Sima Qian

Names
	Given name	Style name
Trad.	司馬遷	子長
Simp.	司马迁	子长
Pinyin	Sīmǎ Qiān	Zichang
WG	Ssŭma Ch'ien	Tzu-ch'ang

Sima Qian (BC 145-about BC 90),is regarded as the father of Chinese Historiography, of whom was the Prefect of the Grand Scribes in the Han Dynasty government; He was a historian, as well as a astrologist. He was praised for his work of the Shiji, which is an important historical record accounting China since the time of the mythical Yellow Emperor, as well as the Taichuoli, one of the most advanced calendar of his time.

Biography of Sima Qian

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Portrait-of-Sima-qian.jpg

Early life and Education

Sima Qian was born and grew up in Longmen near present-day Hancheng. He was raised in a family of historiographer. His father, Sima Tan(司馬談)aerved in the Han government as the Prefect of the Grand Scribes(太史令). He was responsible for managing the Imperial Library, sacrifices and calender. Therefore, under his father's influence, at the age of 10, Sima Qian was already well versed in old writings. He was the student of the famous Confucians like Kong Anguo(孔安國) and Dong Zhongshu(董仲舒) and affected deeply by his Theory of Three Unifications,

Travels

At 20 he set out on a major journey through the empire, where he visited the reputed graves of the ancient sage kings Yu and Shun.During his trip, he collected a lots of historical records and gathered information on the ancients rumours and legends. Among the places he visted include Shangdong, Yunnan, Hebei, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Hunan. These valuable experience helped him alot in writing Shiji later on.

Succeeding his father

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After his travels, he served as a Palace Attendant (Lang Zhong). Later in 110 BC, he was sent westward on a military expedition against some "barbarian" tribes. In 110, Sima Tan fell ill for not being allowed to attend the imperial Feng Sacrifice. Suspecting his time is running out, he summoned his son and ordered him back to carry on the family tradition, that is, to complete the historical work he had begun. Sima Tan had the ambition to succeed Spring and Autumn Annals (《春秋》)and continue to recount the history. Therefore, in 109 B.C., Sima Qian started to compile Shiji and inherited his father's inspiration.

Li Ling Affair

In 99 BC, Sima Qian got involved into the Li Ling affair. Li Ling, a military officer, had led a campaign against the Xiongnu in the north and was taken captive. This aroused the wrath of Emperor Wudi and everybody at court tried to flatter him by condemning Li Ling. Only Sima Qian defended Li, who had never been his friend but whom he respected. Wudi thought his defence for Li was an attack on Wudi's brothor-in-law who was fighting against Xiongnu without much success and Sima Qian was sentenced to death. At that time, execution could be replaced by either money or mutilation(i.e. castration). As Sima Qian was so poor that he did not have money to atone his fault, he vulnerably chose the latter. However, this tragic incident became an important driving force in compeling him to finish Shiji later on.

Career

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Before compiling Shiji,in 104 BC, with the help of his colleagues, he created 'Taichuoli' (which can be translated 'The first calendar') on the basis of Qin calendar. Taichuoli was one of the most advanced calendar of the time as it stated that there were 365.25 days in a year and 29.53 days in a month. It was also a revolution in Chinese calendarical tradition. In 109B.C., Sima Qian started compiling Shiji.

Publication

Shiji (史記, "Historical Records", also known as Records of the Grand Historian), his opus magnum,is the first authorized history of China. It recounted Chinese history from the time of the mythical Yellow Emperor until the time of Emperor Han Wudi, which covers over 2000 years of Chinese history.From the selection of historical data to the completion of the book, Sima Qian used 15 years in writing Shiji.

Sima Qian and his Shiji had a tremendous influence on Chinese historiography and prose, well comparable to Herodotus and his Historiai

Contribution to Journalism

Though Shiji is only one of the Twenty-Four Histories (《二十四史》)and is regarded as a historiography. From the journalistic perspective, the writing process of Shiji had actually undergone "The three levels of reporting" and has a tremendous influence on journalism in later generations. It is no exaggeration to say that Sima Qian was the "Pioneer of journalism".

Level 1 Collecting information

The historical data in Shiji was mainly derived from three main sources: firstly, from the documents and books found in the Imperial Library, including authoritative source like The Six Classics(《六經》),Analects of Confucius(《論語》), Mencius(《孟子》) and Zhanguoce(《戰國策》). Secondly, from the manuscripts that inherited from Sima Tan. Thirdly, from the firsthand data collected by Sima Qian through travelling the relics.

Level 2 Verifying information

Sima Qian insisted on the truthfulness of the data and would not put an unproved data in Shiji. That is why he used the firsthand data that he collected during his travels to verify the truthfulness of the ancient rumours and legends. For instance, he had been to the birthplace of Confucius and the place where mythical Yellow Emperor rise to power.

Level 3 analysing information

Sima Qian analysed the historical records and sorted out those which could serve the purpose of Shiji. He intended to find out the pattern and principal of the development of the human history by writing Shiji so as to find out the relationship between the heavenly law and human. That is why Sima Qian adopted a new method in sorting out the historical data and a new approach in writing the historial record.

he also paid great attention to trim the superflous parts. For instance, he avioded mentioning deity and preternaturnal subjects as these could not be verified. However, he paid special attention in recording the social culture as well as the life of people in different social strata in order to draw lessons from the past and criticize the present.

Sima Qian and his Shiji had a tremendous influence on Chinese historiography and prose, well comparable to Herodotus and his Historiai.

Elements of Journalism

Though Shiji was written thousands of years age, it is actually a role model of a journalistic article as it fulfils some of the elements of journalism, which makes its tremendous influence timeliness.

Journalisms' first obligation to the truth

Sima Qian not only visited the relics in person to verify the truthfulness of the rumours and historical data, he also aimed to reveal the truth in writing Shiji. Unlike the historical records of the previous dynasty, Shiji not only covered those of high rank but every strata in the society so as to form the true picture of the history. For instance, he wrote 'Biograpgy of Assassinators' and 'Biography of Chivalrousmen' in order to reflect the history comphrensively from different angles.

Pursuit in Objectivity

It is not difficult to see that Sima Qian had maintained a neutral attitude in his writing. In Shiji, which is not a journalistic literature though, his effort in balancing different opinions is reflected. One example is that he had appreciated the achievement of Han Emperor Gaoju in unifying the country, meanwhile, criticizing his cunning and dishonest personality. Reference can be made in http://www.twbm.com/window/liter/chlit/ch2/ch2_7.htm.

His impact on different kind of fields

Works available in English to know more about Sima Qian:

Records of the grand historian of China (Burton Watson). New York: Columbia University Press, 1961.

Records of the Historian (Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang). Hong Kong: Commercial Press, 1974.