Sima Tan

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Sima Tan (司馬談, Wade-Giles: Ssu-ma T'an; died c.110 BC) was an early Chinese historian who worked under the Former Han Dynasty (206 BC - AD 9). He was the father of Sima Qian - the Father of Chinese History - who, upon the death of Sima Tan (c. 110 BC), took up his father's work and completed the 130 volume Shiji ("Records of the Grand Historian").

An essay by Sima Tan has survived within the Shiji. It is an assessment of the six major philosophical traditions ("schools") of his day: Confucianism, Daoism, Legalism, Mohism, Terminalism and Naturalism. Sima Tan was himself a follower of Huang-Lao, an early Han form of Daoism.

Sima Qian also gives a few other details about his father's life. He studied astronomy with Tang Du, the Yi Jing ("Classic of Changes") under Yang He and Daoism under Master Huang. He held the position of Grand Historian between 140-110 BC.

[edit] References

Sima Qian (1993), Records of the Grand Historian of China. Qin Dynasty. Translated by Burton Watson (Hong Kong: The Research Centre for Translation [The Chinese University of Hong Kong]; New York, Columbia University Press). ISBN 0-231-08168-5 (hbk); ISBN 0-231-08169-3 (pbk)
de Bary, W.T. & Bloom, I., Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume One, 2nd ed. (New York, 1999).