Beyond Bias: Information Poverty’s Impact on Shiji's Xiongnu Narrative
Abstract
This paper asks why the Shiji (史记) chapter on the Xiongnu, the Xiongnu Liezhuan (匈奴列传, ch. 110), contains repeated inaccuracies about Xiongnu life and warfare. I argue that the leading causes are information poverty (Sima Qian relied on mediated envoy reports, military dispatches, and court records), a Sinocentric way of seeing at the Han court, and Sima Qian's own narrative choices under these conditions, where the lack of information added to his choice of maintaining his current accuracy. Using close reading of the text, comparison with later histories (Hanshu, Hou Hanshu), and archaeological evidence often linked to Xiongnu activity (for example, fortified and semi‑sedentary sites), I show that claims like "no walled cities and no agriculture" are too absolute. I also examine military stories such as Baideng, where reported troop numbers are likely inflated. A brief comparison with Herodotus suggests this kind of exaggeration was common in early historiography, not just in China. Sima Qian sometimes includes Xiongnu's perspectives, which makes his account more balanced than later works. Ultimately, the "errors" in the Shiji also tell us how the Han gathered and judged information. Reading the chapter in this dual way helps us see both the Xiongnu more clearly and the Han world that described them.
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