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Bezig met laden... Records of the Grand Historian: Qin Dynasty (editie 1995)door Sima Qian (Auteur), Burton Watson (Vertaler)
Informatie over het werkRecords of the Grand Historian: Qin Dynasty door Qian Sima
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Meld je aan bij LibraryThing om erachter te komen of je dit boek goed zult vinden. Op dit moment geen Discussie gesprekken over dit boek. 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. ( ) This book contains selected translations from the Qin dynasty compendium written by china's first historian. The book starts with annals, which are rather dry year-by-year accounts of political events in the pre-imperial age and the short-lived Qin-dynasty. The presentation becomes much more interesting in the narrated biographies which form the second part of the book. geen besprekingen | voeg een bespreking toe
Sima Qian (145?-90? BCE) was the first major Chinese historian. His Shiji, or Records of the Grand Historian, documents the history of China and its neighboring countries from the ancient past to his own time. These three volumes cover the Qin and Han dynasties. Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
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Google Books — Bezig met laden... GenresDewey Decimale Classificatie (DDC)931.04History and Geography Ancient World Ancient China to 420LC-classificatieWaarderingGemiddelde:
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