Sima Qian

Writing from the perspective of the Han Dynasty, Sima Qian (145-89 BC) was in a position to assess the mistakes of the short-lived Qin that preceded the Han. Qian was actually close enough in time to the chaotic close of the Qin to be able to interview some of the participants. This volume is one of several in which Burton Watson translated portions of the Records of the Grand Historian. I haven't read any of the other volumes (for example, on the early Han), but I was impressed enough with this volume to seek out others. Qian's work reminds me somewhat of Thucydides's history of the Peloponnesian war. Qian obviously took very seriously the job of reporting what actually occured, but he also included biographical details, letters, supposed conversations that jput the modern reader in a good position to understand the historical characters and events. The scale and brutality of the Warring States period may be unprecedented. Qian reports on battles involving millions, in which I recall him describing one army as losing 240,000 killed. Also fascinating is the role of the sage philosophers in politics and governments of the day. It was not at all uncommon for wise men to travel to other states, or even enemy states, to offer their services to the ruler. Qian describes the rise of the Qin from its semi-barbaric western origins to its uniting of all of civilized China under the first Emperor. Along with success came the beginning of the excesses (building the Great Wall, ridiculous palaces, roads through mountains) that led to the downfall of the Qin under the usurper Second Emperor (and his controller, the eunuch Zhao Gao). The Qin came a long way to let it all unravel so quickly. The importance of reasonable laws and reasonable enforcement of those laws must surely have been a lesson learned by succeeding dynasties.… (more)