Balan Tai Ji Xiao Zhu

Author: Ban Gu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-08-01
Features: Ban Gu's main work is the Book of Han, in addition to forty-one pieces of various literary styles. In the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Pu compiled these forty-one pieces into Ban Mantai Collection, which was included in One Hundred and Thirty Famous Collections of the Han, Wei, and Six Dynasties.
Ban Gu, styled Mengjian, was a native of Anling in Fufeng (now eastern Xianyang, Shaanxi Province). He was born in the eighth year of the Jianwu era during the Eastern Han Dynasty under Emperor Guangwu and died in the fourth year of the Yongyuan era under Emperor Hedi, at the age of sixty-one. His great-grandfather, Ban Kuang, served as the Left Cao and Yueqi Xiaowei during Emperor Cheng of the Western Han Dynasty. His uncle, Ban Bo, was proficient in the Book of Songs, Book of Documents, and Analects and later became a Zhongchangshi. His second uncle, Ban Bo, was a learned and versatile scholar who worked alongside Liu Xiang in collating imperial archives, earning praise and copies from Emperor Cheng. His grandfather, Ban Zhi, served as the Governor of Guangping during the reign of Emperor Ai of the Western Han Dynasty. His uncle, Ban Si, was a follower of the teachings of Laozi and Zhuangzi. His father, Ban Biao, was erudite and fond of writing, composing sixty-five chapters of the Post-Han Chronicle.
Growing up in an academic family and not needing to worry about livelihood, Ban Gu was able to dedicate himself to deep study and thought, writing the great work Book of Han and becoming a major historian after Sima Qian, as well as a literary figure. Ban Gu's life can be roughly divided into four periods.