Ban Gu (Chinese: 班固; AD 32–92) was an ancient Chinese historian and poet best known for his part in compiling the Book of Han, the second of China's 24 dynastic histories. He also wrote a number of fu, a major literary form, part prose and part poetry, which is particularly associated with the Han era. A number of Ban's fu were collected by Xiao Tong in the Wen Xuan.Family background[edit]
The Ban family was one of the most distinguished families of the Eastern Han dynasty.[1] They lived in the state of Chu during the Warring States period, but in the 3rd century BC, a man named Ban Yi moved north to Loufen (modern Yanmenguan, Shanxi Province).[1] By the early Han Dynasty, Ban Gu's ancestors gained prominence on the northwestern frontier as herders of several thousand cattle, oxen, and horses, which they traded in a formidable business and encouraged other families to move to the frontier.[2] Ban Biao later moved the family to Anling (near modern Xianyang, Shaanxi).[1]
Ban Gu's great-aunt Consort Ban was a scholar and poet, and his father Ban Biao was a prominent historian. He took over from his father responsibility for writing a history of the former Han Dynasty, a book known in modern times as the Hanshu or Book of Han. However, his work was interrupted by political problems, as his association with the family of Empress Dowager Dou led to his imprisonment and death (either by execution or torture). A few volumes of his book in 13–20th (eight chronological charts) and 26th (astronomical biography), however, was completed by his younger sister, Ban Zhao, and became a model for many other works about later dynasties.
Ban's twin brother Ban Chao was a famous military leader and explorer of Central Asia.[3] His sister, Ban Zhao, was one of the most famous female scholars in Chinese history.[3]
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The Book of Han or History of the Former Han is a history of China finished in 111, covering the Western, or Former Han dynasty from the first emperor in 206 BCE to the fall of Wang Mang in 23 CE. It is also called the Book of Former Han.
The work was composed by Ban Gu, a court official, with the help of his sister Ban Zhao, continuing the work of their father, Ban Biao. They modeled their work on the Records of the Grand Historian, a universal history, but theirs was the first in this annals-biography form to cover a single dynasty. It is the best source, sometimes the only one, for many topics in this period. A second work, the Book of the Later Han covers the Eastern Hanperiod from 25 to 220, and was composed in the fifth century by Fan Ye (398–445).[1]
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