Grand Scribe's Records : The Basic Annals of Pre-Han China

"An essential source for the study of events in early China, a guide to the moral philosophy of the gentlemen of Han, and a splendid work of literature which may be read for the pleasure of its style and the power of its narrative. . . . This work makes Shi ji and its scholarship accessible to any reader of English, and it is a model for any work in this field and style." ―Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies

"Through such work as this, the scholarly and literary community of the West will learn more of the splendor and romance of early China, and may better appreciate the lessons in humanity presented by its great historian." ―Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies

"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

This project will result in the first complete translation (in nine volumes) of the Shih chi (The Grand Scribe’s Records), one of the most important narratives in traditional China. Ssu-ma Ch’ien (145–ca. 86 BC), who compiled the work, is known as the Herodotus of China.

Ssu-ma Ch’ien was a major official in the Western Han dynasty (145–ca. 86 BC) and overcame tragedy to complete these fundamental volumes.

William H. Nienhauser, Jr., is Professor of Chinese Language and literature at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. In 1979 he helped found the journal Chinese Literature, Essays, Articles, Reviews (CLEAR). He was the Editor-in-Chief and Compiler of The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature, a monumental and indispensable reference work published in 1986. He has authored numerous influential scholarly papers and articles.

Tsia-fa Cheng, Professor of Chinese at the University of Wisconsin and a Research Fellow at Academia Sinica, is a graduate of National Taiwan University and the University of Wisconsin and a noted specialist in Chinese historical linguistics.