司馬遷 Sima Qian
史記
Records of the Grand Historian
The foundational work of Chinese historiography, composed by Sima Qian during the Western Han dynasty. Covering more than two thousand years from the Yellow Emperor to Emperor Wu of Han, the Shiji established the biographical-annalistic form (紀傳體) that all subsequent dynastic histories would follow. Sima Qian completed the work despite suffering castration as punishment for defending a disgraced general — a circumstance he addressed in one of the most famous letters in Chinese literature.
Historical Context
Sima Qian inherited the Grand Historian position from his father Sima Tan, who had begun collecting materials for the work. The Shiji comprises 130 chapters organized into five sections: Basic Annals (本紀), Chronological Tables (表), Treatises (書), Hereditary Houses (世家), and Biographies (列傳).
The chapters presented here focus on the Warring States period and its immediate context — the state annals and hereditary houses that trace each kingdom’s rise and fall, and the biographies of the diplomats, generals, and strategists who shaped the era.