The tomb and the ancestral temple of Sima Qian are located on the hillock of south Zhichuan Town in Hancheng City, Shaanxi Province. Sima Qian Temple leans close to the mountain. From the top, you can see the Yellow River to the east, lofty Mt. Liang to the west, the ancient Great Wall of Wei to the south, and the River Zhi to the north. It has a really ideal location, surrounded with mountains and rivers. Spectacular natural surroundings and beautiful views reflect the builder's noble-minded personality and outstanding achievements.

Sima Qian (145BC-?) was born in Xiayang in the Western Han Dynasty (206BC-25AD). He was a famous historiographer and litterateur. He wrote Shi Ji (The Records of the Great Historian), which has 130 articles and over 520,000 characters. It created the first general history style in China, and it has far-reaching influence on the development of the historiography and literary in later ages.

Sima Qian also created the Taichu Calendar through coolaboration with others. This is the lunar calendar we still use today. He was the first to put the 24 solar terms into the calendar, and made the first lunar month the beginning of the Chinese year. This made it possible for the formation of the Chinese New Year.

The ancestral temple of Sima Qian has four terraces, and the terraces are connected together by stone steps. Layer upon layer, it has 99 steps altogether. There is a wooden memorial archway in front of each hathpace. From bottom to top, there are three memorial archways. At the first terrace, the archway is marked with four characters "Gao Shan Yang Zhi" (meaning you should look up if you want to see the high mountain), which extols Sima Qian's noble charactes. The second is marked with five characters "Long Men Cai Zi Gu LI"(Birthplace of the Talented". The third is with four characters "Gao Shan Zhi Yang"(South of the Heshan Mountain), indicating the place where Sima Qian had spent his early years.

The last terrace was the tomb of Sima Qian, and it is Sima Qian's cenotaph built in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368). In front of the tomb stands a stele engraved with characters "Tai Shi Ci" (Memorial Hall to the Historian Sima Qian).

The memorial hall and the tomb are respectively located in the front and the back yards of the temple. The sacrificial hall and the lounge are at the front yard. Here you can find many stone steles of the Song, Jin, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties inscribed with poems praising Sima Qian. These poems are delicate and refined, and the writings are bold and graceful. At the lintel of the lounge a wooden board is marked with four characters " Jun Zi Wan Nian" (A Man of Nobility Lives for 10,000 Years). In the back of the hall, there is a vivid sitting statue of Sima Qian, which has a serious and lofty quality. The statue has a square face and long beard, with the two eyebrows extending to the temples.

Finally, you can visit the brick tomb of Sima Qian, which was built in the Yuan Dynasty, and is still well preserved. The tomb contained Sima Qian's personal effects. It is 2.15 meters high, with a girth of about 13 meters, and features 16 patterns of the Eight Diagrams and flowers. So it is also called "Eight-diagram Tomb". Above the tomb an old cypress spreads its dense branches like a vigorous dragon. It is said it was planted in the Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD).