光武帝
Appointed to minor sinecures, he began to work on literature and history, annotating the "Zhuangzi" and the "Huainanzi", and writing the "Chronicles of the Nine States" (). Lamenting the absence of a coherent history of the Eastern Han, Sima Biao began collating various sources into what would become his greatest work, the "Continuation of the Book of Han" (), covering the two hundred years from Emperor Guangwu of Han to Emperor Xian of Han. He also edited Qiao Zhou's "Examination of Ancient History" (), altering over two hundred events so they would comply with the Bamboo Annals.