Translator's Preface to the Revised Edition
Translator's Preface
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Note

1.
Oh Tae-baek's family
2.
The family of Duke Tai of Qi
3.
The family of Duke Zhou of Lu
4.
The family of Duke Yan So
5.
The Guan and Cai families
6.
The Chen and Qi families
7.
Wei Kangsuk's family
8.
Song Mija's family
9.
Jin family
10.
The Chu family
11.
King Goujian of Yue
12.
Jeong Se-ga (鄭世家)
13.
Jo Se-ga (趙世家)
14.
Wei family
15.
Han Se-ga (Korean family)
16.
The Jeon Gyeong-jung-wan family
17.
Confucius's family
18.
Jinseop family
19.
maternal relatives' family
20.
King Yuan of Chu
21.
The Jing and Yan families
22.
The family of King Dohye of Qi
23.
Xiao Xiangguo's family
24.
The Jo Sang-guk family
25.
The family of Yuhou
26.
The family of Chancellor Chen
27.
The family of the Marquis of Jianghou Zhou Bo
28.
The lineage of King Hyo of Liang
29.
Five generations of the Ojong clan
30.
The Three Kings and the Three Houses

List of 『Fraud』
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The story of the two men who embrace tragedy

The first historical record, 『Records of the Grand Historian』, consists of 130 chapters, including 12 chapters of Annals, 10 chapters of Tables, 8 chapters of Books, 30 chapters of Genealogy, and 70 chapters of Biographies, with approximately 526,500 characters.
These five parts—the main text, the table, the introduction, the saga, and the biography—are closely linked to each other, and because of the intricate relationships between the characters, there are many cases where similar content is included in multiple parts.
The Records of the Grand Historian deals with the history of the feudal lords under the emperor.
If Bon-gi is the story of the first-class people who have seized power, Sega can be said to be the story of the second-class people who have ultimately been pushed aside by the emperor.
Therefore, each character appearing in Sega carries their own tragedy.
There are those who, despite all the humiliation, rose again through sheer determination, while there are those who seized power but failed to maintain it and fell in an instant.
Through the characters who achieve or are frustrated with their ideals, Sima Qian poses numerous questions about human life and seeks to show what order governs the world.
In this way, Sima Qian presents the rise and fall of the feudal lords with a unique and sharp perspective, leading readers to see the true nature of humanity and the principles of worldly life contained within it.

Delicately restoring Sima Qian's breath

After completing the complete translation of the entire 『Records of the Grand Historian』 in 2011, Professor Kim Won-joong has been working on a revised edition of 『Records of the Grand Historian』.
Because the translation took nearly 20 years, it was necessary to review the translation terms and other aspects within the overall context to ensure both synchronicity and diachrony.
For example, the “Biographies of King Goujian of Yue” is closely related to the “Biographies of Wu Zixu,” and the “Biographies of Lord You” are connected to the “Biographies of Emperor Gaozu” and the “Biographies of Marquis Huaiyin,” so I wanted to make the link between them more solid.
Furthermore, Professor Kim Won-joong, while initially translating the complete Records of the Grand Historian, paid attention to the subtle differences in the style in which Sima Qian described the characters and events, and this was also an important point in this revision.
For example, in “The Story of King Goujian of Yue,” Sima Qian’s own resentment is clearly revealed between the lines of the story, which depicts Goujian’s long-term retaliation against Fuchai through meticulous strategy. I tried to capture those subtle feelings in Korean.
On the other hand, in the "Segae of Confucius," the childhood of Confucius, born of a conspiracy, and the intellectual Confucius who moved from country to country trying to develop his own politics are well depicted, and efforts were made to faithfully recreate Confucius's life by following his actions.
In this way, the revised edition of 『Records of the Grand Historian』 is the result of efforts to further solidify the bridgehead for Sima Qian and readers to meet across 2,000 years of time and space.