Sima started his task after his father’s death in 109 BCE. Three years later he was made court astrologer. In 105 BCE, he was also one of the scholars chosen to reform the Qin calendar and produce a new Han calendar. Sima Qian’s learning was being recognised by all, and he was a valued councillor of the great emperor, who was now in his mid-fifties and had been on the throne for forty-one years. But then came a fateful change in his fortunes.
