Sima Qian

Hello. My name is Sima Qian. I lived a very, very long time ago in a country called China. When I was a little boy, my father, Sima Tan, had a very important job. He was the Grand Historian. That meant he wrote down all the amazing stories of our land and its people. I loved listening to his stories about brave kings and exciting adventures. It was my favorite thing to do.

My father started writing a giant book to hold all of China's stories. But before he could finish, he asked me to make a big promise. He said, 'Please, finish this book for me.' I promised him I would. To keep my promise, I traveled all over our big country. I listened to stories from older people and read old scrolls. I wanted to make sure every detail was just right for our book.

It took many years, but I finally finished our great book. I called it the Records of the Grand Historian. It was filled with all the stories I had gathered. It had stories from the very first emperors to the people of my own time. I wanted to make sure that no one would ever forget the wonderful history of our home.

I lived a long and full life, and I was so happy I kept the promise to my father. Even today, thousands of years later, people still read my book to learn about the past. My stories live on, and that makes me very proud.