Overview

This volume is a translated and edited collection of studies on the Shi ji (Records of the Historian) by Sima Qian, authored by the prestigious Japanese sinologist Miyazaki Ichisada. Providing a pathbreaking analysis of the structure and formation of the Shi ji, it serves not only as an excellent introduction to Sima Qian's masterpiece but also offers historiographical and methodological insights that will stimulate further debate and research. Miyazaki presents fascinating evidence of the role played by narrative fiction and drama in Sima Qian's recreation of the entire length and breadth of Chinese history right up to his own time. Sima Qian created the mold for writing comprehensive histories in China, making an understanding of his text utterly essential for grasping the subsequent tradition of historical writing. This volume offers readers valuable insights into how Sima Qian constructed his seminal work.

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Reviews

A monument of Japanese scholarship on the Shi ji, Prof. Miyazaki Ichisada's work is the result of decades of meticulous research and original analysis by one of the giants of modern Japanese Sinology. Presented for the first time to readers of English through Prof. Joshua A. Fogel's fine and learned translation, the essays collected in this book not only provide compelling testimony to the groundbreaking quality of modern Japanese scholarship on the Shi ji but also offer a magisterial contribution to the growing body of new studies in English on Sima Qian's work as both history and literature.--Martin Kern, Professor of Chinese Literature, Department of East Asian Studies, Princeton University

Author Information

Miyazaki Ichisada (1901–1995) was a distinguished Japanese historian and a leading scholar of the Kyoto School. He was particularly renowned for developing Nait? Konan’s thesis on the periodization of Chinese history, positing the beginning of modernity in the transition for late Tang dynasty through Northern Song. His contributions to Sinology were highly recognized with the Japan Academy Prize (1958), the “Prix Stanislas Julien” (1978), and the medal of “Persons of Cultural Merit” (1989). His representative works include T?y?teki kinsei (East Asian modernity, 1950), Ky?hin kanjinh? no kenky? (Studies of the regulations of the Nine Ranks bureaucratic system, 1956), and Kakyo: Ch?goku no shaken jigoku (The civil examination system: China’s examination hell, 1963). Joshua A. Fogel was Canada Research Chair and Professor of modern Chinese history at York University. Trained initially in Chinese history, he developed an abiding interest in Japanese history and has published many important works on Japanese historiography and Sino-Japanese relations. His first major study was Politics and Sinology: The Case of Nait? Konan (1866–1934) (1984). His recently translated work, How the “Red Star” Rose: Edgar Snow and Early Images of Mao Zedong, was published by The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press in 2022.

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