This second volume of the ongoing annotated translation of Ssu-ma Ch'ien's Shih chi (The Grand Scribe's Records), widely acknowledged as the most important early Chinese history, contains the "basic annals" of five early Han-dynasty emperors. The annals trace the first century of Han rule (206 b.c. to ca. 100 b.c.) in a year-by-year account that focuses on imperial activities. In these later annals, Ssu-ma Ch'ien revitalized the style he had employed in accounts of previous rulers in the opening chapters of The Grand Scribe's Records. When this translation is completed, it will make available in English all 130 chapters of the Shih chi. Volumes 1 and 7 were published by Indiana University Press in 1994.
Ssu-ma Ch'ien (145-ca. 86 B.C.), China's greatest historian and an important official in the Han dynasty, compiled the history of his culture from its beginnings through the end of the second century B.C. William H. Nienhauser, Jr., editor and co-translator, is Halls-Bascom Professor of Classical Chinese Literature at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. In 1979 he helped found the journal Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews (CLEAR) and has edited it since. He has published a number of articles and books on traditional Chinese literature, including The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature (two volumes, Indiana University Press, 1985; 1998)
Contents Acknowledgements Introduction On Using This Book Weights and Measures List of Abbreviations The Exalted Emperor, Basic Annals 8 Empress Dowager Lue, Basic Annals 9 The Filial and Cultured [Emperor], Basic Annals 10 The Filial and Luminous [Emperor], Basic Annals 11 The Filial and Martial [Emperor], Basic Annals 12 Frequently Mentioned Commentators Biographical Sketches of Shih chi Commentators Glossary Shih chi Chi-chieh Preface Ssu-k'u ch'uean-shu Resumes on Shih chi and Shih chi Chi-chieh Recent Studies of the Shi chi Index Maps
"These volumes are most welcome. . . . The English translation has been done meticulously, with full scholarly apparatus. . . . These volumes are essential library additions."-Choice "[T]he Grand Scribe's Records volume 8 is a remarkable achievement and an interesting experiment in combining something resembling a traditional Chinese commentarial style with a Western scholarly context. . . . And, as with previous volumes, the intrepid beginner or the careful specialist will find volume 8 to be ahelpful aid to research on the Shiji."-China Review International "Nienhauser's new translation is scrupulously scholarly . . . the design of this series is nearly flawless. . . the translation itself is very precise."-Chinese Literature, Essays, Articles, Reviews
