Shiji v03 (complete)

Volume 3 is complete at last. Although Sima Qian deliberately selected his stories in Shiji to provide a moral lesson for future generations and so we should be somewhat skeptical of how certain events really happened, I love the ironic element in volume 3's stories. Especially Shang Yang's end. His rise and fall is sort of a parallel to Qin's own rise and fall, which is quite apt. As an aside, readers of the Book of Lord Shang will recognize many of the conversations in vol.3 chapter 4 are lifted from that text.

In any case, the stories about the reformers in this volume is one of the reasons that make the Eastern Zhou period such a fascinating historical period to read about. There are few examples in world history where there was a multi-state system marked by increasingly intense interstate conflict that led to developments in almost every aspect of society (warfare, philosophy, government, economy, etc) that would provide a civilizational foundation that would endure for more than 2000 years. Actually, if you're interested in this topic, I highly recommend checking out Dingxin Zhao's The Confucian-Legalist State: A New Theory of Chinese History, which I just finished reading and will probably talk about in a later time.

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Shiji v03 c04:   Mega
Shiji v03:   Mega

Sorry about the 2 month-long break but I'm ready to resume my scanlation activity (please don't ask me about FnT, Gray Stanback. There'll be new chapters, I promise). I was actually supposed to get Shiji v03 done last year, so I couldn't put it off any longer. This volume focuses on four famous visionary reformers in ancient China, starting with Ximen Bao. The atheist in me smiles in joy at the first chapter, but the liberalist in me is conflicted by the need for authoritarian approaches to engineer and finance large projects that only pay off in the long-term...

It's these kinds of ruses that make Chinese history so fun at times.

Too bad the battle that Sun Wu actually participated in wasn't covered, but the Sun Bin part was fun. Makes you realize just how much Kongming was being a second Sun Bin by using the very same cooking stove tactic to completely mess with his enemies' head during the Northern Campaigns.

Download:
Shiji v03 c01:   Mega
Shiji v03 c02:   Mega
Shiji v03 c03:   Mega
Shiji v03 c04:   Mega
Shiji v03:   Mega