▁around ▁ 3 3 0 ▁B CE , ▁became ▁a ▁famous ▁classic ▁of ▁philosoph ical ▁E c lect ic ism , ▁had ▁sections ▁repeatedly ▁lost ▁and ▁recovered ▁from ▁political ▁and ▁military ▁destruction , ▁until ▁only ▁one ▁original ▁chapter ▁existed ▁around ▁ 1 0 6 0 ▁CE , ▁and ▁later ▁sch ol ars ▁partially ▁re construct ed ▁the ▁text ▁from ▁quotes ▁in ▁over ▁sevent y ▁Chinese ▁class ics . ▁For ▁example , ▁the ▁Syn cret ist ▁Hu ain an zi ▁quotes ▁the ▁Sh izi ▁ 2 7 ▁times ▁( Le ▁Bl anc ▁ 1 9 8 5 : 8 3 ). ▁The ▁Chinese ▁Imperial ▁Library ▁catalog s ▁in ▁the ▁standard ▁Tw enty - F our ▁Histor ies ▁invent ory ▁the ▁Sh izi ▁text ▁in ▁twenty ▁sections ▁from ▁the ▁Han ▁through ▁Tang ▁dynast ies , ▁and ▁then ▁only ▁one ▁section ▁in ▁the ▁Song ▁dynast y . ▁The ▁most ▁complete ▁reconst ruction ▁was ▁done ▁in ▁ 1 8 1 2 , ▁but ▁even ▁it ▁only ▁recovered ▁about ▁ 1 5 ▁percent ▁of ▁the ▁original ▁text ▁( about ▁ 1 0 , 0 0 0 ▁of ▁ 6 0 , 0 0 0 ▁characters ). ▁Techn ically ▁speaking , ▁Paul ▁Fischer ▁( 2 0 1 2 : 4 1 7 ) ▁describes ▁the ▁Sh izi ▁text ▁as ▁" sim ult ane ously ▁lost ▁and ▁ext ant ". ▁ ▁The ▁oldest ▁surv iving ▁reference ▁to ▁Sh izi ▁is ▁found ▁in ▁the ▁( 9 1 ▁B CE ) ▁Sh iji ▁" S cri bal ▁Record " ▁bi ography ▁of