Editing Sima Qian (section)

==As Han court official==
[[File:歷代聖賢半身像 冊 司馬遷 (Sima Qian).png|thumb|Portrait of Sima Qian ([[National Palace Museum]])]]
After his travels, Sima was chosen to be a Palace Attendant in the government, whose duties were to inspect different parts of the country with Emperor Wu in 122&nbsp;BC.<ref name="jay"/> Sima married young and had one daughter.<ref name="jay"/> In 110&nbsp;BC, at the age of 35, Sima Qian was sent westward on a military expedition against some "barbarian" tribes. That year, his father fell ill due to the distress of not being invited to attend the Imperial Feng Sacrifice. Suspecting that his time was running out, he summoned his son back home to take over the historical work he had begun. Sima Tan wanted to follow the ''[[Spring and Autumn Annals]]'', the first chronicle in the history of [[Chinese literature]].

It appears that Sima Tan was only able to put together an outline of the work before he died. The postface of the completed ''[[Shiji]]'', there is a short essay on the six philosophical schools that is explicitly attributed to Sima Tan. Otherwise, there are only fragments of the ''Shiji'' that are speculated to be authored by Sima Tan or based on his notes. Fueled by his father's inspiration, Sima Qian spent much of the subsequent decade authoring and compiling the ''Shiji'' (sometimes translated into English as ''Records of the Grand Historian'') and completed it before 91&nbsp;BC, probably around 94&nbsp;BC. Three years after the death of his father, Sima Qian assumed his father's previous position as ''taishi''. In 105&nbsp;BC, Sima was among the scholars chosen to reform the calendar. As a senior imperial official, Sima was also in the position to offer counsel to the emperor on general affairs of state.

===Li Ling affair===
[[File:Sima Qian.png|thumb|A [[Ming dynasty|Ming period]] (1368–1644) portrait of Sima Qian]]
In 99&nbsp;BC, Sima became embroiled in the Li Ling affair, where [[Li Ling]] and [[Li Guangli]], two military officers who led a campaign against the [[Xiongnu]] in the north, were defeated and taken captive. Emperor Wu attributed the defeat to Li Ling, with all government officials subsequently condemning him for it. Sima was the only person to defend Li Ling, who had never been his friend but whom he respected. Emperor Wu interpreted Sima's defence of Li as an attack on his brother-in-law, Li Guangli, who had also fought against the Xiongnu without much success, and sentenced Sima to death. At that time, execution could be [[Commutation (law)|commuted]] either by money or [[castration]]. Since Sima did not have enough money to atone for his "crime", he chose the latter and was then thrown into prison, where he endured three years. He described his pain thus: "When you see the jailer you abjectly touch the ground with your forehead. At the mere sight of his underlings you are seized with terror ... Such ignominy can never be wiped away." Sima called his castration "the worst of all punishments".{{sfnp|Hughes-Warrington|2000|p=291}}

In 96 BC, on his release from prison, Sima chose to live on as a palace [[eunuch]] to complete his histories, rather than commit suicide as was expected of a gentleman-scholar who had been disgraced by being castrated.<ref name="jay">{{cite book |last=Jay |first=Jennifer |title=The Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing Volume 2 |date=1999 |publisher=FitzRoy Dearborn |isbn=9781884964336 |editor=Boyd |editor-first=Kelly |pages=1093–1094 |chapter=Sima Qian |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0121vD9STIMC&pg=PA1094}}</ref> As Sima Qian himself explained in his ''Letter to Ren An'':

{{blockquote
|text=<poem>{{nbsp|5}}{{lang|zh|且夫臧獲婢妾猶能引決，況若僕之不得已乎。所以隱忍苟活，函糞土之中而不辭者，恨私心有所不盡，鄙沒世而文采不表於後也。古者富貴而名摩滅，不可勝記，唯俶儻非常之人稱焉。| size = 110% }}
{{nbsp|5}}If even the lowest slave and scullion maid can bear to commit suicide, why should not one like myself be able to do what has to be done? But the reason I have not refused to bear these ills and have continued to live, dwelling in vileness and disgrace without taking my leave, is that I grieve that I have things in my heart which I have not been able to express fully, and I am shamed to think that after I am gone my writings will not be known to posterity. Too numerous to record are the men of ancient times who were rich and noble and whose names have yet vanished away. It is only those who were masterful and sure, the truly extraordinary men, who are still remembered.


{{nbsp|5}}{{lang|zh|僕竊不遜，近自託於無能之辭，網羅天下放失舊聞，考之行事，綜其終始，稽其成敗興壞之理 ... 凡百三十篇，亦欲以究天人之際，通古今之變，成一家之言。草創未就，適會此禍，惜其不成，是以就極刑而無慍色。僕誠已著此書，藏諸名山，傳之其人通邑大都，則僕償前辱之責，雖萬被戮，豈有悔哉！| size = 110% }}
{{nbsp|5}}I too have ventured not to be modest but have entrusted myself to my useless writings. I have gathered up and brought together the old traditions of the world which were scattered and lost. I have examined the deeds and events of the past and investigated the principles behind their success and failure, their rise and decay [...] in one hundred and thirty chapters. I wished to examine into all that concerns heaven and man, to penetrate the changes of the past and present, completing all as the work of one family. But before I had finished my rough manuscript, I met with this calamity. It is because I regretted that it had not been completed that I submitted to the extreme penalty without rancor. When I have truly completed this work, I shall deposit it in the Famous Mountain. If it may be handed down to men who will appreciate it, and penetrate to the villages and great cities, then though I should suffer a thousand mutilations, what regret should I have?</poem>
|source=Sima Qian, "Letter to Ren An" (96&nbsp;BC; [[Burton Watson]], trans.){{sfnp|Watson|1958|pp=57-67}}
}}

=== Later years and death ===
Upon his release from prison in 97/96 BC, Sima Qian continued to serve in the Han court as ''zhongshuling'' ([[:zh:中书令|中書令]]), a court archivist position reserved for eunuchs with considerable status and with higher pay than his previous position of historian.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Classical Authors : 500 BCE to 1100 CE|date=2014|publisher=Britannica Educational Publishing in association with Rosen Educational Services, LLC|editor-last=Kuiper | editor-first=Kathleen|isbn=9781622750047|edition=1st|location=New York, NY|oclc=852251903|type= High school textbook | pages=112–116 | chapter= Sima Qian}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=The letter to Ren An and Sima Qian's legacy|last1=Durrant|first1= Stephen W.|last2=Li|first2= Wai-yee |last3=Nylan|first3= Michael|author3-link=Michael Nylan |last4=Ess|first4= Hans van|isbn=9780295806389|location=Seattle|oclc=946359303|date = 2016|publisher= University of Washington Press}}</ref>

The ''Letter to Ren An'' was written by Sima Qian in reply to Ren An in response to the latter's involvement in Crown Prince [[Liu Ju]]'s rebellion in 91 BC. This is the last record of Sima Qian in contemporary documents. The letter is a reply to a lost letter by Ren An to Sima Qian, perhaps asking Sima Qian to intercede on his behalf as Ren An was facing execution for accusations of being an opportunist and displaying equivocal loyalty to the emperor during the rebellion. In his reply, Sima Qian stated that he is a mutilated man with no influence at court.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Knechtges |first=David R. |author-link=David R. Knechtges |date=2008 |title="Key Words," Authorial Intent, and Interpretation: Sima Qian's Letter to Ren An |journal=Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews |volume=30 |pages=75–84 |issn=0161-9705 |jstor=25478424}}</ref> Some later historians claimed that Sima Qian himself became implicated in the rebellion as a result of his friendship with Ren An and was executed as part of the purge of the crown prince's supporters in court; however, the earliest-attested record of this account dates from the 4th century. Moreover, it has also been pointed out that Sima Qian would have been reluctant to render substantive aid to Ren An, given the severe consequences that he suffered for supporting General Li Ling, as well as Ren An's failure to act on his behalf during the Li Ling affair. Although there are many theories regarding the exact dating as well as the true nature and purpose of the ''Letter to Ren An'', one common interpretation suggests that the letter, in part, tacitly expressed a refusal to play an active role in securing a reduced punishment for Ren An.<ref name=":0"/>

The early-20th-century scholar [[Wang Guowei]] stated that there are no reliable records establishing when Sima Qian died. He and most modern historians believe that Sima Qian spent his last days as a scholar in reclusion ({{zh |t = 隱士 |p = yǐnshì |labels = no }}) after leaving the Han court, perhaps dying around the same time as Emperor Wu in 87/86 BC.{{NoteTag|[[Wang Guowei|王國維]]: "絕不可考......然視為與武帝相終始，當無大誤。" (It [when Sima Qian died] absolutely cannot be determined. However, it should not be a great mistake if one viewed Sima Qian as beginning and ending with Emperor Wu [of Han].)}}