Qin Zang

At the end of the Qin Dynasty, Shi Ying Shou, the bottom-level keeper of Shiqu Pavilion (National Archives) in Xianyang Palace, took advantage of his position under the book-burning order to hide 473 volumes of banned books and top-secret files in the wall. In the next thirty years, he struggled to survive as a low-level official who "knew too much" in the historical torrent of the collapse of the Qin Empire, the conflict between Chu and Han, and the establishment of the Han Dynasty. The knowledge he hid influenced Xiao He's establishment, Sima Qian's history writing, and later academics, but his name did not appear in any official records.