The Shiji also claims that metal casting was introduced to the Dayuan region by Han deserters:

The Spring and Autumn Annals states that Sun Tzu was born in Qi, while the later Records of the Grand Historian ( Shiji ) states that Sun Tzu was a native of Wu.

One of the more well-known stories about Sun Tzu, taken from Shiji, illustrates Sun Tzu's temperament as follows: Before hiring Sun Tzu, the King of Wu tested Sun Tzu's skills by commanding him to train a harem of 180 concubines into soldiers.

* Li Shiji, Chinese general and later prime minister

The Shiji then explains that the Yuezhi originally inhabited the Gansu corridor, before they were defeated by the Xiongnu under Mao-tun and later his son in 176 BCE, forcing them to go beyond the territory of the Dayuan and resettle in the West by the banks of the Oxus, between the territory of the Dayuan and Bactria to the south.

) A calendar using this new year is often referred to as " the Xia Calendar " ( 夏曆 / 夏历 ), following the Shiji which states that under the Xia Dynasty, the year began on the second new moon after the winter solstice.

Before compiling Shiji, in 104 BC, Sima Qian created Taichuli ( 太初曆, which can be translated as ' The first calendar ') on the basis of the Qin calendar.

* Significance of Shiji on literature

The principal biography available to historians is included in Sima Qian's Shiji ; but, because the Shiji contains a large amount of ( possibly legendary ) material not confirmed by other sources, the biographical material on Confucius found in the Analects makes the Analects arguably the most reliable source of biographical information about Confucius.

In Siku Quanshu (; c. 618-907 AD ), Sima Zhen provides commentary on the prologue chapter to Sima Qian's Shiji, " Supplemental to the Historic Record: History of the Three August Ones ," wherein it is found that the Three August Ones are Nüwa, Fu Xi, and Shennong ; Fu Xi and Nüwa have the same last name, Feng ().

The kingdom is situated on a great river ( Indus )" ( Shiji, 123, Zhang Qian quote, trans.

" Besides the Huainanzi ( above ) mentioning a pair of yinglong pulling the chariot of Fuxi and Nüwa, analogous examples ( Visser 1913: 122-4 ) include legends of Huangdi ascending to heaven on a dragon ( Shiji ) and Yu riding a carriage drawn by two flying dragons ( Bowuzhi ).

Li Mi's general Xu Shiji, who controlled a major part of Li Mi's former territory, also submitted, and Emperor Gaozu, impressed with Xu's faithfulness to Li Mi, bestowed the imperial surname of Li on Xu.

The Shiji comments on the Caucasian-like appearance and the culture of the people around Dayuan:

“ The Son of Heaven on hearing all this reasoned thus: Ferghana ( Dayuan ) and the possessions of Bactria and Parthia are large countries, full of rare things, with a population living in fixed abodes and given to occupations somewhat identical with those of the Chinese people, but with weak armies, and placing great value on the rich produce of China ” ( Shiji, 123 )

Qilian () is said to be as a Xiongnu word meaning " sky " () by Yan Shigu, a Tang Dynasty commentator on the Shiji.

As some of them were also Confucian scholars, Fusu counselled that, with the country newly unified, and enemies still not pacified, such a harsh measure imposed on those who respect Confucius would cause instability .< ref > In Chinese: " 於是使御史悉案問諸生 ， 諸生傳相告引 ， 乃自除 。< sup > 1 </ sup > 犯禁者四百六十餘人 ， 皆阬之咸陽 ， 使天下知之 ， 以懲後 。 益發謫徙邊 。 始皇長子扶蘇諫曰 ：「 天下初定 ， 遠方黔首未集 ， 諸生皆誦法孔子 ， 今上皆重法繩之 ， 臣恐天下不安 。 唯上察之 。」", from Shiji chapter 6.

The reports of Zhang Qian were put in writing in the Shiji (" Records of the Grand Historian ") by Sima Qian in the 1st century BC.

Also in the 2nd century BC, a Turkic tribe called O-kut or Wuqi 呼揭, 呼得, 乌揭, 乌护 who were described as a western enemy of the Huns ( referred to in Chinese sources, Shiji, 110 and Suishu, 84 ) were mentioned in the area of the Irtysh River, in present-day Lake Zaysan.

The deaths ( and lives ) of both Qu Yuan and Wu Zixu were recorded in Sima Qian's Shiji, completed 187 and 393 years after the events, respectively.

According to the Shiji, Zhao Gao's parents committed crimes and were punished.

However, Chinese histories since ancient works such as Shiji were also fairly liberal in terming local tribal chiefs as " king " of a particular territory ranging from vast to tiny, using convenient terms of the form "( locality )" + "( king )" such as Changshawang, " King of Changsha " which was briefly recognized as a kingdom but was usually a smaller part of Chu state or just a county of the Sui Dynasty state, or phrases such as Yiwang, " Yi ( Eastern ) Foreign (' barbarian ') king ( s )," while in other cases or by other authors other terms such as, " native chief " might be used for the same office.

By Han times – as seen in Sima Qian's account in the Shiji – the Yellow Emperor, who as lord of the underworld had been symbolically linked to the Xia, had become a historical ruler whose descendants were thought to have founded the Xia.

The reports of Zhang Qian were put in writing in the Shiji (" Records of the Grand Historian ") by Sima Qian in the 1st century BCE.

References to a Shu kingdom that can be reliably dated to such an early period in Chinese historical records are scant ( they were mentioned in Shiji as an ally of the Zhou who defeated the Shang ), but accounts of the legendary kings of Shu may be found in local annals.

According to the Shiji, grapes and alfalfa were introduced to China from Dayuan following Zhang Qian's embassy:

“ Thus more embassies were dispatched to An-si ( Parthia ), An-ts ' ai ( the Aorsi, or Alans ), Li-kan ( Syria under the Seleucids ), T ' iau-chi ( Chaldea ), and Shon-tu ( India )... As a rule, rather more than ten such missions went forward in the course of a year, and at the least five or six .” ( Shiji, 123 )

The reports of Zhang Qian were put in writing in Shiji (" Records of the Great Historian ") by Sima Qian in the 1st century BCE.

Sima Qian noted in Shiji that Huo Qubing refused to share his food with his soldiers when their provisions were low, and also regularly ordered his troops to dig up football fields for his personal amusement.

This work and the Shiji or Records of the Grand Historian, were regarded as the ultimate models by many generations of prose stylists in ancient China.

Sima's Shiji is respected as a model of biographical literature with high literary value and still stands as a " textbook " for the study of classical Chinese.

Early Chinese histories such as Shiji and Hanshu recorded that the Wusun had previously lived near the Yuezhi people in the Qilian and Dunhuang areas in Gansu ( different locations however have been suggested for these toponyms.

A traditional source for this period is the Shiji, or Records of the Grand Historian by Sima Qian.

Sima Zhen, who added a prologue for the Shiji, said his surname was Jiang ( 姜 ), and proceeded to list his successors.

The Shiji says Lü had a beautiful " dancing girl " in his household, with whom Chu became so infatuated that he asked for her.

In the Shiji, he criticized one of his sons for being a dullard.

Sima's famous letter to his friend Ren An about his sufferings during the Li Ling Affair and his perseverance in writing Shiji is today regarded as a highly admired example of literary prose style, studied widely in China even today.

The Shu was mentioned in Shiji as one of the allies of King Wu of Zhou who helped defeated the Shang in 1046BC at the Battle of Muye.

The word first came into common usage in the late 18th century with the publication of such works as Santō Kyōden's picturebook Shiji no yukikai ( 1798 ), and in the early 19th century with such works as Aikawa Minwa's Manga hyakujo ( 1814 ) and the celebrated Hokusai Manga books ( 1814 – 1834 ) containing assorted drawings from the sketchbooks of the famous ukiyo-e artist Hokusai.

With joint attacks by Silla and Tang armies under commander Li Shiji ( 594 – 669 ), the Kingdom of Goguryeo was destroyed by 668.

The Shiji states that King Cheng of Zhou, with the support of his regent and uncle, the Duke of Zhou, enfeoffed Weiziqi ( 微子啟 ), a brother of Di Xin, as the ruler of Wei.

The Xia Dynasty was described in classic texts such as the Classic of History ( Shujing ), the Bamboo Annals, and the Records of the Grand Historian ( Shiji ) by Sima Qian.

Although court records and other independent records existed beforehand, the definitive work in early Chinese historical writing was the Shiji ( 史記 / 史记 ), written by the Han Dynasty court historian Sima Qian ( 145 BCE-90 BCE ).

145 or 135 BCE – 86 BCE ), author of Shiji, which suggests the caveat that while many works now considered intentional or unintentional speculative fiction existed before the coining of the genre term, its concept in its broadest sense captures both a conscious and unconscious aspect of human psychology in making sense of the world, reacting to it, and creating imaginary, inventive, and artistic expressions, some of which underlie practical progress through interpersonal influences, social and cultural movements, scientific research and advances, and philosophy of science.

According to the Shiji ( c. 123 ) and the Hanshu ( c. 96 ), a daughter from the Han prince, Liu Jian, was sent to the ruler ( kunmo or kunmi ) of the Wusun between 110 BCE and 105 BCE.

In a similar story recorded in Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian ( or Shiji, compiled between 109 and 91 BC ), Jizi was enfeoffed by King Wu but did not become his subject.

Caijing has already lost one trial with Shiji Xinyuan ( 世纪星源 ), a listed company, following this judicial line of reasoning.

In Shiji it was called Yan Ze ( 鹽澤, literally Salt Marsh ), indicating its saline nature, and was located next to the ancient Loulan Kingdom.

According to the eighth century CE historian Sima Zhen's commentary to the second century BCE Shiji ( or, Records of the Grand Historian ), Shennong is a kinsman of the Yellow Emperor and is said to be an ancestor, or a patriarch, of the ancient forebears of the Chinese.

In 620, Li Shiji, in association with another Tang general who surrendered to Dou, Li Shanghu ( 李商胡 ), plotted to ambush Dou, but the plot was discovered ; Li Shanghu was killed, and Li Shiji fled back to Tang.

“ The capital of the kingdom of Dayuan is the city of Guishan ( Khujand ), distant from Chang ' an 12, 550 li ( Shiji, 123 calls the capital Ershi ).

To the south of them there is Daxia ( Bactrians ), to the west, Anxis ( Parthians ); to the north Kangju ( Sogdians ).” ( Shiji, 123. 5b )

Meanwhile, the Sui general Yang Yichen was having success against the rebels north of the Yellow River, killing Zhang Jincheng ( 張金稱 ) and Gao Shida ( 高士達 ), but Emperor Yang and his prime minister Yu Shiji, fearful of Yang Yichen's talent, ostensibly promoted Yang Yichen and recalled him to be a minister.