According to the 2nd century BC historical text "Records of the Grand Historian" by Sima Qian, the Qin state traced its origin to Zhuanxu, one of the legendary Five Emperors in ancient times. One of his descendants, Boyi, was granted the family name of Yíng by Emperor Shun. During the Xia and Shang dynasties, the Yíng clan split in two: a Western branch in Quanqiu (present-day Lixian in Gansu) and another branch that lived east of the Yellow River. The latter became the ancestors of the rulers of the later Zhao state.