Houhanshu 後漢書

Houhanshu 後漢書 "Book of the Later Han" is the official dynastic history (zhengshi 正史) of the Later Han dynasty 後漢 (25-220 CE). This third official dynastic history was written by Fan Ye 范曄 (398–445, courtesy name Weizong 蔚宗).

Fan used the biographical-thematical style (jizhuanti 紀傳體) with three different types of chapters, namely 10 juan of imperial annals-biography (ji 紀), 60 chapters of normal and collective biographies (zhuan 傳), and 10 chapters of treatises (zhi 志). Fan Ye's work was interrupted by his execution, caused by his sidelining with Prince Liu Yikang 劉義康 (409–451), who rebelled against the emperor. The treatises were later supplemented by those from another history of the Later Han period, Xuhanshu 續漢書 "Sequel to the Hanshu", written by Sima Biao 司馬彪 (d. 306). These 20 chapters were called Xuhanzhi 續漢志 "Treatises of the Xuhanshu".

Sources for Fan Ye's book were, apart from Sima Biao's book, several earlier histories written on the Later Han period or parts of it (see Table 1), the most important being Dongguan hanji 東觀漢記, a book whose compilation began during the first decades of Later Han and extends until the last years of the rule of Emperor Ling 漢靈帝 (r. 167–188). Fan Ye did not exactly copy the structure of Sima's Hanshu.

Following the example of Hua Jiao's 華嶠 (d. 293, courtesy name Shujun 叔駿) Han houshu 後漢書, he inserted a collective imperial biography (ji) for empresses (10 Huanghou ji 皇后紀, with an appendix on princesses), while Ban Gu 班固 (32-92 CE), author of the Hanshu 漢書 (the official history of the Former Han), had assembled the biographies of the emperors' consorts and their kinsmen in a normal biography at the end of his book (Hanshu 97 Waiqi zhuan 外戚傳). This reflects the growing importance of the empresses in government during the Later Han period. Yet while the position of the consorts' biographies remained constant for all later dynastic histories, the type of chapter was downgraded from imperial annals (ji) to a normal biography (zhuan).

The collective biographies in the Houhanshu are those on imperial princes (14, 42, 50, 55), members of court factions (67 Danggu liezhuan 黨錮列傳), benevolent officials (76 Xunli liezhuan 循吏列傳), cruel officials (77 Kuli liezhuan 酷吏列傳), eunuchs (78 Huanzhe liezhuan 宦者列傳), Confucian scholars (79 Rulin liezhuan 儒林列傳), writers (80 Wenyuan liezhuan 文苑列傳), persons of moral excellence (81 Duxing liezhuan 獨行列傳), magicians and "immortals" (82 Fangshu liezhuan 方術列傳), scholars living in seclusion (83 Yimin liezhuan 逸民列傳), outstanding women (84 Lienü zhuan 列女傳), and "barbarian" peoples (85 Dongyi liezhuan 東夷列傳, 86 Nanman xinanyi liezhuan 南蠻西南夷列傳, 87 Xiqiang zhuan 西羌傳, 88 Xiyu zhuan 88 西域傳, 89 南匈奴列傳, 90 Wuhuan Xianbei liezhuan 烏桓鮮卑列傳).

Among the treatises, the monography about state coaches and court robes ([119-120] Yufu zhi 輿服志) was a new theme. The others are musical tuning and calendar ([91-93] Lüli zhi 律曆志), rituals and ceremonies (94-96 Liyi zhi 禮儀志), sacrifices (97 Jisi zhi 祭祀志), astronomy (100-102 Tianwen zhi 天文志), the Five Agents (103-108 Wuxing zhi 五行志), administrative geography (109-114 Junguo zhi 郡國志) and state offices (115-118 Baiguan zhi 百官志).

Several Qing period 清 (1644-1911) scholars compiled supplementary bibliographic chapters, to be found in the collection Ershiwushi bubian 二十五史補編. These are more or less collections of fragments based on quotations in other sources.

Liu Zhao 劉昭 (dates unknown), a Liang period 梁 (502-557) scholar, was the first to compare all different versions of histories of Later Han and he created a critical apparatus for Fan Ye's Houhanshu. Unfortunately it is lost except the commentary on the treatises. The reason for this its loss was its overlying by the commentaries of the Tang period 唐 (618-907) scholars Prince Li Xian 李賢 (654–684), Zhang Da'an 張大安 (d. 684) and Liu Nayan 劉納言 (dates unknown).

More modern commentaries were created by the Qing scholars Hui Dong 惠棟 (1697-1758) and Wang Xianqian 王先謙 (1842–1917) under the title Houhanshu jijie 後漢書集解.

There are seven alternative histories of the Later Han period that survive partially, the so-called Qijia Houhan shu 七家後漢書 "Seven histories of the Later Han dynasty". Fragments of these were collected by Wang Wentai 汪文臺 (1796–1844). The collection was annotated by Zhou Tianyou 周天游 and republished with the Shanghai guji press 上海古籍出版社 in 1986 under the title Bajia Houhan shu 八家後漢書 "Eight histories of the Later Han dynasty", additionally including a few fragments of Zhang Ying's 張瑩 Houhan nanji 後漢南記.

Zhang Fan's 張璠 (dates unknown, Cao-Wei period 曹魏, 220-265) book seems to be a chronicle, not a biographically arranged book, because it is found among the biannian (chronicle) texts in the Suishu 隋書 bibliography Jingji zhi 經籍志. This is also true for Yuan Hong's 袁宏 (328-376) Houhanji 後漢紀, which has wholly survived. The Suishu bibliography also lists a 100-juan long Houhanshu written by Xiao Zixian 蕭子顯 (author of the Nanqishu 南齊書, the official dynastic history of the Southern Qi 南齊, 479-502). It was already lost in the early Tang.

Apart from these the bibliographic chapter in the dynastic history Jiutangshu 舊唐書 lists Liu Yiqing's 劉義慶 Houhanshu (58 juan), Xie Chen's 謝沈 Houhanshu waizhuan 後漢書外傳 (10 juan), probably a history of the early Three Empires period, and Zhang Ying's (Hou)-Han nanji (58 juan). In the Xintangshu 新唐書 bibliography Zhang Mian's 張緬 Houhanlüe 後漢略 (27 juan) is listed.

All these parallel histories did not survive the political turmoils of the ninth and early tenth century, barring the above-mentioned fragments. The parallel history Dongguan hanji is sometimes also to be found in the section of dynastic histories. In the bibliographic chapter of the statecraft encyclopaedia Wenxian tongkao 文獻通考 Xiao Chang's 蕭常 book Xu houhanshu 續後漢書 is also listed amoung the official dynastic histories, although it is in fact a parallel to the Sanguozhi 三國志.

A partial translation of the Houhanshu was published by Hans Bielenstein, The Restoration of the Han Dynasty (Stockholm/Göteborg: Elanders 1954 ff.; Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, 26/1954; 31/1959; 39/1967; 51/1979).