Abstract: The establishment of the conception of fiction experienced three main stages respectively represented by “The Records of Art and Literature” in The Historical Records， “The Records of Classics and Books” in The History of Sui and “The Records of Art and Literature” in The New History of Tang. In this process， fiction， as a conception of a literary genre， also changed from “the end of philosophical writings” to “the rest of historical records”. Thus， “fiction” inclines to be confused with both “biography” and “unofficial historical record”. Relatively speaking， its more likely to be confused with the category of biography. The confusion between fictions and unofficial historical records is mainly about the mixed records in public and private book lists in successive dynasties and the confusion between the contents of the two kinds of works. This confusion is resulted from the fact that they are both different from official history and they both record hearsay and anecdotes of historical figures. The difference between them lies in the fact that fictions are too detailed about the anecdotes and unrelated with politics， military and the concept of good and evil which historians are interested in.

Key words: fictions, unofficial historical records, confusion, connection, distinction