The Book of Han (Chinese: 漢書/汉书) is a classic Chinese historical writing covering the history of Western Han from 206 BC to 25. It is also sometimes called Book of Former Han in order to distinguish it from the Book of Later Han, which covers the Eastern Han from 25 to 220, composed in the 5th century. The Han Dynasty (Traditional Chinese characters: 漢朝, Simplified Chinese characters: 汉朝, pinyin Hàncháo 202 BC - AD 220) followed the Qin Dynasty and preceded the Three Kingdoms in China. ... Centuries: 4th century BC - 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC Decades: 250s BC 240s BC 230s BC 220s BC 210s BC - 200s BC - 190s BC 180s BC 170s BC 160s BC 150s BC Years: 211 BC 210 BC 209 BC 208 BC 207 BC - 206 BC - 205 BC 204 BC... Events Han dynasty was restored in China as Liu Xiu proclaimed himself emperor, start of jiangwu era (->56). ... The Han Dynasty (Traditional Chinese characters: 漢朝, Simplified Chinese characters: 汉朝, pinyin Hàncháo 202 BC - AD 220) followed the Qin Dynasty and preceded the Three Kingdoms in China. ... Events Han dynasty was restored in China as Liu Xiu proclaimed himself emperor, start of jiangwu era (->56). ... Events Han Xiandi abdicates his throne to Cao Pi, symbolizing the end of the Han Dynasty and the beginning of the Three Kingdoms period in China. ... // Overview Events Romulus Augustus, Last Western Roman Emperor 410: Rome sacked by Visigoths 452: Pope Leo I allegedly meets personally with Attila the Hun and convinces him not to sack Rome 439: Vandals conquer Carthage At some point after 440, the Anglo-Saxons settle in Britain. ...

The book was started by Ban Biao. Following his death, Ban Gu, eldest son of Ban Biao, continued working on the book, which grew to a total of 100 volumes, and included essays on law, science, geography, and literature. His younger sister Ban Zhao, finished the writing in 111, 19 years after he was put in prison, and made the minor volumes 13-20th (eight chronological charts) and 26th (astronomical biography) included to the work. Like the Records of the Grand Historian, Zhang Qian, a famous Chinese general who travelled to the west, was the key source for the cultural and socio-economic datas on the Western Regions contained in the work on 96th volume. Ban Biao (班彪, 3–54, also written Pan Piao), was a Chinese historian, and an official of the Han dynasty. ... Ban Gu (班固, Wade-Giles Pan Ku) was a 1st century Chinese historian. ... This article or section is missing references or citation of sources. ... The scope of this article is limited to the empirical sciences. ... Literature is literally acquaintance with letters as in the first sense given in the Oxford English Dictionary (from the Latin littera meaning an individual written character (letter)). The term has generally come to identify a collection of texts, which in Western culture are mainly prose, both fiction and non-fiction... Ban Zhao (Chinese:班昭; Wade-Giles:Pan Chao, c. ... For other uses, see number 111. ... Zhang Qian leaving emperor Han Wudi, for his expedition to Central Asia from 138 to 126 BCE, Mogao Caves mural, 618-712 CE. Zhang Qian (Chinese:張騫; died 113 BCE) was a Chinese explorer and imperial envoy in the 2nd century BCE, during the time of the Han Dynasty. ... The Western Regions (西域) is a historical region of Central Asia which corresponds roughly with the modern Chinese province of Xinjiang. ...

The book set the format for the writings of later Chinese dynasties, and today it is a reference used to study the Han period. It is often regarded as part of the early four historiographies of the Twenty-Four Histories canon, together with the Records of the Grand Historian, Records of Three Kingdoms and Book of Later Han. The Twenty-Four Histories is a collection of historical books covering a period of history from 3000 B.C. to the Ming Dynasty in the 17th century. ... The Records of the Grand Historian or the Records of the Grand Historian of China (Chinese: 史記; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Shih-chi; literally Historical Records), written from 109 BCE to 91 BCE, was the magnum opus of Sima Qian, in which he recounted Chinese history from the time of the mythical... The Records of Three Kingdoms (Chinese:三国志; Wade-Giles:Sanguo Chih), is the official and authoritative historical text on the period of Three Kingdoms covering from 189 to 280, that composed by Chen Shou in the 3rd century. ... The Book of Later Han (Chinese:后汉书) is one of the official Chinese historical works which was compiled by Fan Ye in the 5th century, using a number of earlier histories and documents as sources. ...

See also

• Twenty-Four Histories

The Twenty-Four Histories is a collection of historical books covering a period of history from 3000 B.C. to the Ming Dynasty in the 17th century. ...

References

• Hulsewé, A. F. P. and Loewe, M. A. N. 1979. China in Central Asia: The Early Stage 125 BC – AD 23: an annotated translation of chapters 61 and 96 of the History of the Former Han Dynasty. E. J. Brill, Leiden.

External links

• Pan Chao (Ban Zhao), Woman Historian
• The Han Histories
• Silk Road Seattle (The Silk Road Seattle website contains many useful resources including a number of full-text historical works, maps, photos, etc.)