Ssu-ma Ch'ien (145-ca. 86 B.C.) was a major official in the Western Han dynasty. China's greatest historian, he overcame tragedy to complete this work, compiling the history of his culture from its beginnings through the end of the second century B.C.William H. Nienhauser, Jr. is Halls-Bascom Professor of Classical Chinese Literature at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His books include The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature (two volumes, IUP, 1985; 1998) and (as translator) Chinese Literature, Ancient and Classical by Andr� Levy (IUP, 2000). He was a founding editor of the journal Chinese Literature, Essays, Articles, Reviews (CLEAR).
Ssu-ma Ch'ien (145--ca. 86 B.C.) served for several decades as an official at the court of the Han Emperor Wu (r. 141--87 B.C.). From about 104 B.C. until his death he was involved in the compilation of a mammoth historical project that resulted in this history which came to be known as the Shih chi (The Grand Scribe's Records).William H. Nienhauser, Jr., is the Halls-Bascom Professor of Classical Chinese Literature at the University of Wisconsin--Madison. He is author of The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature (IUP, two volumes, 1985; 1998) and editor of five previous volumes of The Grand Scribe's Records.