1. Sima Qian is considered the father of Chinese historiography for the Shiji, a general history of China covering more than two thousand years from the rise of the legendary Yellow Emperor and formation of the first Chinese polity to the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, during which Sima wrote.
Sima Qian is depicted in the Wu Shuang Pu by Jin Guliang.
Sima Qian grew up in a Confucian environment, and Sima Qian always regarded his historical work as an act of Confucian filial piety.
Sima Qian then went to seek the burial place of the legendary rulers Yu the Great on Mount Xianglu and Shun in the Jiuyi Mountains.
Sima Qian then went north to Huaiyin to see the grave of Han dynasty general Han Xin, then continued north to Qufu, the hometown of Confucius, where he studied ritual and other traditional subjects.
Sima Qian Tan wanted to follow the Spring and Autumn Annals, the first chronicle in the history of Chinese literature.
Three years after the death of his father, Sima Qian assumed his father's previous position as taishi.
Sima Qian was the only person to defend Li Ling, who had never been his friend but whom he respected.
Since Sima Qian did not have enough money to atone for his "crime", he chose the latter and was then thrown into prison, where he endured three years.
In 96 BC, on his release from prison, Sima Qian chose to live on as a palace eunuch to complete his histories, rather than commit suicide as was expected of a gentleman-scholar who had been disgraced by being castrated.
The letter is a reply to a lost letter by Ren An to Sima Qian, perhaps asking Sima Qian to intercede on his behalf as Ren An was facing execution for accusations of being an opportunist and displaying equivocal loyalty to the emperor during the rebellion.
Some later historians claimed that Sima Qian himself became implicated in the rebellion as a result of his friendship with Ren An and was executed as part of the purge of the crown prince's supporters in court; however, the earliest-attested record of this account dates from the 4th century.
Benji contain biographies for each sovereign, ordered chronologically and organized by dynasty; liezhuan contain biographies of influential individuals outside the nobility, sometimes for one prominent individual, but often for two or more people who, in Sima Qian's judgment, played comparably important roles.
Sima Qian saw the Shiji as belonging to the same tradition, as he explained in the introduction to chapter 61:.
For Sima Qian, the writing of history was no mere antiquarian pursuit, but was rather a vital moral task as the historian would "preserve memory", and thereby ensure the ultimate victory of good over evil.
Sima Qian himself stated he was writing in this tradition in the conclusion to chapter 110, writing:.
In writing the Shiji, Sima Qian initiated a new writing style by presenting history in a series of biographies.
Sima Qian's work influenced the writing style of other histories outside of China as well, such as the Korean Samguk sagi.
Sima Qian adopted a new method in sorting out the historical data and a new approach to writing historical records.
At the beginning of the Shiji, Sima Qian declared himself a follower of Confucius's approach in the Analects to "hear much but leave to one side that which is doubtful, and speak with due caution concerning the remainder".
Sima Qian constantly compared accounts found in the manuscripts with what he considered reliable sources like Confucian classics like the Classic of Poetry, Book of Documents, Book of Rites, Classic of Music, I Ching and Spring and Autumn Annals.
When Sima Qian encountered a story that could not be cross-checked with the Confucian classics, he systemically compared the information with other documents.
Sima Qian mentioned at least 75 books he used for cross-checking.
Furthermore, Sima Qian often questioned people about historical events they had experienced.
Sima Qian was engaging in an indirect criticism of the advisors of the Emperor Wu who were urging him to pursue a policy of aggression towards the Xiongnu and conquer all their land, a policy to which Sima Qian was apparently opposed.
Lastly, Sima Qian broke with the traditional chronological structure of Chinese history.
Sima Qian instead had divided the Shiji into five divisions: the basic annals which comprised the first 12 chapters, the chronological tables which comprised the next 10 chapters, treatises on particular subjects which make up 8 chapters, accounts of the ruling families which take up 30 chapters, and biographies of various eminent people which are the last 70 chapters.
The last section dealing with biographies covers individuals judged by Sima Qian to have made a major impact on the course of history, regardless of whether they were of noble or humble birth and whether they were born in the central states, the periphery, or barbarian lands.
When Sima Qian placed his subjects was often his way of expressing obliquely moral judgements.
Empress Lu and Xiang Yu were the effective rulers of China during reigns Hui of the Han and Yi of Chu, respectively, so Sima Qian placed both their lives in the basic annals.
The structure of the Shiji allowed Sima Qian to tell the same stories in different ways, which allowed him to pass his moral judgements.
Sima Qian analyzed the records and sorted out those that could serve the purpose of Shiji.
Sima Qian intended to discover the patterns and principles of the development of human history.
Sima Qian emphasized, for the first time in Chinese history, the role of individual men in affecting the historical development of China and his historical perception that a country cannot escape from the fate of growth and decay.
The American historian Tamara Chin wrote that though Zhonghang did exist, the dialogue is merely a "literacy device" for Sima Qian to make points that he could not otherwise make.
The point is reinforced by the fact that Sima Qian has Zhonghang speak the language of an idealized Confucian official whereas the Emperor's envoy's language is dismissed as "mere twittering and chatter".
Elsewhere in the Shiji Sima Qian portrayed the Xiongnu less favorably, so the debate was almost certainly more Sima Qian's way of criticizing the Chinese court system and less genuine praise for the Xiongnu.
Sima Qian has often been criticized for "historizing" myths and legends as he assigned dates to mythical and legendary figures from ancient Chinese history together with what appears to be suspiciously precise genealogies of leading families over the course of several millennia.
However, archaeological discoveries in recent decades have confirmed aspects of the Shiji, and suggested that even if the sections of the Shiji dealing with the ancient past are not totally true, at least Sima Qian wrote down what he believed to be true.
Sima Qian's Shiji is respected as a model of biographical literature with high literary value and still stands as a textbook for the study of classical Chinese.
Sima Qian had immense influence on historiography not only in China, but in Japan and Korea.
Sima Qian is little known in the English-speaking world as a full translation of the Shiji in English has not yet been completed.
Sima Qian's influence was derived primarily from the following elements of his writing: his skillful depiction of historical characters using details of their speech, conversations, and actions; his innovative use of informal, humorous, and varied language; and the simplicity and conciseness of his style.
Sima Qian wrote eight rhapsodies, which are listed in the bibliographic treatise of the Book of Han.
Sima Qian is the son of court astrologer Sima Tan, who is a descendant of Qin general Sima Cuo, the commander of Qin army in the state's conquest of Ba and Shu.