Sima Qian 
Historical Record 

Historical Records is a historian written by the Western Han historian Sima Qian. It is the first general history of historians in Chinese history. It records a history of more than 3000 years from the time of the Yellow Emperor in ancient legends to the four years of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. Historical Records is listed as the top of "Twenty-Four History", and is collectively called "Pre-Four History" with the later Hanshu, Later Hanshu and Three Kingdoms, which has had a profound influence on the development of historiography and literature in later generations. The method of historiography created by Ji Zhuan style was passed down by the "Official History" of the subsequent dynasties. Historical Records is also considered to be an excellent literary work and has an important position in the history of Chinese literature. It was praised by Lu Xun as "the swan song of the historian, the Li Sao without rhyme", which has high literary value. Liu Xiang and others believe that this book is "good at narrative, debating but not flashy, and quality but not slanderous."