The ''Book of the Later Han'', also known as the ''History of the Later Han'' and by its Chinese name ''Hou Hanshu'' (), is one of the

Twenty-Four Histories The ''Twenty-Four Histories'' (), also known as the ''Orthodox Histories'' (), are the Chinese official dynastic histories covering from the earliest dynasty in 3000 BC to the Ming dynasty in the 17th century. The Han dynasty official Sima Qia ...

and covers the history of the

Han dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...

from 6 to 189 CE, a period known as the Later or

Eastern Han The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...

. The book was compiled by Fan Ye and others in the 5th century during the

Liu Song dynasty Song, known as Liu Song (), Former Song (前宋) or Song of (the) Southern Dynasty (南朝宋) in historiography, was an imperial dynasty of China and the first of the four Southern dynasties during the Northern and Southern dynasties period ...

, using a number of earlier histories and documents as sources.

Background

In 23 CE, Han dynasty official

Wang Mang Wang Mang () (c. 45 – 6 October 23 CE), courtesy name Jujun (), was the founder and the only emperor of the short-lived Chinese Xin dynasty. He was originally an official and consort kin of the Han dynasty and later seized the thron ...

was overthrown by a peasants' revolt known as the

Red Eyebrows The Red Eyebrows () was one of the two major peasant rebellion movements against Wang Mang's short-lived Xin dynasty, the other being Lülin. It was so named because the rebels painted their eyebrows red. The rebellion, initially active in the ...

. His fall separates the Early (or Western) Han Dynasty from the Later (or Eastern) Han Dynasty. As an orthodox history, the book is unusual in being completed over two hundred years after the fall of the dynasty. Fan Ye's primary source was the ''Dongguan Han Ji'' (東觀漢記; "Han Records of the Eastern Lodge"), which was written during the Han dynasty itself.

References

Citations

Sources

; General * Chavannes, Édouard (1906).
Trois généraux chinois de la dynastie des Han orientaux. Pan Tch’ao (32-102 p.C.); – son fils Pan Yong; – Leang K’in (112 p.C.). Chapitre LXXVII du ''Heou Han chou''.
'' T'oung Pao'', Série II, Vol. 7, pp. 210–269. * * * Yu, Taishan. 2004. ''A History of the Relationships between the Western and Eastern Han, Wei, Jin, Northern and Southern Dynasties and the Western Regions''. Sino-Platonic Papers No. 131 March, 2004. Dept. of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Pennsylvania. * Tan, Jiajian
''Hou Hanshu'' (''Book of Later Han'')
''

Encyclopedia of China The ''Encyclopedia of China'' () is the first large-entry modern encyclopedia in the Chinese language. The compilation began in 1978. Published by the Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, the encyclopedia was issued one volume at a time, begin ...

'' (Chinese Literature Edition), 1st ed. * Contains Wylie's English translation of Volumes 85 (History of the Eastern Barbarians), 86 (History of the Southern and South-Western Barbarians) and 87 (History of the Western Keang) of the ''Book of the Later Han''.

External links

Silk Road Seattle - University of Washington
(The Silk Road Seattle website contains many useful resources including a number of full-text historical works, maps, photos, etc.)
Hou Han Shu

Chinese text with matching English vocabulary {{Han dynasty topics Twenty-Four Histories 5th-century history books History books about the Han dynasty Liu Song dynasty 5th-century Chinese books

Background

Contents

References

Citations

Sources

Further reading

External links