Analysis of "Records of the Grand Historian"

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Tragic Hero Destruction and the Rise of Universal Commoner
The Records of the Grand Historian is an interesting text by Sima Qian, which was written from 109 BC to 91 BC. The text is also referred to as Shiji in its Chinese name, where the author recounts all the rich Chinese history that dates back from the Yellow Emperor from around 2600BC to the present time. Sima Qian presents a great moment in the history of China, in which the country saw a significant transformation that was spurred by intellectual creativity, which shaped the Chinese world view. In his narration, the author presents the history of the Han dynasty which was characterized by the reign of Emperor Wu, one of China’s most energetic and strong-willed rulers. The author covers the Chinese emperors who were powerful and meant well for the society but ended up being destroyed by a powerful system that comprised of commoners known as lords. The events in the source also depict modern time governance challenges, in which good leaders who intend to bring lasting change to the society end up losing their positions or lives.
The initial selection of the text entails a long biography that the author provides of one of the greatest and powerful military leader of Chu, who desires to become an emperor. Yu fiercely fought the Han for control of the various states of China in what became to be popularly known as the Chu-Han Contention that occurred between 206-202 B.C. this war happened in the wake of the collapse of the Qin (Ch’in) dynasty. Yu was extremely tall and stout, with admirable cunningness and fearsome ruthlessness and was famous for his bravery. He sought to overthrow Liu Bang. However, despite his strengths and wit, Yu made a series of mistakes in his military decision making that eventually led to Liu’s troops surrounding him. Therefore, in this selection, Yu is portrayed as a tragic hero, who desires to ascent to the throne but fails to achieve his goals following his military decision mistakes.
The author also talks about Huangdi, another tragic hero, whose reign at the dawn of history was referred to as a “golden age of perfect peace’ (Sima 1). His leadership was considered as golden because of his ability to bring about peace to the nation. The entire narrative, up to Huangdi’s reign, revolves around the relationship between the ruler and the loads of the states. In most of these interactions, the rulers came across as tragic heroes whereas the lords of the states sought to advance the interests of the commons. Shennong, one of the rulers before Huangdi, was unable to control the lords. His inability to conquer the lords meant that he could no longer sustain his control over the commons, which resulted in the end of his reign. However, Huangdi was able to gain allegiance of the lords and hence his long reign. He focused on protecting the power of the lords, which amounted to respect of the local power. In the same breadth, leaders who threatened to usurp the power of the lords were perceived as showing the lack of respect to the local power. Consequently, their reign became characterized by a state of disorder that culminated in their downfall.
Huangdi ...