24 Histories provides English translations of the Twenty-Four Dynastic Histories (二十四史), the canonical collection of Chinese historical records spanning from ancient times through the Ming Dynasty.
The 24 Histories are a series of historical texts compiled over centuries, documenting Chinese civilization from its legendary origins to 1644 CE. They include the famous Records of the Grand Historian (史記) by Sima Qian, along with official histories of successive dynasties. Together they comprise over 40 million characters and represent one of the world's most comprehensive historical archives.
This site includes both historical translations and new AI-assisted translations:
Historical translations: Where available, we incorporate public domain translations by scholars such as Herbert J. Allen (1894).
New translations: Additional content has been translated by Garrett M. Petersen (2025) with AI assistance using Claude Sonnet 4. These translations aim for accuracy and readability while preserving the character of Classical Chinese historical writing.
Each chapter indicates its translator(s) and provides proper citations.
Original Chinese text is sourced from Chinese Notes, which provides digitized versions of the classical texts.
The goal of this project is to make these foundational historical texts accessible to English readers. While many chapters remain untranslated, we are working to expand coverage over time.
Questions or feedback? Contact Garrett M. Petersen at @GarrettPetersen on X.