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China: Sima Qian, Father of Chinese historiography and 'Grand Historian' of China, c. 145 / 135 - 86 BCE

China: Sima Qian, Father of Chinese historiography and 'Grand Historian' of China, c. 145 / 135 - 86 BCE

Sima Qian (司馬遷, simplified 司马迁; Wade-Giles: Ssu-ma Ch'ien) was a Prefect of the Grand Scribes (太史公) of the Han Dynasty.

He is regarded as the father of Chinese historiography for his highly praised work, Records of the Grand Historian (史記 or 史记), a 'Jizhuanti'-style general history of China, covering more than two thousand years from the Yellow Emperor to Emperor Wu of Han. His definitive work laid the foundation for later Chinese historiography.