Forlorntyro2

INTRODUCTION

This website serves the primary purpose of presenting my own translations of China’s history, from circa 2,000 BCE to the Ming Dynasty circa 1500 CE, as written by the ancient historians of the day. The usual modus operandi for such dynastic histories is to have the historians of the next period compile the record of the previous emperor or dynasty based on the verbatim accounts written down by the scribes during court sessions or such. This method is naturally subject to the approval of the reigning emperor at the time and is therefore oftentimes heavily censored depending on the desired perception for that particular dynasty. I am doing this on a non-profit basis as I do not require payment for copying my work nor do I ask for donations. My only motive is to provide an insight into China’s past through the pens of their historians and to give a view of the ancient Chinese without the obfuscation of present day politics. These translations are mainly intended for use by students of ancient history, both young and old. If these are of benefit to the reader then a heartfelt recommendation to your peers would suffice, if not please refrain from pouring bile and vituperation upon my head; hence, for this reason I have not provided any space for comments on my website, as in my old age I do not need to see any outpouring of such hatred.

There will be various Sections of history texts, namely: Section I dealing with the biographies of the notables from each era of Chinese History. Section II dealing with the actual historical records of the various eras. These would begin with the records of the 商Shang and 周Zhou dynasties; the 春秋ChunQiu ie. the Spring and Autumn Annals; the 戰國策Zhan Guo Ce or Annals of the Warring states; the 史記Shi Ji or Records of the Grand Historian 司馬遷Si Ma Qian, for these I have completed most of them; then there are the 秦史Qin Shi histories of the Qin dynasty, the吳越春秋Wu Yue Chun Qiu the annals of Wu and Yue during the Chun Qiu or Spring and Autumn era; the 漢書Han Shu the Han Books ie. records of the Han Dynasty; the 三國志San Guo Zhi Histories of the Three Kingdoms; the 唐書Tang Shu records of the Tang Dynasty; the宋史Song Shi the records of the Song Dynasty; the元Yuan Shi records of the Yuan Dynasty. I had stopped at this point since I did not find the last two dynasties, the 明Ming and 請Qing, of much interest. Section III dealing with the various military treatises, these would include 孫子 Sun Zi, 吳起 Wu Qi, 鬼谷子Gui Gu Zi, the 六韜Liu Tao, and several others. These will all be put out after I have revised the documents.