The Grand Scribe's Records, Volume V.1: The Hereditary Houses of Pre-Han China, Part I

ISBN: 025334025X

Author: Ch'ien, Ssu-ma

Condition: New

With Part I of the two-part fifth volume of Ssu-ma Chiens Shi chi (The Grand Scribes Records), we enter the world of the shih chia or "hereditary houses." These ten chapters trace the history of Chinas first states, from their establishment in the 11th century B.C. until their incorporation in the first empire under the Chin in 221 B.C. Combining myth, anecdote, chronicle, and biography based on early written and oral sources, many no longer extant, the narratives make for compelling reading, as dramatic and readable as any in this grand history.