   sima qian (c.&nbsp;145 or 13586 bc), formerly romanized ssu-ma chien, was a chinese historian of the han dynasty. he is considered the father of chinese historiography for his work, the records of the grand historian, a jizhuanti-style (çºªä¼ ä½) general history of china, covering more than two thousand years from the yellow emperor to his time, during the reign of emperor wu of han. although he worked as the court astrologer (chinese: å¤ªå²ä»¤; tÃ ishÇ lÃ¬ng), later generations refer to him as the grand historian (chinese: å¤ªå²å¬; tÃ ishÇ gÅng or tai-shih-kung) for his monumental work; a work which in later generations would often only be somewhat tacitly or glancingly acknowledged as an achievement only made possible by his acceptance and endurance of punitive actions against him, including imprisonment, castration, and subjection to servility. ==early life and education==  sima qian was born and grew up in longmen, near present-day hancheng in a family of astrologers. his father, sima tan, served as the court astrologer, a versatile technical position trained in various matters. his main responsibilities were managing the imperial library and maintaining or reforming the calendar. due to intensive training by his father, by the age of ten, sima qian was already well versed in old writings. he was a student of the famous confucians kong anguo and dong zhongshu. at the age of twenty, sima qian started a journey throughout the country, visiting ancient monuments, and sought for the graves of the ancient sage kings yu on mount kuaiji and shun in hunan.{{cite book |author=burton watson |title=ssu ma ch'ien grand historian of china |pages=47 |chapter=the biography of ssu ma ch'ien |url=http:/
1st-century_BC_historians 1st-century_BC_poets 2nd-century_BC_historians 86_BC_deaths Ancient_astrologers Chinese_astrologers Chinese_prisoners_sentenced_to_death Han_dynasty_eunuchs Han_dynasty_historians Han_dynasty_poets Han_dynasty_politicians_from_Shaanxi Writers_from_Shaanxi