Ssu-ma Ch'ien's many-volumed history of China established the frame within which Chinese history continued to be written almost to the present day. Ssu-ma Ch'ien accepted and made canonical the theory that each dynasty began with an especially virtuous ruler and then gradually dissipated that virtue until Heaven lost patience and substituted a new dynasty in its place.


The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community (1963)

William Hardy McNeill Quotes

Ssu-ma Ch'ien's many-volumed history of China established the frame within which Chinese history continued to be written almost to the present day....

Ssu-ma Ch'ien's many-volumed history of China established the frame within which Chinese history continued to be written almost to the present day....

Ssu-ma Ch'ien's many-volumed history of China established the frame within which Chinese history continued to be written almost to the present day....

Ssu-ma Ch'ien's many-volumed history of China established the frame within which Chinese history continued to be written almost to the present day....