Sima Qian

  ... the man who recorded the history of China at a cost.

Court Historian of Han Wudi:

A lot of what we know and study about China 2,000 years ago actually came from this guy called Sima Qian.

Sima Qian was a famous court historian who lived during the reign of Han Wudi. This life-long project of his was started by his father who was also a court historian. His father had wanted to record the history of China from the earliest days. However, unfortunately -- for both he and his father --his father died before he could finish his 'project'. On his deathbed, he asked Sima Qian to finish this huge project.

Sima Qian as a good son of course agreed and went 'touring' China, collecting materials for his work... this cost him years. However, before he could complete this project, something tragic happened to him.

This tragic thing happened one day when Wudi was angry when he heard news that one of his generals had surrendered to the Xiongnu (who were 'barbarians', and enemies of China). Sima Qian with his 'big-mouth' decided to speak up in defense of the general... for this he had to pay an expensive price. For speaking up against the Emperor, Sima Qian was given a choice of two punishments -- Death or Castration. (The definition of castration as written in the "The Little Oxford Dictionary" is the removal of ones testicles, if you do not know what that is ask your mum) OK back to the story, as Sima Qian had promised his dad to finish this project, he could not die yet, thus he was forced to choose castration (Ouch! Anyway, castration at that time was a punishment considered by the Chinese to be worse than death itself.)

Although he suffered a great ego blow (he he) by his disgraceful punishment, Sima Qian continued with his work. At the age of 56, he completed the 'Shiji' or 'Historical Records'. It was the first time that anyone in China ever accomplished this enormous feat (not feet you nut)... recording a complete history of early China. (too bad for Sima Qian, after completing this book of records, he still could not start a family...)

Consisting of 130 chapters, the Shiji gives an organised and systematic account of people and things that happened right from the early days of Chinese history till the reign of HanWudi. This book was done so well that it became a model for later historians to follow.