The ''Records of Heroes'' (英雄記), also known as the Records of Late Han Heroes (漢末英雄記) is a Chinese historical text of the
end of the Han dynasty
The end of the (Eastern) Han dynasty was the period of History of China, Chinese history from 189 to 220 CE, roughly coinciding with the tumultuous reign of the Han dynasty's last ruler, Emperor Xian of Han, Emperor Xian. It was followed by the ...
. Written by
Wang Can, it contains various stories of the late Han warlords. The book was lost at some point in history, and the only surviving accounts of it are from the ''
Annotated Records of the Three Kingdoms'' by
Pei Songzhi. During the
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 ...
, Wang Shijian (王世間) compiled these fragments and published them as a collection.
The exact year in which it was written cannot be ascertained. However, among its stories which are clearly defined by year, as the year 208's anecdote that "in the middle of
Battle of Red Cliff, Cao Cao tried to cross the Yangtze River by connecting lots of rafts, however, as
Zhou Yu
Zhou Yu (, ) (175–210), courtesy name Gongjin (), was a Chinese military general and strategist serving under the warlord Sun Ce in the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. After Sun Ce died in the year 200, he continued serving under Sun Qua ...
delivered fire attacks on it, Cao Cao had to retreat"
(this story can be found at book 771 of ''
Imperial Readings of the Taiping Era'') It is likely that the book was written between 208 and 217 when Wang Can died.
The ''
Book of Sui'' says that "There were eight volumes by Wang Can named ''Records of Late Han Heroes''. They are lost. There were 10 volumes during the Liang (梁) period."
The ''
Old Book of Tang
The ''Old Book of Tang'', or simply the ''Book of Tang'', is the first classic historical work about the Tang dynasty, comprising 200 chapters, and is one of the Twenty-Four Histories. Originally compiled during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdo ...
'' says that "
ne ofWang Can's ten volumes were named ''Records of Late Han Heroes''". Here it is likely that ''Records of Late Han Heroes'' is identical to ''Records of Heroes''.
Regarding the words "Late Han" in the title, the ''
Annotated Bibliography of the Four Treasuries'' argued that "presumably, Wang Can died when the Han dynasty still existed. Though there were so many symptoms that the Han dynasty was near its death, Emperor Xian still was on the throne. Wang Can surely could not use the words of "Late Han" as the title of his book, therefore "Late Han" is thought to be introduced by future generations. However as Wang Can described Cao Cao as "holy ruler" (聖君) in his "
A Poem of Military Service" (從軍詩), we cannot say with full certainty that Wang Can did not put "Late Han" in the title of his book".
[（按粲卒于建安中。其时黄星虽兆，玉步未更，不应名书以“汉末”，似后人之所追题。然考粲《从军诗》中已称曹操为圣君，则俨以魏为新朝，此名不足怪矣。）''Annotated Bibliography of the Four Treasuries'', vol.61]
References
{{reflist
Chinese history texts
3rd-century history books
History books about the Han dynasty