Shizhoupian

The Shizhoupian dictionary, which was probably compiled sometime between 700 BCE to 200 BCE, originally consisted of 15 chapters (篇 piān), but six were lost by the reign of Emperor Guangwu of Han (25–56 CE) and the other nine chapters, except for scattered references, were lost by the Jin dynasty (266–420).

[3] The philologist Wang Guowei (1877–1927) disputed this traditional account with epigraphical evidence that the structure and style of the Shizhoupian characters did not match inscriptions from the Western Zhou period.

[4] Wang also doubted that zhòu (籀) was a person's surname, interpreting it to mean 讀 'to study and understand the meaning of books', 'to read', and concluded the dictionary title was likely taken from the first sentence Taishi zhoushu (太史籀書, "the Grand Historian reads the records").

[5][6][7] The linguist Tang Lan (唐蘭; 1901–1979) hypothetically identified Shi Zhou (史籀), who is only recorded in Shizhoupian contexts, with the differently named Shi Liu (史留) listed in the Book of Han chapter on "Notable Persons Past and Present".

An ancient ding tripodal cauldron in the collection of the Shanghai Museum mentioned a Historian Liu from the correct historical period.