This history developed from a continuation of
Sima Qian's
Records of the Grand Historian, initiated by Ban Gu's father,
Ban Biao, at the beginning of the Later Han dynasty. This work is usually referred to as
Later Traditions (後傳), which indicates that the elder Ban's work was meant to be a continuation. Other scholars of the time, including
Liu Xin and
Yang Xiong also worked on continuations of Sima's history. After Ban Biao's death, his eldest son
Ban Gu was dissatisfied with what his father had completed, and he began a new history that started with the beginning of the Han dynasty. This distinguished it from Sima Qian's history, which had begun with China's earliest legendary rulers. In this way, Ban Gu initiated the Jizhuanti () format for dynastic histories that was to remain the model for the official histories until modern times. For the periods where they overlapped, Ban Gu adopted nearly verbatim much of Sima Qian's material, though in some cases he also expanded it. He also incorporated at least some of what his father had written, though it is difficult to know how much. The completed work ran to a total of 100 fascicles 卷, and included essays on
law,
science,
geography, and
literature. Ban Gu's younger sister
Ban Zhao finished writing the book in 111, 19 years after Ban Gu had died in prison. An outstanding scholar in her own right, she is thought to have written volumes 13–20 (eight chronological tables) and 26 (treatise on astronomy), the latter with the help of Ma Xu. As with the
Records of the Grand Historian,
Zhang Qian, a notable Chinese general who travelled to the west, was a key source for the cultural and socio-economic data on the
Western Regions contained in the 96th fascicle. The "Annals" section and the three chapters covering the reign of Wang Mang were translated into English by
Homer H. Dubs. Other chapters have been rendered into English by
A. F. P. Hulsewé, Clyde B. Sargent,
Nancy Lee Swann, and
Burton Watson. The text includes a description of the Triple Concordance Calendar System 三統曆 developed by
Liu Xin in fascicle 21. This is translated to English by Cullen. Ban Gu's history set the standard for the writings of later Chinese dynasties, and today it is a reference used to study the Han period. It is regarded as one of the "Four Histories" 四史 of the
Twenty-Four Histories canon, together with the
Records of the Grand Historian,
Records of the Three Kingdoms and
History of the Later Han.
Annals Ji (紀, annal), 12 volumes. Emperors' biographies in strict annal form, which offer a chronological overview of the most important occurrences, as seen from the imperial court.
Chronological tables Biao (表, tables), 8 volumes. Chronological tables of important people.
Treatises Zhi (志, memoirs), 10 volumes. Each treatise describes an area of effort of the state.
Biographies Zhuan (傳, exemplary traditions, usually translated as biographies), 70 volumes. Biographies of important people. The biographies confine themselves to the description of events that clearly show the exemplary character of the person. Two or more people are treated in one main article, as they belong to the same class of people. The last articles describe the relations between China and the various peoples at and beyond the frontiers, including the contested areas of
Ba in present-day Yunnan;
Nanyue in present-day Guangdong, Guangxi, and Vietnam; and
Minyue in present-day Fujian.
Mention of Japan The people of Japan make their first unambiguous appearance in written history in this book (
Book of Han, Volume 28, Treatise on Geography), in which it is recorded, "The people of
Wo are located across the ocean from
Lelang Commandery, are divided into more than one hundred tribes, and come to offer tribute from time to time." It is later recorded that in 57, the southern Wa kingdom of
Na sent an emissary named Taifu to pay tribute to
Emperor Guangwu and received
a golden seal. The seal itself was discovered in northern Kyūshū in the 18th century. According to the
Book of Wei, the most powerful kingdom on the
archipelago in the third century was called
Yamatai and was ruled by the legendary
Queen Himiko.
Commentaries The comments of both
Yan Shigu (581–645) and Su Lin are included in the Palace Edition. The Hanshu Buzhu 漢書補注 by
Wang Xianqian (1842–1918) contains notes by a number commentators, including Wang himself. Hanshu Kuiguan 漢書管窺 by Yang Shuda is a modern commentary. ==See also==