Records of the Grand Historian: Sima Qian’s Understanding of Commerce

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The Records of the Grand Historian
Theme: Sima Qian’s Understanding of Commerce
The Records of the Grand Historian is a document containing the early history of China and written about 85 BCE by the Western Han Dynasty official Sima Qian. He wrote the monumental history of the Chinese from the period of the mythological Yellow Emperor to his present (the reign of Emperor Wu of Han) as part of the charge given him by his father, Sima Tan, the Grand Astrologer to the imperial court. The Records of the Grand Historian took 18 years to produce and describes the most important events and personalities during the 2,500 years before the author’s own time (Tsang). The work entailed 130 chapters and was the first attempt at documenting Chinese history, thereby setting the standard for the subsequent organization of dynastic histories. This paper will analyze Sima Qian's divisive understanding of commerce concerning virtue and the state.
“Biographies of Wealthy Merchants” is the second-last chapter and one of the most contested chapters in the Records of the Grand Historian, mainly because it conflicts with Confucian values or even socialist ideas. In the chapter, Sima Qian acknowledges the contribution of private enterprises towards the nation's economy and even encourages wealth accumulation while discouraging government interference in market dynamics. This view contrasts with that of Confucius, who, despite not directly opposing wealth creation, esteemed virtue more than wealth and even discouraged profit-seeking at the expense of piety (Hua). It also diverges from other prominent Chinese socialist scholars who assert that all businesses must be state-owned to bolster the country and consolidate the power of the King. Although Sima Qian’s “Biographies of Wealthy Merchants” provides several historical case studies of individuals who attained wealth in different but equally proper ways, his focus is purely economic, and his consideration of either the state or the morality concerning wealth accumulation is incidental.
Sima Qian agrees with Confucius that wealth and power are what every man desires. However, rather than viewing private enterprise as a source of moral corruption, he considers it an admirable trait. He even provides several examples of men born poor and with no titles but by making the right decisions at the opportune time. Without interfering with the state or oppressing others, they increased their wealth and achieved power (Zhang). Sima Qian holds that money-making is not essentially immoral, as long as it does not contravene set laws or interfere with other people's activities or freedom, and even uses the examples of various merchants to demonstrate the value of self-determination in the private sector. The chapter illustrates how commoners became wealthy businessmen by applying profitable trading and being sensitive to business opportunities. Sima Qian does not just believe wealth accumulation to be a means of social mobility. Furthermore, instead, he also views it as critical to the development of a country.
He posits that the growth of a nation relies on the expansion of four equally important but diverse sectors: mining of natural ...