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| biography |
classifications |
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cross references |
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biography
| name: |
Sima Qian
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or Ssu-ma Ch'ien
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pronunciation:
[seema chyan]
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (c.145–c.87 BC)
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| biography:
| 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. |
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