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漢書
The ''Book of Han'' is a history of China finished in 111 CE, covering the Western, or Former Han dynasty from the first emperor in 206 BCE to the fall of Wang Mang in 23 CE. The work was composed by Ban Gu (32–92 CE), an Eastern Han court official, with the help of his sister Ban Zhao, continuing the work of their father, Ban Biao. They modelled their work on the ''Records of the Grand Historian'' (), a cross-dynastic general history, but theirs was the first in this annals-biography form to cover a single dynasty. It is the best source, sometimes the only one, for many topics such as literature in this period. The ''Book of Han'' is also called the ''Book of the Former Han'' () to distinguish it from the ''Book of the Later Han'' () which covers the Eastern Han period (25–220 CE), and was composed in the fifth century by Fan Ye (398–445 CE). Contents This history developed from a continuation of Sima Qian's ''Records of the Grand Histori ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Book Of The Later Han
The ''Book of the Later Han'', also known as the ''History of the Later Han'' and by its Chinese name ''Hou Hanshu'' (), is one of the Twenty-Four Histories and covers the history of the Han dynasty from 6 to 189 CE, a period known as the Later or Eastern Han. The book was compiled by Fan Ye and others in the 5th century during the Liu Song dynasty, using a number of earlier histories and documents as sources. Background In 23 CE, Han dynasty official Wang Mang was overthrown by a peasants' revolt known as the Red Eyebrows. His fall separates the Early (or Western) Han dynasty from the Later (or Eastern) Han dynasty. As an orthodox history, the book is unusual in being completed over two hundred years after the fall of the dynasty. Fan Ye's primary source was the '' Dongguan Hanji'' (東觀漢記; "Han Records of the Eastern Lodge"), which was written during the Han dynasty itself. Contents References Citations Sources ; General * Chavannes, Édouard (1906 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Liu Xin (scholar)
Liu Xin (23 CE), courtesy name Zijun, was a Chinese astronomer, classicist, imperial librarian, mathematician, and politician during the Han dynasty#Western Han, Western Han and Xin dynasty, Xin dynasties. He later changed his name to Liu Xiu () due to the naming taboo of Emperor Ai of Han. He was the son of Imperial librarian Liu Xiang (scholar), Liu Xiang and an associate of other eminent thinkers such as the philosopher Huan Tan. Liu was a prominent supporter of the Old Text classics. Early life Liu Xin was the son of Confucian scholar Liu Xiang (scholar), Liu Xiang (77–6 BCE). Liu was a distant relative of Liu Bang, the founder of the Han dynasty, and was thus a member of the ruling dynastic clan (the Liu (surname), Liu family). Liu Xin's paternal grandfather ranked as a ''hou'' (, roughly 'Ranged Marquis#Han dynasty, marquess'). As a young man, Liu helped his father in cataloguing the contents of the imperial library, and his friendship with the well-connected mi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wang Mang
Wang Mang (45 BCE6 October 23 CE), courtesy name Jujun, officially known as the Shijianguo Emperor (), was the founder and the only emperor of the short-lived Chinese Xin dynasty. He was originally an official and consort kin of the Han dynasty and later seized the throne in 9 CE. The Han dynasty was restored after his overthrow, and his rule marked the separation between the Western Han dynasty (before Xin) and Eastern Han dynasty (after Xin). Traditional Chinese historiography viewed Wang as a tyrant and usurper, while more recently, some historians have portrayed him as a visionary and selfless social reformer. During his reign, he abolished slavery and initiated a land redistribution program. Though a learned Confucian scholar who sought to implement the harmonious society he saw in the Chinese classics, his efforts ended in chaos. Wang Mang's late reign saw large-scale peasant rebellions, most notably the revolt of the Red Eyebrows. In October 23 CE, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emperor Hui Of Han
Emperor Hui of Han (; 210 BC – 26 September 188 BC), born Liu Ying (), was the second emperor of the Han dynasty. He was the second son of Emperor Gaozu, the first Han emperor, and the only son of Empress Lü from the powerful Lü clan. Emperor Hui is generally remembered as a somewhat weak character dominated and terrorized by his mother, Empress Lü, who became Empress Dowager after she encouraged her husband to command personally the war against Ying Bu, in which he died eventually from an arrow wound sustained during the war. Huidi was personally kind and well-intentioned, simple, hesitant, soft-hearted and generous, unable to escape the impact of his mother's viciousness. He tried to protect his younger half-brother Ruyi, Prince Yin of Zhao from being murdered by Empress Dowager Lü, but failed. After that, he indulged himself in drinking and sex, gave up government affairs to his mother, and died at a relatively young age. Emperor Hui's wife was Empress Zhang Yan, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Twenty-Four Histories
The ''Twenty-Four Histories'', also known as the ''Orthodox Histories'' (), are a collection of official histories detailing the dynasties of China, from the legendary Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors in the 4th millennium BC to the Ming dynasty in the 17th century. The Han dynasty official Sima Qian established many of the conventions of the genre, but the form was not fixed until much later. Starting with the Tang dynasty, each dynasty established an official office to write the history of its predecessor using official court records, partly in order to establish its own link to the earliest times. As fixed and edited in the Qing dynasty, the whole set contains 3,213 volumes and about 40 million words. It is considered one of the most important sources on Chinese history and culture. The title ''Twenty-Four Histories'' dates from 1775, which was the 40th year in the reign of the Qianlong Emperor. This was when the last volume, the '' History of Ming'', was reworked and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ban Zhao
Ban Zhao (; 45 or 49 – c. 117/120 CE), courtesy name Huiban (), was a Chinese historian, philosopher, and politician. She was the first known female Chinese historian and, along with Pamphile of Epidaurus, one of the first known female historians. She completed her brother Ban Gu's work on the history of the Western Han, the ''Book of Han''. She also wrote '' Lessons for Women'', an influential work on women's conduct. She also had great interest in astronomy and mathematics and wrote poems, commemorative writings, argumentations, commentaries, essays and several longer works, not all of which survive. She became China's most famous female scholar and an instructor of Taoist sexual practices for the imperial family. Ban Zhao is depicted in the Wu Shuang Pu (無雙譜, Table of Peerless Heroes) by Jin Guliang. Family Ban Zhao was born in Anling, near modern Xianyang, Shaanxi province. At age fourteen, she married a local resident named Cao Shishu and was called in the c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ban Biao
Ban Biao (, 3–54 CE), courtesy name (), was a Chinese historian and politician born in what is now Xianyang, Shaanxi during the Han dynasty. He was the nephew of Consort Ban, a famous poet and concubine to Emperor Cheng. Ban Biao's mother was of Xiongnu origin, daughter of Jin Chang (金敞), an attendant to Emperor Yuan of Han (48–33 BCE). Jin Chang was himself a grandson of Jin Lun (金伦), son of Xiongnu King Xiutu and brother of Jin Midi, who had been adopted by Han Wudi and founded of the Jin name (金). The Xiongnu origins of Ban Biao on the maternal side might help explain the skills of the Ban family in dealing with matters related to China's history and foreign relations. Ban Biao began the ''Book of Han'', which was completed by his son, Ban Gu and daughter Ban Zhao while their brother Ban Chao was a famous general who contributed his stories to expand the Book of Han. Ban Biao wrote an essay titled ''Treatise on the Mandate of Kings'' (王命論), which was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Burton Watson
Burton Dewitt Watson (June 13, 1925April 1, 2017) was an American sinologist, translator, and writer known for his English translations of Chinese and Japanese literature. Watson's translations received many awards, including the Gold Medal Award of the Translation Center at Columbia University in 1979, the PEN Translation Prize in 1982 for his translation with Hiroaki Sato of ''From the Country of Eight Islands: An Anthology of Japanese Poetry'', and again in 1995 for ''Selected Poems of Su Tung-p'o''. In 2015, at age 88, Watson was awarded the PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation for his long and prolific translation career. Life and career Watson was born on June 13, 1925, in New Rochelle, New York, where his father was a hotel manager. In 1943, at age 17, Watson dropped out of high school to join the U.S. Navy. He was stationed on repair vessels in the South Pacific during the final years of World War II. His ship was in the Marshall Islands when the war ended in Au ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Records Of The Three Kingdoms
The ''Records of the Three Kingdoms'' is a Chinese official history written by Chen Shou in the late 3rd century CE, covering the end of the Han dynasty (220 CE) and the subsequent Three Kingdoms period (220–280 CE). It is regarded as to be the authoritative source text for these periods. Compiled following the reunification of China under the Jin dynasty (266–420), the work chronicles the political, social, and military events within rival states Cao Wei, Shu Han and Eastern Wu into a single text organized by individual biography. The ''Records'' are the primary source of information for the 14th-century historical novel '' Romance of the Three Kingdoms'', considered to be one of the four classic novels emblematic of written vernacular Chinese. While large subsections of the work have been selected and translated into English, the entire corpus has yet to receive an unabridged English translation. Origin and structure The '' Book of Han'' and ''Records of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ming Dynasty
The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of China ruled by the Han people, the majority ethnic group in China. Although the primary capital of Beijing fell in 1644 to a rebellion led by Li Zicheng (who established the short-lived Shun dynasty), numerous rump state, rump regimes ruled by remnants of the House of Zhu, Ming imperial family, collectively called the Southern Ming, survived until 1662. The Ming dynasty's founder, the Hongwu Emperor (1368–1398), attempted to create a society of self-sufficient rural communities ordered in a rigid, immobile system that would guarantee and support a permanent class of soldiers for his dynasty: the empire's standing army exceeded one million troops and the naval history of China, navy's dockyards in Nanjing were the largest in the world. H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
