Editing Sima Qian (section)

==Family==
[[File:司马迁墓 - panoramio.jpg|right|thumb|The tomb and [[ancestral temple]] of Sima Qian, located in [[Hancheng]], [[Shaanxi]].]]
Sima Qian is the son of court astrologer (太史令) [[Sima Tan]], who is a descendant of [[Qin (state)|Qin]] general Sima Cuo (司馬錯), the commander of Qin army in the state's conquest of [[Ba (state)|Ba]] and [[Shu (kingdom)|Shu]].

Before his castration, Sima Qian was recorded to have two sons and a daughter. While little is recorded of his sons, his daughter later married Yang Chang (楊敞) of the [[Yang clan of Hongnong]], and had sons Yang Zhong (楊忠) and Yang Yun (楊惲; died {{circa}}February 55 BC<ref>([五凤二年]十二月，平通侯阳恽坐前为光禄勋有罪，免为庶人。不悔过，怨望，大逆不道，要斩。) ''[[Book of Han]]'', vol.08. The month corresponds to 22 Jan to 19 Feb 55 BC in the proleptic Julian calendar. ''Zizhi Tongjian'' dated Yang's death to the 4th year of the ''Wufeng'' era ({{circa}}54 BC).</ref>). It was Yang Yun who hid his grandfather's great work, and decided to release it during the reign of [[Emperor Xuan of Han|Emperor Xuan]].

=== Unsubstantiated descendants ===
According to local legend, Sima Qian had two sons, the older named Sima Lin (司馬臨) and younger named Sima Guan (司馬觀), who fled the capital to Xu Village (徐村) in what is now Shanxi province during the Li Ling affair, for fear of falling victim to [[Nine familial exterminations|familial extermination]]. They changed their surnames to [[Tong (surname)|Tong]] (同 = 丨+ 司) and [[Féng]] (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.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Shi ji zong lun|date=2011|publisher=Jiu zhou chu ban she|others=Zhang xue cheng, (1972- ), 张学成, (1972- )|isbn=9787510810381|location=Bei jing|oclc=862521140}}</ref>

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.