairs
- Cultural enthusiasts who wish to collect an authoritative edition of the Shiji
Not a good fit for
- Beginners seeking a vernacular, popular translation
- Casual readers interested only in the narrative biographies
Reading tips
- Read the general preface to the Shiji at the front of this volume first to understand the revision's editorial principles
- Use maps to understand the geographical changes mentioned in the Account of the Xiongnu
- Pay attention to the intertextual relationship between the concluding "Taishigong yue" remarks and the main text
About the publisher
China Culture and History Press has long devoted itself to modern and contemporary literature and culture-and-history reading matter, with publishing directions centered on classic works, social novels, prose and miscellaneous writings, and Eastern philosophy, alongside culture-and-history periodicals such as Zongheng. Among the more than 1,500 titles in the collection, representative books include Zhang Henshui's Ti Xiao Yin Yuan, Lu Xun's Complete Classic Works (10 volumes) and Wild Grass, and Lao She's Four Generations Under One Roof series and the boxed set of Lao She's Classic Works (10 volumes), while its author resources are concentrated on figures such as Zhang Henshui, Lu Xun, Lao She and Sima Qian. Its publishing character lies in solid editorial work on culture-and-history source texts and in issuing famous authors' works in sets, balancing the readability of individual texts with the systematic presentation of complete collections for focused reading and collecting. Beyond these directions, public information on the press's contemporary original publishing is limited, so it is not elaborated here.
Contents
- 版权信息
- 第八十八卷 吴王濞列传第四十六
- 第八十九卷 魏其武安侯列传第四十七
- 第九十卷 韩长孺列传第四十八
- 第九十一卷 李将军列传第四十九
- 第九十二卷 匈奴列传第五十
- 第九十三卷 卫将军骠骑列传第五十一
- 第九十四卷 平津侯主父列传第五十二
- 第九十五卷 南越列传第五十三
- 第九十六卷 东越列传第五十四
- 第九十七卷 朝鲜列传第五十五
- 第九十八卷 西南夷列传第五十六
FAQ
How does this edition differ from other editions of the Shiji?
Does Volume 9 include any "Hereditary Houses" or "Annals"?
Can non-specialist readers read it directly?
Comments
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About the author
Sima Qian was a historian, man of letters, and thinker of the Western Han dynasty. His courtesy name was Zichang, and he was a native of Xiayang in Zuo Fengyi (present-day Hancheng, Shaanxi). Succeeding his father Sima Tan as Grand Astrologer, he traveled widely to collect historical materials. Later, having suffered punishment in connection with the Li Ling affair, he endured humiliation and devoted himself to his work, ultimately completing the Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji, originally titled Taishigong shu), China's first comprehensive history in the biographical (jizhuanti) style. The work covers events from the Yellow Emperor down to Emperor Wu of Han, organizing three thousand years of history through the five sections of annals, tables, treatises, hereditary houses, and biographies. Its narrative is concise and richly literary, its characters vividly drawn, and it has been praised as "the supreme swan song of historians." Later generations have often classified his writings under historical reading and Eastern philosophy, and his influence on Chinese historiography and literature has been profound.
Shi Lei, born in 1962, graduated from Harbin Normal University and is a freelance writer and scholar. He has long worked in writing, editing, reporting and planning, and has opened columns in several media outlets, publishing more than one million words. His writing focuses on public speaking, communication training and mental health, and he has served as chief editor of several book series on the art of speaking, inspirational life guidance, the thought of world masters, and mental health, bringing practical knowledge of expression, interpersonal communication and psychological adjustment to general readers. Twenty-seven of his works are included in the library, including several volumes related to the Records of the Grand Historian, with Eastern philosophy as a common category. Public information is limited and few details of his life are recorded, but his existing works show an emphasis on practicality and readability, and a tendency to connect traditional culture with topics of everyday self-cultivation.
