Birth of the Han dynasty: Xiang Yu’s Basic Annals in The Records of the Grand Historian

Abstract

The short period (206–202 BC) after the fall of the Qin dynasty was one of China’s most anarchic periods, as if the Warring States events occurred again during a much shorter span of time. Xiang Yu 項羽 (232–202 BC) engaged Liu Bang 劉邦 (247–195 BC), the would-be founding emperor of the Han dynasty, in a long struggle
for power, known as the Chu–Han contention (Chu Han zhanzheng 楚漢戰爭), which concluded with the eventual defeat of the former at the Battle of Gaixia 垓下. Xiang Yu committed suicide on the bank of the Wu 烏 River. This article first gives an overview of Sima Qian’s Shiji 史記, then proceeds to offer a translation of its seventh chapter (Xiang Yu benji 項羽本紀). The translation is accompanied by a running commentary, which clarifies the historical background, and interprets the content in its historical context.