now Shanxi province during the Li Ling affair, for fear of falling victim to familial extermination. They changed their surnames to Tong (同 = 丨+ 司) and Feng (馮 = 仌 + 馬), respectively, to hide their origins while continuing to secretly offer sacrifices to the Sima ancestors. To this day, people living in the village with surnames Feng and Tong are forbidden from intermarrying on the grounds that the relationship would be incestuous. According to the Book of Han, Wang Mang sent an expedition to search for and ennoble a male-line descent of Sima Qian as 史通子 ("Viscount of Historical Mastery"), although it was not recorded who received this title of nobility. A Qing dynasty stele 重修太史廟記 (Records of the Renovation of the Temple of the Grand Historian) erected in the nearby county seat Han City (韓城) claims that the title was given to the grandson of Sima Lin. Notes References Citations Sources Further reading Markley, J. Peace and Peril. Sima Qian's portrayal of Han - Xiongnu relations (Silk Road Studies XIII), Turnhout, 2016, Allen, J.R "An Introductory Study of Narrative Structure in the Shi ji" pages 31–61 from Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews, Volume 3, Issue 1, 1981. Allen, J.R. "Records of the Historian" pages 259–271 from Masterworks of Asian Literature in Comparative Perspective: A Guide for Teaching, Armonk: Sharpe, 1994. Beasley, W. G & Pulleyblank, E. G Historians of China and Japan, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1961. Dubs, H.H. "History and Historians under the Han" pages 213-218 from Journal of Asian Studies, Volume 20, Issue # 2, 1961. Durrant S.W "Self as the Intersection of Tradition: The Autobiographical Writings of Ssu-Ch'ien" pages 33–40 from Journal of the American Oriental Society, Volume 106, Issue # 1, 1986. Cardner, C. S Traditional Historiography, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1970. Hardy, G.R "Can an Ancient Chinese historian Contribute to Modern Western Theory?" pages 20–38 from History and Theory, Volume 33, Issue # 1, 1994. Kroll, J.L "Ssu-ma Ch'ien Literary Theory and Literary Practice" pages 313-325 from Altorientalische Forshungen, Volume 4, 1976. Li, W.Y "The Idea of Authority in the Shi chi" pages 345-405 from Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, Volume 54, Issue # 2, 1994. Moloughney, B. "From Biographical History to Historical Biography: A Transformation in Chinese Historical Writings" pages 1–30 from East Asian History, Volume 4, Issue 1, 1992. External links Significance of Shiji on literature Sima Qian: China's 'grand