Records of The Grand Historian - Layout

Layout

The 130 volumes (i.e. scrolls, now usually called "chapters") of the text classify information into several categories:

1. 12 volumes of Benji (本紀), "Basic Annals" or "Imperial Biographies", contain the biographies of all prominent rulers from the Yellow Emperor to Qin Shi Huang and the kings of Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties. The biographies of four emperors and one empress dowager of the Western Han Dynasty before his time are also included. The biography of Xiang Yu, who never actually ruled all the country, was contained in this class. This may be because Sima Qian included de facto rulers such as Xiang Yu and Empress Dowager Lu and excluded rulers with no real power, such as Emperor Yi of Chu and Emperor Hui of Han.
2. 10 volumes of Biao (表) or "Tables", are timelines of events.
3. 8 volumes of Shu (書) or "Treatises", of economics and other topics of the time.
4. 30 volumes of Shijia (世家) or "Biographies of the Feudal Houses and Eminent Persons", contain biographies of notable rulers, nobility and bureaucrats mostly from the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. Confucius is also included in this class.
5. 70 volumes of Liezhuan (列傳) or "Biographies and Collective Biographies", contain biographies of important individual figures including Laozi, Mozi, Sun Tzu, and Jing Ke.