Hanshu, also known as pre-Hanshu, has a total volume of 120. Its main account began in the first year of Emperor Gaozu (206 BC) and ended in the fourth year of Emperor Wang Mang (23 BC), covering the historical events of the Western Han Dynasty in 230 years (including the short-lived Wang Mang regime). It is another important historical book in ancient China after Historical Records.
Its editor, Ban Gu (32-92), was born in Fufeng Anling (now east of Xianyang City, Shaanxi Province) in the Eastern Han Dynasty. "Smart since childhood", "I can be a writer at the age of nine, and I can recite poems and fu"; As an adult, I read many books. "The words of nine streams and a hundred schools of thought are all poor." Because Historical Records only wrote the early years of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty, many people wrote sequels for it at that time. According to the records in the Book of Changes, there are more than ten people who wrote the sequel to Historical Records, such as Liu Xiang, Liu Xin, and so on, whose title is still called Historical Records. Ban Biao, Ban Gu's father, was not satisfied with these sequels, so he wrote sixty-five biographies for Historical Records. After Ban Biao's death, Ban Gu, who was only in his twenties, began to sort out his father's manuscripts, determined to follow in his father's footsteps, and completed this masterpiece after Historical Records. Unexpectedly, just after working for a few years, someone wrote a letter to Emperor Han Ming, accusing him of "writing national history privately". Ban Gu was unjustly arrested and imprisoned, and all the manuscripts were confiscated. Later, thanks to his brother Ban Chao, who went to Luoyang, the capital, and wrote a letter to defend himself, the court released him. In this way, Ban Gu's manuscript was seen by Emperor Han Ming. Ming Di appreciated Ban Gu's talent, called him to Luoyang and appointed him as a historian of Lantai. Later, he was promoted to Lang, secretary of the Canon School, and asked him to continue the task of compiling history. Since then, Ban Gu has officially started the compilation of Hanshu. He thought hard and revised it repeatedly. Twenty-five years later, he finally finished most of the book before his death. The other unfinished tables and chronicles were written by his sister Ban Zhao and his compatriot Ma Xu.
Hanshu is a great historical work, with twelve "Ji" stories about the deeds of the Western Han emperor. Seventy biographies of various figures, ethnic minorities and foreign countries; Ten kinds of "chronicles", which specifically introduce laws and regulations, astronomy and geography and various social phenomena; Eight tables of history. This book has 800,000 words. The historical materials in the book are very rich and informative. The first part of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was basically written according to historical records. In the later period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, in addition to absorbing the information of Ban Biao's suicide note and more than a dozen historical books at that time, a large number of letters, memorials, poems, Ji similar to Ju Zhu, astronomical almanac, and Wen Ting by Ban and his son were also adopted. Many original historical materials were completely recorded in the book. For example, Biography of Jia Yi entered the Public Security Policy Memorial Hall. The Biography of Chao Cuo recorded some notes, such as "Giving Good Strategies" and "Teaching Prince Shu". In the past, some people criticized the theory of Hanshu from a literary perspective; "Meng Jian picked up a generation of books, lived in imperial edicts, and the performances of famous ministers were sparse." In fact, from the history books, this is its advantage. Many original historical materials can't be seen today, but thanks to the income of Hanshu, they are preserved for us. The chronicle of Hanshu is a book of historical records, but there are four more chronicles of criminal law, geography, literature and art and five elements than Shiji, which contain a wider range of historical phenomena. In particular, the Records of Literature and Art records the origin, existence and content of books at that time and the previous generation, and classifies them. It is the earliest bibliography in China. Later "Official History" mostly imitated it and wrote this part. As a historical book, Hanshu is characterized by paying attention to the systematicness and integrity of historical events, striving to finish everything and describe it clearly. This provides great convenience for us to understand and study the history of the Western Han Dynasty. Up to now, anyone who studies the history of the Western Han Dynasty takes Hanshu as the basic historical data.
Genre theory. Hanshu and Shiji are biographical history books. The difference is that Historical Records is a general history from the legend of "Three Emperors and Five Emperors" to the end of the era of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. However, Hanshu is a dynastic history, which specifically describes the historical events in the Western Han Dynasty. This biographical genre of dynastic history is the creation of Ban Gu. Since then, the "official history" of all previous dynasties has adopted this genre. This is Ban Gu's great contribution to China's historiography. "Historian" said: "Every elephant learns from Xijing and ends up poor, and Liu abandons it and prospers, including one generation. Write a book. The words are concise and the things are confidential, so scholars seek discussion to make it easy to operate. It has not changed since ancient times. " Today, Liu Zhiji's evaluation seems fair, which shows the important position of Ban Gu and Hanshu in the history of Chinese historiography.
As a feudal history book, Hanshu's guiding ideology is obviously feudal. The Han Dynasty advocated "inheriting Yao Yun" and "establishing imperial industry". Liu Bang, Emperor Gaozu of Han Dynasty, was "a virtuous and intelligent SHEN WOO". This put a mysterious coat on the feudal rule of the Eastern Han Dynasty, which was established by inheriting the authenticity of the Western Han Dynasty. It created a theological and legal basis for its existence. Hanshu holds that people should have a "sense of responsibility" towards feudal rulers. We must obey and persist in order to maintain the hierarchical ruling order in feudal society. It is not difficult to see that Ban Gu's historical thought is a reflection of the times and his own situation. The Eastern Han Dynasty at that time. Feudal autocracy further developed; Ban Gu inherited the authentic learning of Confucianism and had a feudal official family background. This is quite different from the situation when Sima Qian wrote Historical Records. People always like to compare Ban Gu with Ma Qian, but we must first analyze the similarities and differences of his time, personal experience and family background in order to have a correct understanding of historicism. Otherwise, both praise and criticism have lost their proper basis. The feudal orthodoxy of Hanshu has an inestimable influence on the official history of China.
Pay attention to its version when reading Hanshu. Dian Ben published by Wu Yingtang in Qianlong period of Qing Dynasty and Ju Ben published in Tongzhi period of Qing Dynasty are both better versions. In particular, the patchwork edition of the Commercial Press is Jing You's edition of the Northern Song Dynasty with few mistakes, which is a rare version of Hanshu. Now, the printed punctuation of Hanshu, newly published by Zhonghua Book Company, has been carefully revised by experts and scholars, making it more convenient to read. Since the publication of Hanshu, many people have annotated it in the past dynasties. Among them, Yan Shigu received 23 notes from the previous generation of the Tang Dynasty, and Wang Xianqian received more than 40 comments from the Tang Dynasty in the Qing Dynasty, making supplementary notes to Hanshu. These annotations have made a detailed textual research on the sound, meaning and historical facts in Hanshu, which has provided convenience for us to read Hanshu and become an important tool to use Hanshu today.