Shiji

The historical Memories , sometimes Memories of the Large Historian , (traditional Chinese: zh-Hant 史記; simplified: Zh-Hans 史记; pinyin: Shǐjì) were written of -109 with -91, by the Chinese historian Sima Qian. This work covers the Chinese history of the mythical time of the Yellow Empereur until the time when its author lived. First systematic sum of the history of China, it exerted an important influence on posterior Chinese historiography. It is comparable with the Histoires of Hérodote.

Division of the work

The text counts 130 volumes. Information is classified in several categories:

12 volumes of Benji (Chinese: zh-Hant 本紀; transl.: memories originals) contain the biographies of the important political leaders since mythical the Yellow Empereur to the first emperor Qin Shi Huangdi, while passing through the sovereigns of the dynasties Xia, Shang and Zhou. They include also the biographies of four emperors and an empress dowager of the Western Han, former to its time;
30 volumes of Shijia (Chinese: zh-Hant 世家; transl.: big families) contain all the biographies of the political leaders, noble and remarkable civils servant of the period of the Printemps and Automnes and the period of the Royaumes combatants;
70 volumes of Liezhuan (Chinese: zh-Hant 列傳; transl.: chronicle), contain the biographies of important characters such as Laozi, Mozi, Sunzi, and Jing Ke;
8 volumes of Shu (Chinese: zh-Hant 書; transl.: deliver) contain the events of economic order and cultural of the period covered in the book;
10 volumes of Biao (Chinese: zh-Hant 表; transl.: table) present a chronology of the events.

With the differences of the posterior official stories which adopt the doctrines confucéenne, proclaims the divine rights of the emperors and devalue all the applicants with the unhappy throne, the prose of Sima Qian is freer and more objective, from where its reputation and its influence in the poets and the novelists. The majority of volumes of the Liezhuan are alive descriptions of the facts and historical characters. The author used his sources in a critical way. For example, for the attempted murder of Jing Ke on the first emperor, it used the ocular testimony laid down on paper by the great-grandfather of a friend of his father who was a civil servant of level lower than the court of Qin and which was present at the time of the diplomatic ceremony organized for Jing Ke.

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