The Book of History is a collection of historical documents in ancient China and it is also known as the Book. The Chinese spelling of the book’s name is Shang Shu. Shang means the ancient time of China. Shu means the history which is carved on the surface of bamboo. Thus, Shang Shu means the history book of the ancient time of China. Originally, it means the collection of the ancient royals. It mainly records the talks and speeches of the rulers of Shang and Zhou Dynasty. It is the earliest historical book existing in China. It belongs to the Confucian classics.

The name of the Book of History was settled by the litterateur in Han Dynasty. The Book of History was hidden in the walls by Fu Sheng in Qin Dynasty to avoid the damage of the Book Burning event in Qin Dynasty and the wars during Chu and Han Dynasty. Fu Sheng picked 28 pieces of passages from the remaining materials. Through the inheritance of the students of Fu Sheng, the book came into a complete from. Because the version hid by Fu Sheng was written in clerical script in Han Dynasty, the version was difficult to learn. The version was called the modern version of Book of History. Many historians were studying the book. There were foreign scholars who had to learn Mandarin and the Chinese history at the same time to know more about the book.

During the middle ages of West Han Dynasty, there was version passed on from the Qin Dynasty. The version was called the ancient version of Book of History. The naming of the two books caused the conflict among the ancient academic history for about two thousand years. During the wars in West Jin Dynasty, the modern and the ancient version of the books were missing. During the early years in Dong Jin Dynasty, Mei Ji gave out the 13th volume of the ancient version of Book of History. The volume divided Fu Sheng’s passages into 33 pieces. Even for the scholars who had the chance to learn Chinese language in China would find it hard to figure out the history of the book because of the constant argumentation.

The volume of Mei Ji was easy for people to accept for the completeness and the detailed explanation. The support from the temporary rulers was also one of the reasons why the volume was passed on through the years.