The way the Chinese conceived of their past - and therefore themselves - was profoundly shaped by a book written in the Han era, the Documents historians (Shiji) by Sima Qian. Before Sima Qian could complete his story, he made the political mistake of defending a general who had surrendered to the Xiongnu. Faced with the choice between death and becoming a palace eunuch, he chose the humiliation of castration and servitude rather than leave his story unfinished. He wrote to a friend that he had chosen to live in misfortune "because I have things in my heart that I have not been able to fully express". (Cambridge Illustrated, p. 67) Qian lived a life marked by devout piety, fairness, and dedication to a cause; however, he still felt useless. In a letter to his friend Jen An he explains why he cannot recommend anyone to the imperial service. Sima Qian did not repay his offense with suicide, as would have been appropriate, customary, and in many ways honorable. Instead, driven as he was to complete his private project of writing a complete and universal history, he accepted the alternative punishment of castration. Sima Qian tells us this very clearly in a letter to her friend Jen An, one of the most moving and touching Chinese writings ever: "If I hid my feelings and clung to life, burying myself in the dirt without protesting, it was because I didn't I could bear to leave my cherished project unfinished, because I refused the idea of dying without leaving my literary work to posterity." Sima Qian cites many examples of famous historical figures who, in times of crisis, wrote books that ultimately brought them due recognition from posterity. At its core Sima Qian wanted to incorporate his personal philosophy into... middle of paper... cities, permanent housing, or agriculture. Where the Xiongnu excelled was in warfare, because their men could ride and shoot and raided without hesitation: "When they see the enemy, eager for booty, they swoop down like a flock of birds." (Cambridge Illustrated) In Sima Qian's ethnography of the Xiongnu we encounter a similar inversion of the standard Chinese view of the “barbarians” of the north. The consensus was, of course, that the customs of the Han Chinese were in every sense superior to those of the nomads. Sima Qian, however, first explains the workings of Xiongnu society in remarkably neutral and impartial terms, and then asks a Chinese man who has sided with the Xiongnu to explain why nomad customs are reasonable in the steppe environment, and in some ways even superior to those of the Han. (Sima Qian's treatment of the Xiongnu)
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