Sima Qian

About Sima Qian

Sima Qian, who lived from approximately 145 to 86 BCE, is universally regarded as the foundational historian of China. His monumental work, the Shiji (Records of the Grand Historian), established the biographical style for subsequent Chinese historical writing and covered nearly three millennia of history up to his own time. This massive contribution to historiography is why the Pantheon project ranks him at #603 in historical importance. His work is the primary source for understanding much of early Chinese history, politics, and culture, solidifying his place as a figure of immense global cultural impact.

Despite this crucial importance, Sima Qian's modern internet attention appears relatively low, creating a notable attention gap. In 2025, his Wikipedia page garnered 133K annualized views, placing him at a significant deficit relative to his historical standing (Attention Gap: -3x underattention). To put this in context, his views are dwarfed by Livy, another historian, who ranks significantly less important at #895 but secured 208K views. This suggests that one of history’s most significant chroniclers is being overlooked in contemporary digital engagement.

His 2025 momentum shows a very slight positive trend, with a +0.5% year-over-year increase and a +1% momentum shift from Q1 to Q3, indicating minimal but steady growth in interest rather than a sharp surge or decline.