The Records of the Grand Historian (太史公書/太史公书, Tàishǐ Gōngshū), more commonly known in Chinese as Shǐjì (史記/史记, "Historical Records") were written around 91 B.C as a summary of all ancient Chinese history up until the life of its author, Sīmǎ Qiān (司馬遷/司马迁)note . The Records are notable for being one of the first extant histories of Chinanote , Sima Qian's focus on objective facts and diverse sources, and their episodic structure. Rather than writing one continuous narrative, Sima Qian wrote standalone accounts of individuals, dynasties, imperial structures, etc., which were meant to be read as a whole. Postscripts reveal his personal opinion on the topics.
Note that characters are troped as the Records depict them, not necessarily as they were in Real Life or other historical sources. Tropers are encouraged to keep debates about "what really happened" off work pages.
This work includes the following tropes:
- By-the-Book Cop: Zhang Shizhi, although he was an imperial commandant of justice rather than anything like a modern policeman. Emperor Wen got angry at him several times for giving criminals Wen who disliked only the sentences prescribed by law.Zhang Shizhi: The law must be upheld by the Son of Heaven and by everyone in the empire alike, and that is the penalty the law prescribes. If I were to oppose a heavier penalty in special cases, then the people would cease to have any faith in the laws. [...] It is my responsibility to see that everyone in the empire is treated with absolute fairness. Should I once deviate from that standard of fairness, then the entire legal system of the empire would lose its impartiality and the people would be at a loss to know how to conduct themselves. May I ask Your Majesty to consider these consequences?
Emperor Wen: (Beat)...The sentence which you propose is quite correct. - Deliberate Under-Performance: The minister Xiao He, advised that his popularity was making the Emperor feel threatened, protected himself by committing crimes that made his subjects hate him. When the Emperor chastised him for these crimes, Xiao He reverted to his previous altruistic self — and the Emperor immediately had him imprisoned.
- Driven to Suicide: Many characters commit suicide rather than live in disgrace. Sima Qian, having been pressured to do the same after his imprisonment and castration, often criticizes this norm.
- Xiang Yu, who believed Heaven itself was foiling his plans to rule China, cut his own throat in the middle of a battle. This indirectly killed several of his opponents, who trampled each other to death fighting over his corpse (and the significant bounty that would come with it).
- Guan Gao tried to usurp the Emperor on behalf of his king, Zhang Ao, who begged him not to. When he got caught, Zhang Ao was also assumed to be guilty, so Guan Gao survived horrible tortures long enough to testify that he was innocent. After succeeding in this, Guan Gao killed himself, even though the Emperor had pardoned both him and Zhang Ao.
- Rags to Riches: Chen She, a day labourer who began the rebellion against the Qin empire and ruled as king of Chen for six months. Sima Qian quotes an earlier author, Jia Yi note on the subject....Chen She, born in a humble hut with tiny windows and a wattle door, a day labourer in the fields and a garrison conscript, whose abilities could not match even the average, who had neither the worth of Confucius and Mao Zi nor the wealth of Tao Zhu or Yi Dun, stepped from the ranks of the common soldiers, rose up from the paths of the fields, and led a band of several hundred poor, weary soldiers in revolt against Qin. [...] After [Qin] had become master of the six directions and established its palaces within the Pass, a single commoner opposed it and its seven ancestral temples toppled, its ruler died by the hands of men, and it became the laughingstock of the world.
- Revive the Ancient Custom: Shusun Tong persuaded the emperor of the time to offer ripe cherries to his ancestors, apparently in emulation of an old practice called the "Presentation of Fruits". This started (restarted?) a trend of fruit offerings.
- Sympathetic P.O.V.: Often negative facts about one "protagonist" were only revealed in the account of another. For example, Emperor Gaozu's attempts to push his children out of a carriage are described in the chapter about his nemesis, Xiang Yu — not the chapter about Gaozu himself.
