#Sima qian

[incorrectbcchina]

Sima Qian: I keep a protrait of His Majesty in my drawer. Whenever I face difficulties, I take it out and stare at the picture.

Sima Qian: And I tell myself: "If I survived this asshole, then I can survive anything."

[grand-theft-carbohydrates]

historian by way of tumblr webcomic.

[ashy-ashy-ashy]

made a new chronicle for oath

[paganimagevault]

Sima Qian by unknown artist. This guy is one of the good sources on the various nomads and neighbors of China (including the Huns) during the Qin and Han dynasties.

"Emperor Wu repeatedly dispatched large military forces to the desert region in an attempt to capture the Xiongnu ruler, known by the title of Shanyu, or at least force him to acknowledge fealty to the Han. During one such expedition in 99 BC, a young military commander named Li Ling led a force of several thousand men in a daring raid deep into enemy territory, but after desperate fighting he was finally forced to surrender. Emperor Wu, who expected his military leaders to die in battle, was enraged when he learned of the surrender, and the other court officials united in condemnation of Li’s action. Only Sima Qian, who had known and admired Li Ling in the past, spoke out in his defense. For such temerity he was charged with attempting to deceive the ruler and handed over to the law officials for investigation, a process that involved imprisonment and torture. Eventually he was sentenced to undergo the penalty of castration. Customarily, a man of honor would commit suicide before submitting to such disgrace. But, as Qian explains in a letter to a friend translated in appendix 2 of this volume, he chose to suffer the shame of mutilation in order that he might finish the writing of his history. This price of completion, ghastly as it was, has assured him a place of honor among the world’s great historians."

-Sima, Qian. Records of the Grand Historian: Qin Dynasty. Columbia University Press. Kindle Edition.

If anyone wants a more detailed understanding of what Sima Qian was forced to endure, South China Morning Post has an article on it: https://multimedia.scmp.com/culture/article/2155959/forbidden-city/life/chapter_02.html

[professeur-stump]

Yen-ti voulut empiéter sur les droits des seigneurs; les seigneurs se réfugièrent tous auprès de Hien-yuen. Hien-yuen alors fit appel à toute son énergie et leva des soldats; il se rendit maître des cinq influences; il mit en terre les cinq semences; il fit du bien aux dix mille tribus et gouverna les quatre côtés. Il dressa des ours, des léopards, des panthères, des lynx et des tigres et il s’en servit lors de la bataille qu’il livra à Yen-ti dans la campagne de Pan-k’iuen. Il soutint trois combats et finit par avoir gain de cause.

(Se-ma Ts’ien, Mémoires historiques, Les cinq empereurs)

[falseandrealultravival]

Lao Tzu's "Destruction of the Ego" 2 (Essay)

(This is a dialogue between me and a certain woman.)

Real example(Continuing)

Me: Lao Tzu preached, "Only those who have extinguished their ego can be entrusted with the state." but there are certainly few examples of people who have practiced this. In China, Sima Qian, who appears in "Ri Ling" (Atsushi Nakajima), would be applicable. Though he was right,

Touched by the wrath of the absolute monarch Emperor Wu of Han, he was sentenced to be cut his male sex organ, which is harsher than the death penalty, and suffers a harsher life than death.

Even if you are thrown into the pit of despair and your pride as a controversialist is uprooted,

Having accomplished his task (compilation of the "History"), he "disappeared" when he was imprisoned, I can only say that he was forced to do so. However, he did not have much time left to become a politician after that.

In Japan, I think that Kantaro Suzuki, who ended the Pacific War, is doing a good job. While dealing well with the army, which refused to accept defeat, he was evaluated by those around him as ``a dull person,'' but when it comes to emergency, he can only be described as a completely different person. He took it to the end of the war in an unprecedented way. This person was from the navy and was almost killed in the 2.26 Incident. It is said that Suzuki's favorite book was "Lao Tzu". (!)　

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Takamori Saigo was exiled to an island two or three times, and even tried to commit suicide with a monk named Gessho. Yes, and there were many times when he was on the verge of death. It is appropriate to compare it to an "empty jar" or a "huge bell," and Ryoma Sakamoto said, "If you hit it softly, it will sound softly, and if you hit it hard, it will sound loudly." He must have been a charming man. Saigo must have had an excellent staff officer. It was also bad for him that the chief staff officer at the time of the Seinan War was the mere ``human slayer'' Toshiaki Kirino.

What the above three people have in common is that they have all encountered situations that they cannot do anything about on their own, and have internalized that experience. "None of them are religious persons."

[whats-in-a-sentence]

You's predecessors had set up watchtowers so that if the Rong attacked, drums and fires could warn the many lords, who would rush to the rescue with their retinues. Sima Qian says,

King You lit the beacons and beat the great drums. As the beacons were to be lit only when intruders drew near, the many lords all came. Upon their arrival, there were no intruders, thus Lady Bao Si laughed out loud. The king was pleased, so he lit the beacons several times. Afterwards, since this was not reliable, the many lords became more reluctant to come.

"Why the West Rules – For Now: The patterns of history and what they reveal about the future" - Ian Morris

[j-august]

Wang Yun said, "Centuries ago, Emperor Wu spared Sima Qian and employed him on the annals, with the result that many slanderous stories have been handed down to us. This is a trying period of great perplexity, and we dare not let a specious fellow like this wield his pen in criticism of those about the court of a youthful prince and abuse us as he will."

Luo Guanzhong, Romance of the Three Kingdoms (trans. C.H. Brewitt-Taylor)

[reinaka42]

He passed the Serveperial Examination with the highest degree of Babygirl and was appointed Grand Cuntchellor in the capital of Slayzhou.

[romanceyourdemons]

[ID: an author listing reading “Xiu, Mo Xiang Tong /end ID]

my local library catalogue has given me a lot to ponder, regarding the nature and function of cataloguing. i don’t think i would have done it that way

[mqfx]

no clue what to title chapter 4 AKJSDFHALKDFJDF see i was planning on giving these chapters silly titles bc it's a deeply silly story but i started with the fucking art of war and the tao te ching i kind of have a pattern that needs to be upheld. sima qian baby where are you

[simayeeet]

this one is an exclusive for me in rarepair hell

sometimes you descend from heaven for the first time in thousands of years and not realize humans have more laws than you last remember

[grand-theft-carbohydrates]

idk if he'd appreciate it, but i got a printout of sima qian to motivate me to finish writing my reports

[not-from-the-absence-of-violence]

I spent about 3 hours reading today and instead of retaining anything important like oh I don't know the theories. for class. I have the phrase "instead of committing suicide, which was normal in such situations." stuck in my head

[professeur-stump]

Le prince héritier de Wei va combattre. Un homme demande à être reçu par lui. Il possède, dit-il, une recette qui, dans cent combats, donne cent fois la victoire. Introduit, il s'exprime à peu près ainsi (je résume) : Si vous êtes vainqueur et annexez un territoire, vous ne serez jamais que le roi de Wei; si vous êtes battu, vous perdrez Wei; « telle est ma recette pour remporter cent victoires dans cent combats ». Autrement dit, il est inutile de combattre pour agrandir un territoire.

(Marcel Granet, La pensée chinoise, note d'après : Mémoires historiques, Sseu-ma Ts'ien)

[falseandrealultravival]

Ruthless Law-One of the Philosophers in ancient China: Problems of Legalists (Han Fei’s thought and Shang Yang’s sorrow) :Essay

Han Fei（韓非）

The following words and explanations are the main work of Han Fei(韓非), the representative of the legalist, in the great book "Chinese Classical Quotations Encyclopedia" (Kodansha) by Tetsuji Morohashi. It is a passage of "Han Feizi".

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The harm that invades the government is more serious than the cold.

 (Two patterns) Beyond the job, reaching out to other areas is more harmful than the cold weather. Han Hou(昭侯) was drunk and slept. At this time, an official , who was in charge of the crown, put on his clothes, thinking that it would be cold. Awakened, Han Hou was pleased with it for a while, but soon after he knew that the official had done what he mustn’t do, he thought as shown act of over-rights . and other official in charge of clothes did dereliction of duty. It is said that he punished both of the officials.

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403P-404P It sounds good to say, "The law applies equally to everyone," but there is also such a story.

Qin's chief vassal (of course, a legalist): When Shang Yang （商鞅）was guilty and asked for an inn at the inn where he fled, master said, "There is a law decided by Shang Yang, so if you don't have a bill, you can't stay overnight. The amazing reality of "I can't do it" struck Shang Yang. About the idea of ​​Han Fei (280BC? -233BC), which is the source of the idea of ​​the legalist, from the wiki (Han Fei) Utilitarian view of humanity In principle, Han Fei's view of humanity shares a common perspective with Confucius, but strictly speaking, it is close to Xun Kuang's “Human nature is evil”.

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It presents a kind of natural state hypothesis that there was no struggle when there were few people, and develops an argument that changes in the external environment and physical conditions affect humanity. According to Han Fei, people are peaceful when there are many supplies and few people, and conversely, when there are few supplies and there are many people, they are in conflict.

In a struggling society with more people, such as the time when Han Fei lived, the laws and punishments in a peaceful environment are meaningless, and the laws and punishments must be changed according to the times. Some people just look at the lightness of the punishment and say that if the punishment is small, it is charity, and if the punishment is severe, it is cruel, but since the punishment is in line with the trends of the world, this criticism does not apply.

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Han Fei, who impressed Qin Shi Huang(秦の始皇帝), ended his life without serving the emperor, but the remaining Shang Yang, Li Si, and the top Qin Shi Huang are all ruthless and implement laws that afflict the people. Did you do that? In particular, Li Si is a plotter who is jealous of Han Fei's talent and kills him. However, Li Si will be destroyed by the plot he himself took. After the Qin dynasty, which imposed such a fierce legal system on the people, was destroyed, Han Liu Kun(劉邦) was praised by the people, saying, "The law is only in Chapter 3."

However, speaking of law, it is a well-known fact that in modern Japan, legislation that is advantageous only to the politicians, such as "collusion crimes," was carried out under the Abe Cabinet. Rather, Japan is heading for a hellish nation like Qin. It is a society in which people cry in any era and in any country that cracks down on even the smallest acts of law.

 A word of the day: It seems that the history of Han Fei is written in "History(史記)", "Lao Tzu Han Fei Retsuden（biography） No. 3" and "Li Si biography " by Sima Qian (WIKI),and Sima Qian seems to make Han Fei comparable to Lao Tzu. Is’t it?