Book of Later Han
From Freepedia
The Book of Later Han (Chinese: 後漢書; pinyin: hòu hàn shū) is one of the official Chinese historical works which was compiled by Fan Ye (Traditional Chinese: 范瞱; Simplified Chinese: 范晔; 398-445), using a number of earlier histories and documents as sources. It covers the history of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220).
The Book of Later Han is part of the Four Early Histories, together with:
- Shiji (Book of the Great Historian) by Sima Qian
- Hanshu (漢書, Book of Han) by Ban Gu (and completed by his sister Ban Zhao)
- Sanguo Zhi (三國志, "Records of the Three Kingdoms") by Chen Shou
These Four Early Histories are in turn part of the larger canon of Chinese histories known as the Twenty-Four Histories.
Fan Ye used a number of earlier histories, including the Shiji by Sima Qian and the Hanshu by Ban Gu, plus many others (including some that were also entitled Hou Hanshu), most of which have not survived intact. Fan Ye, himself, briefly describes in the text his main sources for the 'Chapter on the Western Regions' in his Commentary, at the end of the chapter:
“Ban Gu has recorded in detail the local conditions and customs of each kingdom in the Hanshu [History of the Former Han Dynasty]. Now, the events of the Jianwu period (25-55 CE) onward have been revised for this Section on the Western Regions, using those that differ from earlier records, as reported by Ban Yong at the end of the reign of Emperor An (107-125 CE).”
References
- Hill, John E. 2003. "Annotated Translation of the Chapter on the Western Regions according to the Hou Hanshu." 2nd Draft Edition. [1]
- Yu, Taishan. 2004. A History of the Relationships between the Western and Eastern Han, Wei, Jin, Northern and Southern Dynasties and the Western Regions. Sino-Platonic Papers No. 131 March, 2004. Dept. of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Pennsylvania.
External links
- Silk Road Seattle (The Silk Road Seattle website contains many useful resources including a number of full-text historical works, maps, photos, etc.)
