SUMMARY

This volume is a new one in a series of books representing the first com­ plete translation into Russian, combined with scholarly comments, of Ssu-ma Ch'ien's “Historical records” (Shih chi\ a masterpiece of the ancient Chinese historiography created more than two thousand years ago. It consists of 130 chapters, with over 526 thousand hieroglyphs. By analogy with the ancient Greek Herodotus, Ssu-ma Ch’ien has been called “father of Chinese history” His work, however, is not only larger in sheer volume, but also much more ex­ tensive and complex in scope and structure.

Six volumes of the “Historical Records” have already speared: vol. I (1972) and vol. П prepared in collaboration with V. Taskin, contain 12 chapters of the “Annals” {Pen chi)\ vol. Ill (1984) represents 10 chapters (13-22) of the “Chronological Tables” (Piao); vol. IV (1986) contains 8 chapters (2330) of the “Treatises” (Shu)%where various spheres of social life, culture, sciences etc. are described; in vol. V (1987) and VI (1992) 30 chapters (31-60) comprising the fourth part of the “Historical Records”- “Histories of Hereditary Houses” (Shih chid) —can be found. The current book« vol. VU, opens the fifth part of Shih chi entitled “Biographies” (Lieh chuan\ presenting in its 7Q chapters many prominent historical and public figures of ancient China.

The appearance of Lieh chuan signified the birth of a new genre of biogra­ phy-writing in the Chinese historiography. It will be recalled that the genesis of this kind of literary work is usually a cumulative result of two kinds of circum­ stances. The first kind implies the existence of a more or less developed histo­ riographic tradition upon which a biography-writer can rely. The second im­ plies the presence of certain ideas and notions concerning the role real human beings, rather than gods and mythical heroes, piay in the course of historical events. This refers to a departure from mythological consciousness and a tran­ sition to the initial stages ofatruehistorical approach.

The name Lieh chuan seems to be invented by Ssu-ma Ch’ien himself Lieh should be translated as ‘4o enumerate” ‘4o arrange in a certain order” chuan means ‘4o inform, to describe, to disseminate information”. Together the two words should mean ‘4hose arranged in order of description, presentation” “Biographies” look like the most appropriate variant of conveying this wordcombination into RussianorEnglish.

Ssu-ma Ch’ien, who lived 150 years before Plutarch, created a most im­ pressive variety of biographies. He was primarily drawn to outstanding people who sometimes fell prey to unfortunate circumstances; he was also greatly con-

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Summary

cemed with moral issues, mainly in their Confiicius interpretation. But even extolling the virtues ofhis protagonists, whether real or imaginary, did not pre­ vent this authorfromoverlookingtheir mistakes, faultsoreven criminal deeds.

The kaleidoscope of the Lieh chuan major characters, similar to C. Sueto­ nius, does not include monarchs, whose biographies can be found in the first part of the “Historical Records” - Pen chi; the same is true in regard of the princely Chinese nobility, described mainly in the fourth part of the “Historical records” _ Shih chia. In the “Biographies” the reader comes across many dif­ ferent people representing the highest society stratum, the middle, the educated part of the population, and even the lower classes; these are prominent states­ men» commanders and scholars, court physicians, fortune-tellers, jesters and poets, virtuous andhard-hearted officials, wise advisers andmany, many others. The result is a broad panoramaofthe Chinese society in the 1stmilletmium BC created by aconscientious andrathercritical observer.

Volume VII comprises the first 25 chapters of the Lieh chuan section (61— 85). The characters described here include Bou I and Shu Ch’i ofthe Chou pe­ riod (chapter 61); Guan’ Chun (chapter 62) and the first Tao preachers, begin­ ning with the semi-legendary Lao-tsu (chapter 63).. The story of the lives and deeds of some of the famous military and public figures of different principali­ ties and kingdoms are recounted in the other group of chapters; these include Ssu-ша Jan-tsyu’ from Ch’i (chapter 64); military leader U Tsu-sui from Ch’u (chapter 66); andthe military thinkers ofthe ancient China (chapter 65).

The figures that moved to the forefront of the public scene during the Chan-kuo period, that of the life-and-deatb intestine struggles for hegemony in the Chinese Empire, are described in chapters 67-S5. Among them four fa­ mous counsellors, Pien’yuan’-chOn from Chao, Meng T’ien-chtin from Ch’i, Sinlin-chttn from Wei and Chun’shan’-chttn from Ch together with wellknown commanders and diplomats (Su Ch’in and Chan I) are worth mention­ ing.

Some space should be devoted here to Ssu-ma Ch'ien's universal philo­ sophic ideas that runthrough his “Biographies”. The author's unshakeable faith in the Almighty Heaven (/*ien) is demonstratedmany times in Shih chi, and the “Biographies” section is similar in this respect to all the other parts of the “Historical Records”. Only once does the author take the liberty of expressing open doubt about the absolute fairness of all that is sent by the Heaven. Thus while grieving over the tragic death of Bo I and Shu Ch’i, the most virtuous heroes, Ssu-maCh’ienexclaims: “Where is the Heaven's retribution to the deserv­ ing people? Chi, a murderer and robber, killed a lot of innocent people, ate human liver, committed many an eve! deed yet lived to see his very old age...

That is why I am in deep doubt as to what the Heavenly Tao really is”. It was only on one occasion, however that the historian vented doubts of this kind; as a rule, his faithin theHeaven(/ Hen) andfortune(min) is unshakeable and abiding

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Sum m ary

This faith goes hand in hand with the notion of the universal inconstancy and transitory character ofpeople's earthly life. The overall changeability is, in turn, subject to the cyclic development of the universe; this idea, one of the fundamentals of Chinese classical philosophy, was disputed by Ssu-ma Cb’ien as early as inthe epilogue ofchapter 8.

“Biographies” similarly to the other parts of the “Historical Records”, contain not a few observadoos concerning principles of state government, the image of an ideal ruler, and the moral virtues ofthe statesmen and the ordinary people which should be most highly valued. All this is none other than the es­ sentials of classic Chinese philosophy, and so it is not surprising that Confticianism and Tao ideas togethervnih the legalist ones are found in Lieh chuan.

As for human ethics and the typology of the people's characters presented in the “Biographies”, the latterbears a certain similarity to the ethics system of Aristotle's. The choice of the characters is based primarily, by analogy with Plutarch, on the appraisal of moral criteria. Though Ssu-ma Ch’ien praises, in accordance with the Confucius doctrine, jen (“love of fellow-men” and / (“fedmess and duty’) ofmany ofhis characters, his estimates are far frombeing narrow or unidirectional. Thus, prominent figures of the Chan-kuo period S u Ch’in and Chan I are criticised for their disposition to engage in adventures and Fan* Sui is blamed for provoking aggressive wars of the Ch in kingdom; the author shows how Yao I's arrogance and brutality brought him a life crash; Lin’ Syan-ju’s courage and political flexibility are favoured by the author's glowing praise.

In conclusion, it should be noted that all the indices traditionally presented in the previous volumes of the “Historical Records' can also be found in this book (these are Indices of the Chinese sources, proper names and titles, geo­ graphical names, special terms and ethnic names); however, seven historical and geographical maps andplans are introduced forthe first time.

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