Han Wudi neizhuan 漢武帝內傳

Han Wudi neizhuan 漢武帝內傳 "Esoteric biography of Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty", shortly called Han Wudi zhuan 漢武帝傳 or Han Wu neizhuan 漢武內傳, is a collection of fantastic stories traditionally attributed to the historian Ban Gu 班固 (32-92 CE) from the Later Han period 後漢 (25-220). The book was categorized as a "miscellaneous biography" (zazhuan 雜傳) or as a Daoist book, and it became only part of the category of novellas (xiaoshuo 小説) from the Ming period 明 (1368-1644) on. It was also during that time that authorship was attributed to Ban Gu, but this is quite doubtful. Other persons, like the Daoist magician Dongfang Shuo 東方朔 (160-93 BCE; who is himself said to have ascended to Heaven on the back of a dragon) and Guo Xian 郭憲 (1st cent. CE), are also named as authors.

The book consists of two juan, one "esoteric" or "inner biography" (neizhuan), and one "outer biography" (waizhuan 外傳).

The stories center on the life of the great Emperor Wu 漢武帝 (r. 141-87 BCE) Former Han period 前漢 (206 BCE-8 CE), narrating events from the times before his birth, and until his passing away. Through the performance of fasting rituals, Emperor Wu was able to encounter the legendary Queen Mother of the West (Xiwangmu 西王母), which told him the secrets of immortality when she descended to the imperial palace on the 7th day of the 7th month (see Chinese calendar). The Queen Mother transmitted to Emperor Wu the chart Wumiao zhenxing tu 五廟真形圖 "True Form of the Five Temples", and her companion, the Shangyuan Furen 上元夫人 "Lady of the Superior Origin", instructed him in the twelve arts to "numinous flight with the six jia hexagrams" (liujia lingfei 六甲靈飛). Only the Emperor's humane desires (duo yu 多欲) obstructed him from becoming an immortal with the help of these instructions. The scriptures handed over to him burnt on the Bailiang Terrace 柏梁臺.

The narrative quality of the book is very high, so that it obtained a similar status in literature as the fantastic biography Mu Tianzi zhuan 穆天子傳. Large parts of the text are written in rhymed prose, a stylistic method popular during the Southern Dynasties period 南朝 (420~589).

Many paragraphs are identical to that in the books Hanwu gushi 漢武故事 and Hainei shizhou ji 海內十洲記, and there are also some individual sentences similar to such as used, for instance, in the preface of the anthology Yutai xinyong 玉臺新詠, which was compiled in the 6th century. The Han Wudi neizhuan might therefore have been compiled around that time.

The "outer biography" has never been separately in circulation, but always as an appendix to the Neizhuan. It is 14 paragraphs long and contains many tales of contemporaries of Emperor Wu, as well as of figures of later ages.

The book is included in the series Shoushange congshu 守山閣叢書, Guang Han-Wei congshu 廣漢魏叢書, Wuchao xiaoshuo 五朝小說, Longwei mishu 龍威秘書, Shuofu 說郛, Wuyishizhai congchao 無一是齋叢鈔, the Siku quanshu 四庫全書, the Daoist Canon Daozang 道藏, and the Congshu jicheng 叢書集成.