The Xia Dynasty of China ( from c. 2100 to c. 1600 BC ) is the first dynasty to be described in ancient historical records such as Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian and Bamboo Annals.

* French translation by Edouard Chavannes of Sima Qian's biography of Confucius ( see pp. 283-435 ) in the Records of the Grand Historian

Sima Qian's model is based on the Mandate of Heaven.

After 2000 years Sima Qian's model still dominates scholarship, although the dynastic cycle is no longer used for modern Chinese history.

The following table lists the rulers of Xia according to Sima Qian's Shiji.

Unlike Sima Qian's list of Shang Dynasty kings, which is closely matched by oracle bones from late in that period, records of Xia rulers have not yet been found in archeological excavations.

Sima Qian's description of the tomb includes replicas of palaces and scenic towers, " rare utensils and wonderful objects ", 100 rivers made with mercury, representations of " the heavenly bodies ", and crossbows rigged to shoot anyone who tried to break in.

Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian outlines extensively the rules behind choosing the names.

Recent scientific work at the site has found high levels of mercury in the soil of the tomb mound, giving some credence to Sima Qian's account of the emperor's tomb.

) Dynastic histories were often written, beginning with Sima Qian's seminal Records of the Grand Historian, which was written from 109 BC to 91 BC.

The only account of the life of Zhuangzi is a brief sketch in chapter 63 of Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian, where he is described as a minor official from the town of Meng ( in modern Anhui ) in the state of Song, living in the time of King Hui of Liang and King Xuan of Qi ( late 4th century BCE ).

However, Sima Qian's biography of Zhuangzi pre-dates Guo Xiang ( Chinese: 郭象 ; pinyin: Guō Xiàng ; Wade – Giles: Kuo Hsiang ; d. 312 C. E.

Unlike subsequent official historical texts that adopted Confucian doctrine, proclaimed the divine rights of the emperors, and degraded any failed claimant to the throne, Sima Qian's more liberal and objective prose has been renowned and followed by poets and novelists.

Sima Qian's father Sima Tan served as Grand Historian, and Sima Qian succeeded to his position.

While some aspects of Sima Qian's history of the Shang Dynasty are supported by inscriptions on oracle bones, there is, as yet, no clear corroborating evidence from archaeology on Sima Qian's history of the Xia Dynasty.

This may be a result of Sima Qian's use of different source texts.

His story is told in the chapter entitled Biographies of the Assassins ( 刺客列傳 ) in Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian.

Different scholars use dates for the beginning of the period ranging between 481 BC and 403 BC, but Sima Qian's date of 475 BC is most often cited.

Qin Shihuang's southern invasions are detailed in Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian.

Sima Tan wanted to follow the Annals of Spring and Autumn-the first chronicle in the history of Chinese literature.

The Xia Dynasty was described in classic texts such as the Classic of History ( Shujing ), the Bamboo Annals, and the Records of the Grand Historian ( Shiji ) by Sima Qian.

Sima Qian stated, based on preceding Chinese records ( Bamboo Annals ), that the Xiongnu's ruling clan were descendants of Chunwei ( 淳維 " Chun tribes "), possibly a son of Jie, the final ruler of the legendary Xia Dynasty ( c. 2070 – 1600 BC ).

It has been observed that the diplomatic Sima Qian has a way of accentuating the positive in his treatment of rulers in the Basic Annals, but slipping negative information into other chapters, and so his work must be read as a whole to obtain full information.

In Bo Yang's Modern Chinese Edition of Sima Guang's Zizhi Tongjian, for example, Bo cited seven different and discordant views of Jiang's career — ranging from ringing endorsements of his recklessness and loyalty for the sake of Shu ( Pei Songzhi ( 裴松之 ), commentator to the Records of Three Kingdoms ) to criticism of his constant draining campaigns ( Chen Shou, author of Records of Three Kingdoms ) to outright condemnation ( Sun Sheng ( 孫盛 ), author of the Spring and Autumn Annals of Jin ), each of which could be considered a potentially valid view of his complicated character.

According to the Spring and Autumn Annals of Han and Jin ( 漢晉春秋 ) by Xi Zuochi ( 习鑿齒 ), Sima Zhao, the Duke of Jin and de facto ruler of Wei, one day invited Liu Shan and his followers to a feast, during which Sima Zhao arranged to have entertainers perform traditional Shu music and dance.

The biography of Xiang Yu was best recorded by Sima Qian in his Shiji, “ Records of the Grand Historian: Annals of Xiang Yu ”.

According to Sima Qian, he was fifteen years younger than Confucius, but fifty years younger, according to the ' Narratives of the School ,' which latter authority is followed in ' The Annals of the Empire.

According to Sima Biao's Spring and Autumn Annals of the Nine Provinces ( 九州春秋 ), Hou once sent a man to graze a band of 15 horses outside the city, but the man drove the horse towards Xiaopei, intending to defect to Liu Bei.

** Sima Wei ( 司馬瑋 ) ( b. 271 ), initially created the Prince of, later Prince Yin of Chu ( created c. 289, executed by Empress Jia Nanfeng 291 )

Sima Yu thus invited the official Yin Hao, who was considered able, to join him and Cai in making important decisions, to counter Huan's influence.

Around the new year 352, Huan, impatient after his requests to advance north in light of Later Zhao's collapse were being rebuffed by Sima Yu and Yin, who were concerned about his expanding power, and mobilized his troops and gestured as if he were about to attack the capital.

The imperial government, led by Sima Yu, felt compelled to depose Yin in 354.

In 397, Wang Guobao and Wang Xu suggested to Sima Daozi that the armies that Wang Gong and another provincial governor, Yin Zhongkan ( 殷仲堪 ), were in charge of be reduced ; Wang Gong and Yin, who was in command of the western provinces, in response, mobilized their forces and declared that Wang Guobao and Wang Xu should be executed.

The giving of a military command to Wang Yu oddly drew a reaction from Wang Gong and Yin — as Wang Yu's command included four commanderies originally under the command of Yu Kai ( 庾楷 ), who became angry and managed to persuade Wang Gong and Yin that Sima Daozi's intention was to act against them as well.

Yin, hearing of Wang Gong's death, was in fear but considered proceeding anyway — and Sima Daozi, under suggestion by Huan Xuan's cousin Huan Xiu ( 桓脩 ), managed to cause dissension between Yin and his generals Huan Xuan and Yang Quanqi ( 楊佺期 ) by offering Huan and Yang key posts ; although Huan and Yang nominally remained Yin's allies, Yin was forced to withdraw his troops, and from that point on no longer posed a major threat, as his domain had now been divided into three, with Huan and Yang each given a third.

In late 401, apprehensive of the growing power of Huan Xuan ( who had in late 399 defeated and killed Yin Zhongkan and Yang Quanqi, seizing their domains and now controlled more than two thirds of Jin territory ), Sima Yuanxian declared Huan a renegade and ordered an attack against Huan.

Sima Qian begins Shiji with an account of the five rulers of supreme virtue, the Five Emperors who modern scholars, such as those from the Doubting Antiquity School, believe to be originally local deities of the peoples of ancient China.

There was court intrigue between the political rivals of the Reformers and Conservatives, led by the chancellors Wang Anshi and Sima Guang, respectively.

The first systematic Chinese historical text, Shiji or Records of the Grand Historian, was written by Sima Qian.

* The Twenty-Four Histories, a collection of authoritative histories of China, including the Records of the Grand Historian by Sima Qian and the Book of Han by Ban Gu.

Chan 1963: 35-37 ), by Chinese historian Sima Qian ( ca.

This claim was made by Jiao Yu in his Huolongjing Quanzhi ( Fire-drake Manual in One Complete Volume ), his preface written in 1412 AD ( although the book was originally published in the mid 14th century ), and that Zhuge had used not only " fire weapons " but land mines in the Battle of Hulugu Valley against the forces of Sima Yi and his son Sima Zhao of the Wei Kingdom.

The Donghu are mentioned by Sima Qian as already existing in Inner Mongolia north of the state of Yan in 699-632 BC.

Due to intensive training by his father, by the age of ten, Sima Qian was already well versed in old writings.

Fueled by his father's inspiration, Sima Qian started to compile Shiji in 109 BC.

The Chinese historical form of dynasty history, or Jizhuanti history of dynasties, was codified in the second dynastic history by Ban Gu ’ s ( 班固 ) History of Han ( 漢書 ), but historians regard Sima ’ s work as their model, which stands as the " official format " of the history of China.

In writing Shiji, Sima initiated a new writing style by presenting history in a series of biographies.

A star catalogue is featured in one of the chapters of the late 2nd-century-BC history work Records of the Grand Historian by Sima Qian ( 145-86 BC ) and contains the " schools " of Shi Shen and Gan De's work ( i. e. the different constellations they allegedly focused on for astrological purposes ).

In Ancient China, Chinese world history, that of China and the surrounding people of East Asia, was based on the dynastic cycle articulated by Sima Qian in circa 100 BC.

Zhang read many of the great works of history in his day and claimed he had found ten instances where the Records of the Grand Historian by Sima Qian ( 145 – 90 BC ) and the Book of Han by Ban Gu ( AD 32 – 92 ) differed from other ancient texts that were available to him.

The political reformers at court, called the New Policies Group ( 新法, Xin Fa ), were led by Emperor Shenzong of Song and the Chancellors Fan Zhongyan and Wang Anshi, while the political conservatives were led by Chancellor Sima Guang and Empress Dowager Gao, regent of the young Emperor Zhezong of Song.

* 1084: the enormous Chinese historical work of the Zizhi Tongjian is compiled by scholars under Chancellor Sima Guang, completed in 294 volumes and included 3 million written Chinese characters

* 1084 – The Zizhi Tongjian history is completed by Chinese official Sima Guang.

* 265: The Jin Dynasty is founded when the overthow of the Cao Wei Dynasty by Sima Yan.

* History of China is written by Sima Qian ( approximate date ).

* Sima Yi takes complete control of Cao Wei by executing his political rival Cao Shuang and his clan, marking the start of Sima family rule, which eventually gave rise to the Jin Dynasty.