Sima Qian Temple and Tomb

The Sima Qian Temple stands on a dramatic escarpment ten kilometres south of Hancheng, above the Yellow River gorge. Sima Qian (145–86 BC), China's first great historian and the author of the Shiji (Records of the Grand Historian), was a native of this area, and his tomb and commemorative temple have been maintained here since the Western Jin dynasty. The site was listed as a National Key Cultural Relic in 1961.

The approach is steep: a staircase of several hundred steps climbs the loess slope from the base of the cliff. The temple complex at the top consists of a series of halls and pavilions on different terraces, culminating in a small octagonal mausoleum marked by a cypress tree said to be over a thousand years old. The views from the top take in a wide curve of the Yellow River below and the mountains of Shanxi on the far bank. The halls contain inscribed stele and reproductions of passages from the Shiji, and the site has a pilgrimage quality — Chinese scholars and students make the climb as a tribute.

Hancheng city, the base for visiting both the temple and Dangjia Village, is accessible by express bus or train from Xi'an.

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Sima Qian completed the Shiji — the Records of the Grand Historian — after being castrated on the orders of Emperor Wu for defending a disgraced general. He chose to survive the punishment rather than die with his honour intact because, he wrote in a letter, "a man must consider his work. I had not completed my task." The Shiji, covering over two thousand years of Chinese history, remains in print and in use as a historical source.

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