Week 5： February 11 & 13 (HIST 1108 will meet in Friday sections this week)

Lecture 7: Huns and Han: the Xiongnu (Hsiung-nu) and Han China: Emergence of a Pattern

Lecture 8: Religious traditions and Central Eurasian History

Sima Qian, Shiji (Records of the Historian), ch. 110: "Historical Biography of the Xiongnu." English on Canvas; Chinese text here. Note the general structure of the narrative: when it is broad, when focused? Don't get bogged down in the first section's list of peoples, but what is Sima Qian doing with this ancient history? Is there an ideological thrust? In the later, more detailed stories, what is Sima Qian's message? How does he deliver it?

Further reading: