Sima Qian’s hometown advertising sloganjiqiu

There have always been two versions of Sima Qian’s hometown: Hancheng, Shaanxi and Hejin, Shanxi. The earliest person to speak of Hancheng in Shaanxi was Zhang Shoujie of the Tang Dynasty. He said in "Historical Records" "Justice": Longmen Mountain is in Xiayang County (today's Hancheng). At the same time, there were people with two surnames, Feng and Tong, living in Xucun, Guidong Township, Hancheng, and they all believed themselves to be descendants of Tai Shigong. They claimed that the surname was originally Sima. Because Sima Qian was castrated, descendants felt disgraceful and changed their surname: adding a vertical line to the left of the word "SI" in Sima to become the word "同"; adding two dots to the left of the word "马" , became the word "Feng", and is supported by the Sima Qian Temple and Tomb located in Zhichuan Town, Hancheng.

Those who advocate Hejin in Shanxi believe that since ancient times, Longmen (including Longmen Mountain and Yumenkou) has been recorded in Hejin City, Shanxi. The Yellow River flows from the northwest to the southeast of Yumenkou, then turns sharply and flows from the north to the south. It is exactly where Sima Qian said, "the sun of the rivers and mountains for farming and animal husbandry". It is reported that there used to be a stele "Hometown of Sima, Taishi of the Han Dynasty" here, but it was a pity that this stele was destroyed during the construction of water conservancy. And there are still residents with the Sima surname in the village. It is also believed that Sima Qian's tomb is not in Hancheng, but in Xishaling, not far from Xinfeng Village, Hejin City. There are two records in "Pingyang Prefecture", both of which clearly state that Sima Qian was from Hejin. One is Volume 23. Page 580 of "Characters" clearly contains Sima Tan, Sima Qian and his son. The description of Sima Tan is as follows: "Sima Tan, a native of Longmen, was the Taishi Ling in Jianyuan." The description of Sima Qian is: "Sima Qian, courtesy name Zichang, recited ancient prose at the age of ten, traveled to Jianghuai, Fuyuan, Hunan, Shewen and Wenzhou Si, passed the Liang Dynasty and returned. In Taichu Middle School, he was angry because he was offended by Li Ling, so he compiled "Historical Records". Both Liu Xiang and Yang Xiong praised him as a good historian. In the chapter "Hejin County" on pages 892 to 893 of "Epitaph", the tombs of eight rural sages are recorded. Among them is not only the tomb of Sima Qian, but also the one with the most detailed description. The original text is: "Han Taishi Cemetery, fifteen miles west of the county. "Shui Jing Zhu" says: "The tomb of Sima's eldest son has a temple in front of the tomb and a stele in front of the temple. In the fourth year of Yongjia, Yin Ji, the prefect of Hanyang, paid homage to the tomb, which was a great merit. Then he built a stone chamber, erected monuments, and planted cypress trees. Tai Shigong said in his own words: He moved to Longmen, where his tomb is located. I don’t know where it is now, maybe it’s not in the river, or it’s on the west bank of the river. One record confirms that Sima Qian was from Longmen, Pingyang Prefecture, Shanxi. The second record confirms that Sima Qian was also buried in his hometown of Hejin after his death. Taken together, it can be concluded that Sima Qian was a native of Hejin during his lifetime and was buried in Hejin after his death. (Note: "Pingyang Prefecture" was compiled by the famous scholar Kong Shangren during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty. At that time, Pingyang Prefecture governed the counties of Linfen and Yuncheng, as well as Lingshi County and Shilou County. This chronicle is called "Pingyang Prefecture" by today's historians. As a "precious record" and "compiled by famous experts", those who advocate Hejin City in Shanxi believe that its historical materials are reliable and authoritative)