Sima Qian EC Preceptorial

  F or Day 1 we   saw that besides   embracing  moral values with which he interprets the meaning of events and the fates of the players , SQ suggests that prominent emperors of different dynasties upheld those values and thus   benefited the ir states. F or Day 2 we will find out if the opposite might be true: If decadence and decay followed neglecting the ways of the ancient kings. When talking about decadence in the chapter o n Xia, p. 34b Shun recalls Tan-chu who “was fond of nothing but leisure and p leasure” and departed from his family tradition by engaging in ‘licentious behavior”. P.36b , emperor Ch’i destroys the Yu-Hu clan because of disregarding the pre-establ ished order (“abused the 5 elements and neglected the 3 annuaries-no te 155 suggests it could mean the governing forces of Heaven, Earth, and Man) . On 37t the Hsia and the Ho are chastised for disregarding the seasons. On 37m , the Xia clan declines when emperor K’ung-c hia en...

  A fter teaching the Xia emperor Shun -N 32b-33 how cultivating himself in virtue will benefit the state , on N p.33b, K ao Yao tells him to not give governing position to “depraved, plotting, or the unfi t”, because it disrupts the “Affairs of Heaven". Later, SQ writes that Ch’eng T’ang sets up a similar moral code for ruling the Yin (Shang) dynasty. On 44b he invokes Kao Yao and Yu as models. On 45t he requires the feudal lords and assembled chiefs to “strive to follow the words of the former kings”, warning that he “doesn’t follow the Way” will receive no high positions. On 44b T’ang warns them that “if you do not do good deeds for people and are not diligent in your tasks, I am going to heavily punish you.” On 42m, T’ang points to the importance that the feudal lords work for the benefit of the people, saying that by observing the common people one can see if the country is well regulated (the feudal lords did a good job ). On 43m, T’ang shows wisdom when seeing ...

      Sima Qian compelled me to reflect a great deal on what history means and how it is made. His oscillations between expounding series of impersonal, unembellished dry facts and weaving compelling character-based narratives, urged me to continuously shift my position as a reader. He has a way of detailing the same story so differently that it asks for a double take in order to fully realize that it is indeed the same said story. For Sima, history seems to be an amalgam of different views on a single given situation reminiscent of that experience of gazing out the window on a moving train and switching back and forth between considering the train as mover or the ground as mover. For me, reading Sima often felt like this—over and over I changed my mind concerning who served as the prime catalyst of a given story, who was its apex, due to Sima’s shifting perspectives. For Sima, history consists of a practice : he lays out manifold options and asks us readers to connect t...

    1. What caused the feudal lords to believe that the Lord of the West received the mandate? (58mb) After the Lord of the West was released by Chow, he continued secretly carrying out good deeds (58mt). Since he was imprisoned by Chow, in the first place, because the latter believed his accumulating virtue to be a threat (57b-58t), his discretion made sense. But regardless, the feudal lords took notice and came to him for unbiased insights (58mt). When the Yu and Jui journeyed to Chou for help, they gained insight regarding their legal dispute without even needing to see the Lord of the West (58m). As they witnessed the farmers yielding on the boundary path, the people yielding to their elders, they felt something: ashamed (58m). The issue they were coming forth with was itself considered shameful by the Chou people, and as they had no interest in humiliating themselves, they turned back (58mb). This shame they felt led them to their solution: they followed the example of t...

Nienhauser: Why can’t King Wu sleep? King Wu can’t sleep (63m) because he hasn’t “secured Heaven’s protection.” (63mb) At least according to Sima, it seems that he has done nothing but good works to the benefit of many. There is a hint on 62m that the area had been “pacified and the situation was not yet settled,” and so he sets to settling. He “cleared the roads and repaired…altars”, (62t) had his RectifierScribe read Chow’s crimes to Heaven (62mt), and claims he has been charged to, among other things, “receive the great mandate of heaven”. (62m) There are many more things he does on 62b-63t: He feeds the poor, honors the dead, makes records on behalf of the government, and rewarded the meritorious. These deeds are not enough, as nearing his own death, Sima relates that “the world was not yet settled.” (64m) Yin had failed as “heaven didn’t enjoy the Yin offerings” (63m): this left them vulnerable and led to King Wu’s “success.” (ibid.) Is Heaven hard to please, or is Wu missing so...

Tuesday, 10/10  In re-reading The Five Emperors this week, I was struck by the closing remarks, where Sima Qian describes the uncertainty surrounding the history of The Huang-Ti, stating that other scholars’ “words are not appropriate” and that “even civil officials or old masters would have trouble explaining” the history of The Huang-Ti (N17 2nd p.). His resulting account includes the “words which are the most appropriate” (N17 2nd p,b). What might Sima Qian mean by “appropriate”?  Perhaps an “appropriate” account is one that emphasizes virtue. Sima Qian’s account of The Five Emperors provides clear examples of the actions and characteristics of virtuous rulers. Sima Qian also remarks that his intent is that The Five Emperors be the first chapter of his “basic annals” (N17b). By making virtue the starting point, Sima Qian is showing us that virtuous government is in our nature, we only need to retrieve the virtuous nature shown in The Five Emperors. Sima Qian’s virtuous begi...

  [N 73t-m].   In its immediate context, Bo Yang’s (BY) prediction of Chou’s demise is presented as an interpretation of an earthquake that took place in the Western Chou capital and in the basin of three rivers. But if BY’s statement were an interpretation of a portent (Change your ways, King Yu!), I wonder why BY begins with a prediction of Chou’s demise which does not suggest any way to avoid the event predicted (“Chou is going to perish,” 73t). What is more, the length of time between the prediction (780 BCE, 72b) and the event predicted (249 BCE, 83b) might indicate that there is ample time to reorder the “energy flowing between Heaven and Earth” (73t, 1 st full para., l. 1). This distinction between interpretation and prediction becomes significant when I consider the question, “even though Chou’s demise is subsequently chronicled, could something have been done at the time?” After all, according to some, “portent cannot outweigh virtue” (N46m, 3 rd full para., l. 6). ...

  N 17m. Sima Qian’s remarks on the first few chapters (17, 38, 52) of the basics annals differ in character with his remarks in later chapters, especially those of the biographies. The earlier remarks tend to focus on his sources (17, 38,52), while the later remarks often contain moral judgements on specific personages. While consideration of sources is certainly important, I did not read these sections attentively enough at the beginning of the semester to notice an interesting sentence in his remarks on the first chapter. In the context of discussing how he compared information gathered in his travels to extant sources such as the Book of Documents , he notes that “If one were not a person who is fond of pursuing and pondering deeply so as to conceive the ideas in his mind one certainly would have a hard time to tell [this history] to those who have only a superficial view and are ill-informed” (17b). In this sentence, “this history” most likely refers to that period of high ant...

  Day 13 At the top of page 48, in  The Yin, Basic Annals 3 , while addressing the passing of Emperor Hsiao-yi, Sima Qian comments on the emperor's son, "For three years he did not say a word" (48T). I find Emperor Wu-ting's three-year silence somewhat fascinating and wonder why Sima Qian notes it. Throughout the opening chapters of the  Records of the Grand Historian , Sima Qian repeatedly acknowledges the transition of power from one emperor to another, often stating: "When Emperor X passed away, his _______ was enthroned." (Sima Qian notes this four times on page 46 and nine times on page 47.) Only on a couple of occasions in the opening chapters of the  Records of the Grand Historian  does Sima Qian mention the three-year mourning period in relation to an emperor's passing (see pgs. 10B,13B, and 36M); yet, it is only with Wu-ting that Sima Qian mentions three years of silence. One possible explanation for not acknowledging the three-year mourning per...

  13) “Heaven has deserted us and will not let us enjoy peace and nourishment.” (N51t ) Why does Sima Qian discuss economics so much, expending so much ink on farming and trade?   The man eventually revered as Huang-di “planted the five grains,” revitalizing the agrarian economy of the time, after the ruling Shen-neng (Divine Farmer) Clan had “been declining for generations,”(N2t) in the phrase Sima Qian often uses to signal a dynasty about to be overthrown. (Did the Divine Farmers fail to farm? And thus lose their mandate at the dawn of recorded history?) Once in power, among his other many deeds, (N3,4t), Huang-Di tended to the economy, planting this time “the hundred grains and the grasses and trees” and helping the “birds, beasts, insects and reptiles to multiply.” (N4t) Sima Qian, in praising successor emperors, notes their attention to economics: “nurturing resources” (Kao-yang N5t), using the wealth of the land (Kao-xin N5b), ordering trusted brother-ministers to ...

  High and Low are one and the same: They open the gate to the magnificent History. Yet it is an interpretation of an interpretation:   See the CText, 13 lines, see the Watson, 30 more. Words are exhausted, words are exhausting.   Listening to respond, is not listening to learn. It was a privilege, unworthy student as I am, to remember 太史公書 through the ages. In my awe, a historian’s historian:   His Work for the glory of the ancestors.     These weeks with The Historian have been incredibly rewarding, but I just do not agree with the St. John’s Method for reading him.   What was Sima Qian trying to teach us?   I think he would say, “Why do you not understand what I am telling you?”   His target was not a bunch of Westerners trying to figure things out without any historical and cultural context .   His very well-educated Chinese gentlemen would have known exactly what he was getting at.   We, on the other hand, need more...