Essentials of the Book of Han

Author: Qian Hang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-05-01
Features: The Book of Han consists of one hundred chapters and one hundred twenty volumes, written by Ban Gu of the Eastern Han Dynasty. It is an ancient Chinese dynastic history in the Annals and Biographies style, recording the history of the Western Han Dynasty from the first year of Emperor Gaozu of Han (206 BC) to the fourth year of Emperor Diwang of Wang Mang (23 AD), covering a total of two hundred thirty years, hence also known as The Former Han History. This book selects and translates a portion of chapters from the Seventy Biographies of The Book of Han, which are of higher literary and ideological value. The Imperial Annals, Tables, and Chronicles have not been included as they are not suitable for general readers. Since The Book of Han is widely recognized as a difficult classical text, background introductions and analyses of the themes, ideological content, and writing characteristics have been added before each chapter to help readers deepen their understanding. The notes are concise, focusing on conveying the main ideas, and archaic characters have been replaced with more commonly used ones as much as possible.