Historian, born in Lung-men, EC China. He succeeded his father Ssu-ma T'an (?110 BC) in 110 BC as grand historian, but incurred the emperor's wrath for taking the part of a friend who, in command of a military expedition, had surrendered to the enemy. Imprisoned and destined for execution, he was castrated instead, perhaps to enable him to complete his work. He is chiefly remembered for the Shih Chi, the first history of China compiled as dynastic histories, in which annals of the principal events are supplemented by princely and other biographies, as well as notes on economic and institutional history. Many of his observations, such as the names of many Shang kings, have been confirmed by 20th-c archaeology, and his work, with its central concept of cyclical growth and decay, is of major significance.
| Sima Qian's names | ||
|---|---|---|
| Family name and given name | Style name | |
| Traditional | 司馬遷 | 子長 |
| Simplified | 司马迁 | 子长 |
| Pinyin | Sīmǎ Qiān | Zǐcháng |
| Wade-Giles | Ssŭma Ch'ien | Tzu-ch'ang |
Sima Qian (司馬遷) (c. He is regarded as the father of Chinese historiography because of his highly praised work, Shiji (史記, "history record"), an overview of the history of China covering more than two thousand years from the Yellow Emperor to Emperor Han Wudi (漢武帝).
Early life and education
Sima Qian was born and grew up in Longmen, near present-day Hancheng. His father, Sima Tan (司馬談), served as the Prefect of the Grand Scribes of Emperor Han Wudi. Under the influence of his father, at the age of ten, Sima Qian was already well versed in old writings. At the age of twenty, with the support of his father, Sima Qian started a journey throughout the country, collecting useful first-hand historical records for his main work, Shiji. In 110 BC, at the age of thirty-five, Sima Qian was sent westward on a military expedition against some "barbarian" tribes. Therefore, from 109 BC, Sima Qian started to compile Shiji and inherited his father's inspiration. In 105 BC, Sima Qian was among the scholars chosen to reform the calendar. As a senior imperial official, Sima Qian was also in the position to offer counsel to the emperor on general affairs of state. In 99 BC, Sima Qian got involved in the Li Ling (李陵) Affair.
While all the officials in the government condemned Li Ling for the defeat, Sima Qian was the only person who defended Li Ling, who had never been his friend but whom he respected. Emperor Han Wudi thought Sima Qian’s defence of Li Ling was an attack on Wudi's brother-in-law who was fighting against Xiongnu without much success. Since Sima Qian did not have enough money to atone his fault, he chose the latter and was then thrown into prison.
In 96 BC, Sima Qian was released from prison. Such ignominy can never be wiped away.") did not frighten Sima Qian away.
Historian
Although the style and form of Chinese historical writings varied through the ages, Sima Qian’s Shiji has since dictated the proceeding quality and style. Not only is this due to the fact that the Chinese historical form was codified in the second dynastic history by Ban Gu’s [Pan Ku’s] (班固) Han Shu [History of Han] (漢書), but historians regard Sima Qian’s work as their model, which stands as the "official format" of the history of China.
In writing Shiji, Sima Qian initiated a new writing style by presenting history in a series of biographies. Before Sima Qian, histories were written as dynastic history; his idea of a general history affected later historiographers like Zhengqiao (鄭樵) in writing Tongshi (通史) and Sima Guang (司馬光) in writing Zizhi Tongjian (資治通鑑). Sima Qian even affected the writing style of histories in other places, as seen in The History of Korea, which was written as a general history.
Literary figure
Sima Qian's Shiji is respected as a model of biographical literature with high literary value. Sima Qian was also good at illustrating the response of the character by placing him in a sharp confrontation and letting his words and deeds speak for him.
Innovative approach: Sima Qian also initiated a new approach in writing history.
Concise language: Sima Qian formed his own simple, concise, fluent, and easy-to-read style.
Influence on literature: Sima Qian’s writings were influential to Chinese writing, which become a role model for various types of prose within the neo-classical (fu gu [fu kku]) (复古) movement of the Tang-Song [Tang-Sung] (唐宋) period.
Other literary works: apart from Shiji, Sima Qian had written eight rhapsodies (Fu 賦), which are compiled in Ban Gu's Hanshu. Sima Qian expressed his suffering during the Li Ling Affair and his perseverance in writing Shiji in these rhapsodies.
Astrologer
Sima Tan and later his son, Sima Qian, were both court astrologers (taishi) 太史 in the Former Han Dynasty.
Before compiling Shiji, in 104 BC, with the help of his colleagues, Sima Qian created Taichuli (which can be translated as 'The first calendar') on the basis of the Qin calendar.
Analysing information: Sima Qian analysed the historical records and sorted out those which could serve the purpose of Shiji. This is why Sima Qian adopted a new method in sorting out the historical data and a new approach in writing the historical record.
Sima Qian emphasised the role of men in affecting the historical development of China. With these in-depth analyses and insight, Sima Qian set an example for writing journalistic articles in later generations.
Unlike Ban Gu's (班固) Hanshu (漢書), which was written under the supervision of the Imperial Dynasty, Shiji was a privately written historiography. Although Sima Qian was the Prefect of the Grand Scribes in the Han government, he refused to write Shiji as an official historiography.
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