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Ban Gu: copyist, creator and critic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2015

Michael Loewe
Michael Loewe*
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
*
manl100@cam.ac.uk
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Abstract

Ban Gu's compilation of the Han shu may be seen in the context of a number of intellectual and religious developments. By his time the idea of the Tian ming and the theory of the Wu xing were being applied to imperial times. Officials were quoting the sayings of Kongzi to support their arguments, and the writings of distinguished scholars such as Jing Fang, Liu Xiang, Liu Xin and Yang Xiong were well known. The religious controversies that had begun in the reign of Chengdi had died down. The pursuit of scholarship had received a new impetus thanks partly to the discussions held in 79 ce. Ban Gu drew somewhat freely on existing literature, being prudent to select material that would not arouse enmity; his sister called on official documents to complete her part of the history. As an innovator Ban Gu introduced chapters on subjects that had not been treated in the Shi ji, such as bibliography and the laws. Ready to criticize the actions of officials or the character of an emperor openly, he also contrived to do so implicitly.

Keywords

Ban GuHan shuChinaHistoriographyChinese emperor's authorityLegal writingsLiu Xin
Type
Articles
Information
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 78 , Issue 2 , June 2015 , pp. 333 - 355
Copyright
Copyright © SOAS, University of London 2015 

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References

1 References to the Shi ji (SJ), Han shu (HS) and Hou Han shu (HHS) are to the punctuated edition of Zhonghua shuju (Beijing 1959, 1962 and 1965).

2 See the statement by Zhang Yan 張晏 (c. 300 ce), Han shu 62, 2724 n. 13.

3 Han shu 80, 3324.

4 See Shi ji 130, 3321 for the statement by Zhang Yan 張晏.

5 Hou Han shu 40A, 1334.

6 e.g. Liang du fu 兩都賦, translated in Knechtges, David R., Wen xuan or Selections of Refined Literature (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1982), 93–180Google Scholar. For an account of Ban Gu's literary work, see Knechtges, , Ancient and Early Medieval Chinese Literature: A Reference Guide Part One (Leiden: Brill, 2010), 6–16CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

7 See HHS 84, 2784–5 for the orders given to Ban Zhao and Ma Xu 馬續 to complete the work.

8 Ban Gu was dismissed and arrested in 92, thanks to his association with the Dou 竇 family which had just been swept from power.

9 See HS 9, 298 and 299, note 1, for Ying Shao's statement that Han shu 9 and 10 were compiled by Ban Biao.

10 For these two reigns, see Loewe, Michael, “Han Yuandi, reigned 48 to 33 bce and his advisors”, Early China; 35, 2013, 361–93CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and “Chengdi's reign: problems and controversies”, in Nylan, Michael and Vankeerberghen, Griet (eds), Chang'an 26 bce: An Augustan Age in China (Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 2014), 221–38Google Scholar.

11 HS 10, 330.

12 HS 85, 3443–50, 3458–64 and 3465–72. Gu Yong never held high office. For his criticism of Chengdi, see Loewe, ““Chengdi's reign”.

13 Gan Chongke 甘忠可 and later Xia Heliang 夏賀良.

14 Loewe, The Men Who Governed Han China: Companion to A Biographical Dictionary of the Qin, Former Han and Xin Periods (Leiden: Brill, 2004)Google Scholar, ch. 13.

15 Loewe, Men Who Governed, ch. 15.

16 Loewe, , Dong Zhongshu, a “Confucian” Heritage and the Chunqiu fanlu (Leiden: Brill, 2011), 159–64CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

17 i.e. the schools of Shi Chou 施讎, Meng Xi 孟喜, Liang Qiuhe 梁丘賀 (Xuandi's reign) and Jing Fang 京房 the Younger (Chengdi's reign).

18 Loewe, , Crisis and Conflict in Han China 104 bc to ad 9 (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1974; rpt. London: Routledge, 2005)Google Scholar.

19 See HS 66, 2903. For a translation of this book see Levi, Jean, La Dispute sur le sel et le fer (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 2010)Google Scholar; for that of parts, see see Gale, Esson M., Discourses on Salt and Iron (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1931; rpt Taipei: Ch'eng-wen Publishing Company, 1967)Google Scholar. For a summary of the contents of the Yan tie lun, see Loewe, Crisis and Conflict in Han China, ch. 3; for its composition, see Loewe, “Han Yuandi, reigned 48 to 33 bce”.

20 See Loewe, Men who Governed, 347–9.

21 As is seen for the first time in a memorial of Sui Hong 眭弘 (Meng 孟), between 78 and 74 bce, Han is said to trace its descent from Yao, but there is no mention of Fire as a protecting agency (HS 75, 3154). Ban Biao wrote of Tang Yao's 唐堯 reliance on Fire, as inherited by Han (HS 100A, 4208) and Wang Mang maintained that the force of Fire, that had been Han's protector, had run its course (HS 99B, 4113); but the earliest formal recognition of this is seen in the terms shi zheng huo de 始正火德 in 26 (HHS 1A, 27; see Loewe, Men who Governed, 516). The assumption that Han had enjoyed this help since its foundation may perhaps be seen in a newly created chen 讖 text early in Guangwudi's reign (HHS 21, 763); see also HHS 30A, 1043. In tracing the lineage of the Han house, Ban Gu clearly associated its growth with the power of Fire (HS 1B, 82). Liu Xin wrote of Fire's patronage of Yao and Han Gaozu (HS 21B, 1015 and 1023).

22 For these discussions, see Som, Tjan Tjoe, Po Hu T'ung: The Comprehensive Discussions in the White Tiger Hall (2 volumes. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1949–52)Google Scholar.

23 See Cheng, Anne, Étude sur le Confucianisme Han: L’élaboration d'une tradition exégétique sur les classiques (Paris: Collège de France, 1985)Google Scholar.

24 See Loewe, Dong Zhongshu, 296–302.

25 See Loewe, Dong Zhongshu, 315.

26 See Loewe, Dong Zhongshu, 275–86.

27 HHS 3, 149.

28 HHS 84, 2784.

29 HHS 79A, 2548; see also HHS 60A, 2174.

30 See Loewe, Men Who Governed, ch. 8.

31 It is estimated that of the 677 items listed in the catalogue of the Han shu (HS 30), as many as 524 no longer survive, but we do not know at what stages these losses were incurred; see Bodde, in Twitchett, Denis and Loewe, Michael (eds), The Cambridge History of China. Volume I: The Ch'in and Han Empires 221 b.c.–a.d. 220 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986), 71CrossRefGoogle Scholar. For an account of the various incidents in which collections of books were destroyed, see Drège, Jean-Pierre, Les bibliothèques en Chine au temps des manuscrits jusqu'au Xe siècle (Paris: École Française d'Extrême-Orient, 1991), 18–46Google Scholar.

32 HHS 49, 1629.

33 See Kametar, Takigawaō 瀧川龜太郎, Shiki kaichū kōshō 史記會注考證 (10 vols. Tokyo: Tōhō bunka gakuin Tōkyō kenkyūjo, 1932–34Google Scholar; rpt Beijing: Wenxue guji kanhang she, 1955) vol. 10, Shiki sōron 史記總論, pp. 122–3.

34 Hulsewé expresses this view forcibly in relation to the chapters of the Shi ji that concern Zhang Qian and the Western Regions (SJ 123 and HS 96 and 61). See his China in Central Asia: The Early Stages: 125 b.c.–a.d. 23 (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1979), 12–25Google Scholar; and “The problem of the authenticity of Shih-chi ch. 123, the memoir on Ta Yüan”, T'oung Pao LXI/1–3, 1975 83–147. With some moderation, Hervouet reached the same conclusion in respect of the biographies of Sima Xiangru in the two histories (SJ ch. 117 and HS ch. 57); see Hervouet, Yves, “La valeur relative des textes du Che ki et du Han chou”, Mélanges de sinologie offerts à Monsieur Paul Demiéville II (Paris: Bibliothèque de l'Institut des hautes études chinoises, 1974), 55–76Google Scholar. For a detailed study, see Kern, Martin, “The ‘biography of Sima Xiangru’ and the question of the Fu in Sima Qian's Shiji”, Journal of the American Oriental Society, 123/2, 2003, 303–16CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

35 E.g., SJ 110, 2895 simply refers to a letter sent by Maodun to the Empress Lü as “braggart” (wang 忘); HS 94A, 3754 summarizes its text.

36 HS 22, 1035; see below.

37 Ban Gu includes notes on the changes introduced in the text of the hymns by Kuang Heng 匡衡 (died 30 or 29 bce). For a study of these hymns, see Kern, Martin, Die Hymnen der chinesischen Staatsopfer (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1997)Google Scholar.

38 Questions have been raised and different opinions expressed from the time of Sima Zhen司馬貞 (eighth century) to that of Takigawa (twentieth century). It has been variously suggested that: (a) we have surviving parts of an original Bing shu of Sima Qian; (b) the whole chapter was inserted by Chu Shaosun; (c) the second section should be attached to SJ 26 “Li shu”; and (d) the treatise includes a certain amount of material taken from later commentaries. See Takigawa 瀧川龜太郎, Shiki kaichū kōshō 25, 1.

39 SJ 26, 1260.

40 HS 21A, 955.

41 i.e. 鐘律 zhong lü, bells and pipes.

42 A long passage in HS 21A, 961–2 relates the three stages of the San tong to three of the pitch-pipes, identifying Huangzhong 黃鐘 as Tian tong 天統, Linzhong 林鐘 as Di tong 地統, and Taizu 太族 as Ren tong 人統, and discusses their significance in cosmological terms. The twelve pitch-pipes are named with their relationship to each of the twelve months in the Yue ling; e.g. Qiyou, Chen 陳奇猷, Lü shi chunqiu jiaoshi 呂氏春秋校釋 (Taipei: Huazheng shuju, 1988)Google Scholar 1 “Meng chun ji” 孟春紀), 1, Li ji (Shisan jing zhushu, 1815) 14.9a and Wendian, Liu 劉文典, Huai nan hong lie ji jie 淮南鴻烈集解 (Shanghai: Shangwu yinshuguan, 1923Google Scholar; reprinted, with punctuation by Feng Yi 馮逸 and Qiao Hua 喬華, Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1989) original edition 5 (“Shi zi” 時則) 1a. For a somewhat different application of the concept of San tong, as seen in the Chunqiu fanlu, see Loewe, Dong Zhongshu, 296–302.

43 HS 21B, 1011–24. The Shi jing sketches the ancestry and descent of the earliest rulers with the patronage of one of the Wu xing. Much of this account accords with the statements made by Wang Mang to validate his exercise of imperial authority.

44 HS 21B, 1024.

45 For a full account of the part played by Liu Xiang and Liu Xin, see van der Loon, P., “On the transmission of Kuan-tzŭ”; T'oung Pao XLI/4–5, 1952, 357–93CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

46 Takigawa Kametarō, Shiki kaichū kōshō 27, 3 cites this opinion of Chen Renxi 陳仁錫 (1581–1636).

47 According to HHS 84, 2784–5, Ma Xu was ordered to complete the Han shu subsequently to Ban Zhao's work. See Hulsewé, , “Notes on the historiography of the Han period”, in Beasley, W.G. and Pulleyblank, E.G. (eds), Historians of China and Japan (London: Oxford University Press, 1961), 38–9Google Scholar.

48 HS 26, 1273, SJ 27, 1289–1311.

49 HS 26, 1301–12.

50 Xin shu, juan 1 pian 1.

51 SJ 6, 276–8 for part 1; pp. 278–82 for part 2 section 1; and pp. 283–4 for part 2 section 2. See Nienhauser, William H. Jr. (ed.), The Grand Scribe's Records. Vol. 1: The Basic Annals of Pre-Han China (Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1994), 163Google Scholar, n. 371.

52 SJ 48, 1962–5.

53 HS 31, pp. 1821–5.

54 HS 24A, 1128–30.

55 HS 49, 2277, 2278–83, 2283–9 and 2291–9.

56 SJ 105, 2797–813; for these cases, see Hsu, Elisabeth, Pulse Diagnosis in Early Chinese Medicine: The Telling Touch (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010)Google Scholar.

57 HS 56, pp. 2495–505, 2506–13 and 2513–23; see Loewe, Dong Zhongshu, 86–100.

58 HS 65, 2864 and 2868.

59 SJ 117, 3002–68, HS 57A, B 2534–605.

60 See note 34 above.

61 See Loewe, “Han Yuandi, reigned 48 to 33 bce, and his advisors”, Early China, 35–6, 363–93.

62 Liqi, Wang 王利器, Yantie lun jiaozhu 鹽鐵論校注 (2nd ed.Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1992), 60Google Scholar, 613 gives this name as Zhu Zibo 朱子伯.

63 HS 66, 2903; Han shu bu zhu 66.16b; Yan tie lun 60, 613.

64 For the Wang ming lun, see HS 100A, 4208–12. For translation of parts, see Theodore de Bary, Wm., Chan, Wing-tsit and Watson, Burton, Sources of Chinese Tradition (New York and London: Columbia University Press, 1960, rpt. 1964), 176–80Google Scholar; for Liu Xin's letter, see HS 36, 1968–71 (for a translation see Loewe, , “Liu Xiang and Liu Xin”, in Nylan, Michael and Vankeerberghen, Griet (eds), Chang'an 26 bce: An Augustan Age in China (Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 2014), 380–9)Google Scholar and see below; for Yang Xiong's writings see Han shu 87; and Nylan, Michael, The Canon of Supreme Mystery, by Yang Xiong: A Translation with Commentary of the T'ai Hsüan Ching (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993)Google Scholar; Yang Xiong and the Pleasures of Reading and Classical Learning in Han China (New Haven: The American Oriental Society, 2011)Google Scholar; Exemplary Figures: A Complete Translation of Yang Xiong's Fayan (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2013)Google Scholar.

65 E.g. see SJ 60, 2105 liu nian san yue wu shen shuo yi hai 六年三月戊申朔乙亥 “On the day Yihai of the third month, whose first day was Wushen, of the sixth year”. This form is seen regularly in the administrative documents of Western Han that have been found at the sites of Juyan.

66 SJ 60, 2114.

67 For examination of the issues involved in this chapter, see Loewe, Men Who Governed, ch. 12.

68 HHS 79A, 2548.

69 E.g. SJ 18 to 22 (tables 6 to 10); HS 14 to 18 (tables 2 to 6).

70 E.g. SJ 14–17 (tables 2–5); HS 13 and 19b (tables 1and 7). Han shu 20 Gu jin ren biao 古今人表, which is also set in horizontal form, is somewhat puzzling. The table sets out the names of those persons who have featured in China's past history, beginning with the legendary ruler Tai Hao di 太昊帝 and closing with Wu Guang 吳廣, who is said to have started the uprising against Qin in 209 bce. The entries are arrayed in rows according to the virtues or achievements of the persons named, and there are no indications of date. The table closes before the foundation of Han, and in no way includes persons who could be termed “jin 今”.

71 See Loewe, Men Who Governed, chs 7 and 8.

72 The office of Protector General was established in 59 bce and lasted until 16 ce at least.

73 Hulsewé, China in Central Asia, 10.

74 For this date see HS 28A, 1543.

75 Some of the documents found at Yinwan, dating around 10 bce, may well have been the preliminary reports of this type of information that were sent annually from the commanderies to the central government, with greater detail than that seen in HS 28. It is not inconceivable that summaries of these detailed reports would have been made in Chang'an, for the use of senior officials there.

76 Hulsewé, A.F.P., Remnants of Han Law (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1955), 314–6Google Scholar.

77 See Loewe, , in Nylan, Michael and Loewe, Michael (eds), China's Early Empires: A Re-appraisal (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 255Google Scholar.

78 Loewe, , Records of Han Administration (2 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1967), II, 227–49Google Scholar, documents UD 8 and UD 9.

79 See Shuihudi Qin mu zhujian 睡虎地秦墓竹簡, ed. Shuihudi Qin mu zhujian zhengli xiaozu 睡虎地秦墓竹簡整理小組 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1990)Google Scholar for collections of strips now entitled Qin lü shi ba zhong 秦律十八種, Xiao lü 效律, Qin lü za chao 秦律雜抄, Fa lü da wen 法律答問 and Feng zhen shi 封診式, and Hulsewé, , Remnants of Ch'in la: An Annotated Translation of the Ch'in Legal and Administrative Rules of the 3rd Century b.c. Discovered in Yün-meng Prefecture, Hu-pei Province in 1975 (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1985)Google Scholar. See also Zhangjiashan Han mu zhujian 張家山漢墓竹簡, ed. Zhangjiashan ersiqi hao Han mu zhujian zhengli xiaozu 張家山二四七號漢墓竹簡整理小組 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 2001)Google Scholar, for strips now entitled Er nian lü ling 二年律令, Zou yan shu 奏讞書; see also Loewe, China's Early Empires, 261–-5.

80 See Loewe, Dong Zhongshu, 132. For the distinction between these two persons, each of whom was involved in commenting on the Yi, see Hulsewé, , “The two early Han I Ching specialists called Ching Fang 京房”, T'oung Pao LXXII, 1986, 161–2CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Han shu 27 repeatedly cites from the Jing Fang yi zhuan 京房易傳, but these passages are to be distinguished from the text of a work entitled Jing shi yi zhuan 京氏易傳 that is included in the Han Wei congshu. This latter work includes material that is fundamentally different from the citations in HS 27, following out the hexagrams in an order that varies from that of our received text and of the manuscript from Mawangdui. For doubts regarding the authenticity of the Jing shi yi zhuan (maddeningly written as Jing Fang yi zhuan in the table of contents of the Han Wei cong shu), see de Crespigny, Rafe, Portents of Protest in the Later Han Dynasty: The Memorials of Hsiang K'ai to Emperor Huan (Canberra: Faculty of Asian Studies, 1976), 70–1Google Scholar. See also Yu, Guo 郭彧, Jing shi yi yuan shu 京氏易源流 (Beijing: Huaxia chubanshe, 2007)Google Scholar.

81 HS 27A, 1317.

82 For this and other examples, see Loewe, Dong Zhongshu, 132.

83 Wolfram Eberhard, “Beiträge zur kosmologischen Spekulation der Chinesen der Han-Zeit” vol. I (Baessler Archiv 16), 1–100; vol. II (Sitzungsberichte der Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Berlin: Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1933), 937–79; Dubs, H.H., The History of the Former Han Dynasty (3 vols, Waverley: Baltimore Press, Inc., 1938–55)Google Scholar; see I, 165–6, and similar appendices, and as cited by Bielenstein, Hans, “An interpretation of the portents in the Ts'ien-Han-shu”, Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities 22, 1950, 127–43Google Scholar.

84 HS 27B(2), 1434–5.

85 E.g. HS 27B(2), 1434, for an incident dated 596 bce.

86 HS 85, 3443–50 for 29 bce; 3458–64 for 15 bce; and 3465–72 for 12 bce.

87 Zhao Feiyan was established as Chengdi's empress in 16; reduced to commoner status in Wang Mang's time she took her own life. Her sister Zhao Zhaoyi succeeded Zhao Feiyan as a winner of Chengdi's affections and committed suicide after his death.

88 HS 36, 1968–71.

89 HS 36, 1970.

90 Zhui xue zhi shi 綴學之十, i.e. “antiquarians” rather than scholars proper; see Da Dai liji (cited by Shen Qinhan 沈欽韓, 1775–1832, in Han shu bu zhu 36.34a note).

91 In 5 ce Liu Xin and three others were ennobled for their part in putting the Mingtang and Biyong in order; HS 12, 359; 18, 716.

92 HS 22, 1035.

93 These were individuals chosen for privileged treatment on account of their age, the services they had rendered or their qualities, as a means of showing respect and encouragement to follow their example.

94 See Han shu bu zhu 22.7b for doubts expressed by Shen Qinhan 沈欽韓 (1775–1832) over the accuracy of this figure in view of an entry for Liu De's writings in HS 30 which reads 230 pian (untraced).

95 See Balazs, Etienne, Chinese Civilization and Bureaucracy: Variations on a Theme (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1964)Google Scholar, chapter 13 “Political philosophy and social crisis at the end of the Han dynasty”; see also Loewe, , “The failure of the Confucian ethic in Later Han times”, in Kuhfus, Peter M. (ed.), China–Dimensionen der Geschichte: Festschrift für Tilemann Grimm anlässlich seiner Emeritierung (Tübingen: Attempto Verlag, 1990), 179–202Google Scholar; rpt. Loewe, , Divination, Mythology and Monarchy in Han China (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), 249–66Google Scholar.