Though bitter, good medicine cures illness. Though it may hurt, loyal criticism will have beneficial effects.

His main responsibilities were managing the imperial library and maintaining or reforming the calendar. Sima Qian (c. The Chinese historical form of dynasty history or jizhuanti history of dynasties was codified in the second dynastic history by Ban Gu's Book of Han but historians regard Sima's work as their model which stands as the "official format" of the history of China.

Although he worked as the Court Astrologer (Chinese: 太史令; Tàishǐ Lìng) later generations refer to him as the Grand Historian (Chinese: 太史公; taishigong or tai-shih-kung) for his monumental work. Sima Qian (c.