Chen Sheng陈胜

Where the histories differ

The Records of the Grand Historian gives Chen Sheng a separate Hereditary House, while the History of Han demotes him to a biography combined with Xiang Yu.

• histories differChen Sheng's position in official histories

  The Records of the Grand Historian gives Chen Sheng a separate chapter, 'The Hereditary House of Chen She,' placing it at the level of hereditary houses (originally the position of feudal lords). The 'Preface to the Grand Historian's Self-Narration' explicitly states: 「秦失其政，而陈涉发迹，诸侯作难，风起云蒸，卒亡秦族。天下之端，自涉发难。作陈涉世家第十八。」（《史记·太史公自序》）The Book of Han combines him with Xiang Yu into 'The Biographies of Chen Sheng and Xiang Ji,' demoting them to biographies, with the two sharing one volume. The biography first records '陈胜字涉，阳城人。吴广，字叔，阳夏人也。', followed by '项籍字羽，下相人也'（《汉书·陈胜项籍传》）The two books treat the position of the initiator of the uprising differently.