Records of the Grand Historian is a famous historical work.
The value of Records of the Grand Historian: the phrase “great model for all rulers” here does not mean the ordinary lessons or criticisms that arise naturally from history. Rather, after examining the rise and fall, survival and extinction, successes and failures, and gains and losses of human affairs over two thousand years, Sima Qian drew on the great traditions of pre-Qin scholarship and brought his own profound insight and broad vision to bear. In writing history, he deliberately or inadvertently offered political principles and standards, fundamental precepts and laws, to political leaders of his own time and the future, as well as to those aspiring to become leaders.
