Day 1

At the bottom of page 32, concerning Yu's accomplishment, Ssu-ma Ch'ien notes, "The world was then greatly ordered." (32). This straightforward assertion contextualized my reading of the opening chapters of The Grand Scribe's Records, for so much of the opening chapters centered on the notion of "order," "harmony," and "unity/unifying," especially order regarding the physical/natural world. Although, one must note that Ssu-ma Ch'ien's notion of "order', is highly pragmatic and somewhat hostile towards a natural order. Yu's merit is primarily understood through his ability to order and pacify nature (mountains, rivers, marshes, land) to align with man's wishes/needs. (16)  Earlier in the text Ssu-ma Ch'ien establishes Emperor Yao's intellect via his ability to order the year into "three-hundred and sixty-six days; by means of intercalary months they fixed the four seasons" (7) as well as his skill at harmonizing the “relations between nine generations" (6). Thus, Ssu-ma Ch'ien frames Emperor Yao's virtue as a leader through his ability to order the chaotic world he governs. Additionally, in the opening pages of Basic Annals 1, Ssu-ma Ch'ien notes Haung-ti (The Yellow Emperor) ability to order and pacify the world. Ssu-ma Ch'ein notes, "If there was any place in the world where people would not submit, The Huang-ti would go and march upon it. Once it had been pacified, he would leave" (3). Here, political order is violently imposed on people through tyrannical military power and the reader comes to grasp that order begets order. Moreover, throughout the opening chapters of Ssu-ma Ch'ien's text, order (physical, natural, political) is conjoined with terms like "harmony," "pacify," and "balance", and thus there is seemingly a moral/ethical dimension to this ordering of the world.  Ssu-ma Ch'ein states, under Haung-ti, "The myriad states were harmonious" (3). At times, the opening sections of the Basic Annals of Pre-Han China read like a creation myth, wherein rulers establish physical and political order over a chaotic world; an order that is seemingly a prerequisite for civilizations. My initial reading of opening chapters of The Grand Scribe's Record posited a question I sense will haunt me throughout my reading of the text: Is the historian's primary job to establish a sense of order out of the chaos of the past?  

 

 

Day 2

At the top half of page 87, Sima Qian addresses the underlying limitations of the historical record concerning the Zhou Dynasty and the rise of Qin. Sima Qian notes, "But the historical records were stored only in the Zhou archives, and hence were all destroyed. How regrettable! How regrettable!" (87). Additionally, he notes that the Qin's historical records were "sketchy and incomplete". (87) Sima Qian's concessions regarding the limitations of the historical record bring about the perplexing question: How does a historian construct a coherent historical narrative when the historical record is lost or inherently limited? Rather than passing over the rise of Qin in silence, Sima Qian offers a brief historical narrative of the significant historical events that shaped the rise of Qin, wherein the reader can tangentially grasp Qin's "beginning and end" (87). The significance of Sima Qian's concessions regarding the limits of the historical record surrounding the rise of Qin is it illuminates inexplicable textual silences that permeate certain moments of the Record of the Grand Historian. Thus, the reader must apprehend the limits of Sima Qian's exploration of Qin's rise, as well as grapple with the inherent limitations of history itself. Sima Qian's acknowledgment regarding the fragmented nature of the historical record allowed me to appreciate why so much of Sima Qian's exploration of "the shifts of power of the Warring States period" found in Shi Ji 5is seemingly underdeveloped. (87) As a reader, I wanted Sima Qian to provide more context and analysis regarding the rise of Qin. Yet, I appreciate Sima Qian’s discipline as a historian to limit himself to the documents that inform his account. Sima Qian's declaration, "How regrettable! How regrettable!" offers a moving sense of Sima Qian's humanity and his desire to honestly make sense of the past. Sima Qian's observations regarding the limitations of the historical record clarified his remarks at the end of Basic Annals 1, where he notes, "I edited [these other accounts] and selected those words which are most appropriate" (Basic Annals 1, pg. 17). By critically assessing Sima Qian's reflections in Shi Ji 15 in relation to his earlier remarks in Basic Annals 1, I find myself slowly understanding Sima Qian's approach to history.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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