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Ban Gu

January 01, 1970

For the Chinese deity, see Pangu.
In this Chinese name, the family name is Ban.

Ban Gu (AD 32–92) was a Chinese historian, poet, and politician 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.

Ban Gu
Ban Gu, 1st-century Chinese poet, historian, and compiler of the Book of Han
BornAD 32
Anling, Fufeng County, Han dynasty
(now Xianyang, Shaanxi)
DiedAD 92 (aged 59–60)
Other namesMengjian
Occupation(s)Historian, poet, politician
Known forBook of Han
RelativesBan Biao (father)
Consort Ban (grand-aunt)
Ban Chao (brother)
Ban Zhao (sister)
Ban Gu
"Ban Gu" in Chinese characters
Chinese班固
Alternative Chinese name
Traditional Chinese孟堅
Simplified Chinese孟坚
Literal meaning(courtesy name)

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, during the reign of the First Emperor, a man named Ban Yi (斑 or 班壹, Bān Yī) fled north to the Loufan (t 樓煩, s 楼烦, Lóufán) near the Yanmen Pass in what is now northern Shanxi Province.[1][2] 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.[3] 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 Gu's grandmother on the paternal side was Xiongnu and was a descendant of the Xiongnu king Xiutu.[4][5] The partly Xiongnu origins of Ban Gu might help explain his skills in matters related to China's history and foreign relations.[4]

Ban's twin brother Ban Chao was a famous military leader and explorer of Central Asia.[6] His sister, Ban Zhao, was one of the most famous female scholars in Chinese history,[6] and contributed to the Han Shu, after Ban Gu's imprisonment and subsequent death.

Life edit

Ban's father, Ban Biao, died in AD 54 when Ban was twenty-two.[6] After his father's death, Ban spent a period of time pondering what path he should pursue in life, eventually composing a long fu on his situation entitled "Fu on Communicating with the Hidden" (Chinese: 幽通賦; pinyin: Yōutōng fù), which is famous as one of the earliest known fu used to discuss philosophical questions.[6] Ban did not immediately begin an official career, but remained in the Ban family home in Anling to work on the completion of his father's historical sequel to Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian.[7]

Around AD 60, rumors were reported to Emperor Ming of Han that Ban was "privately revising the national history", which caused the imperial court to become concerned about the type of account Ban would write of the fall of the Western Han and the rise of the Eastern Han.[7] Ban was subsequently arrested and the Ban family library confiscated, though Ban's brother Ban Chao was able to intercede on his behalf and secure Ban's release.[7] Ban was assigned to compile the annals of Emperor Guangwu of Han, the first Eastern Han emperor, and in AD 64 was assigned to the collation of books in the imperial library and promoted to the rank of gentleman.[7] Emperor Ming was so impressed with the quality of Ban's work that in AD 66 he gave him permission to resume his work on the history of the Western Han, which he worked on for the rest of his life.[7]

Ban continued to serve in the imperial library and at the imperial court throughout the second half of the 1st century AD. During the reign of Emperor Zhang of Han, Ban was promoted to the position of "Marshal of the Black Warrior Gate".[8][9] Ban later served as a high-ranking literary official under Dou Xian, the brother of Emperor Zhang's empress.[10] Although Dou won prestige for two successful campaigns against the Xiongnu, in AD 92 he was suspected by Emperor He of Han of plotting a rebellion and forced to commit suicide.[10] Immediately thereafter, Ban was dismissed from office and arrested by an old rival, Chong Jing, who was serving as the prefect of Luoyang.[11] Ban died in prison that same year at 61 years old.[10]

Legacy edit

 
Family tree of Ban Biao.[12]

The modern historian Hsu Mei-ling states that Ban Gu's written work in geography set the trend for the establishment of geographical sections of history texts, and most likely sparked the trend of the gazetteer in ancient China.[13]

The tendency of both Chinese and Western scholars to view China's history in a dynastic framework is thought to be a direct result of Ban Gu's decision to write the Book of Han in the manner in which he did.[14]

Ban family edit

  • Ban Biao (班彪; 3–54; father)
    • Ban Gu (班固; 32–92; first son)
    • Ban Chao (班超; 32–102; second son)
      • Ban Xiong (班雄; ?–after 107; Ban Chao's eldest son)
        • Ban Shi (班始; ?–130; Ban Xiong's son)
      • Ban Yong (班勇; ?–c. 128; youngest son of Ban Chao)
    • Ban Zhao (班昭; c. 45 – c. 117; daughter)

See also edit

References edit

Citations edit

  1. ^ a b c Knechtges (2010a), p. 119.
  2. ^ Loewe, Michael, , A Biographical Dictionary of the Qin, Former Han, and Xin Periods (221 BC – AD 24, Leiden: Brill, archived from the original on 2018-01-12, retrieved 2018-01-12.
  3. ^ Yü, 8.
  4. ^ a b Chen, Sanping (2011). "Two Notes on the Xiongnu Ancestry of the Authors of "Han-shu"". Central Asiatic Journal. 55 (1): 33–36. ISSN 0008-9192. JSTOR 41928567.
  5. ^ Clark, Anthony E. (2008). Ban Gu's history of early China. Amherst (N.Y.): Cambria press. p. 44. ISBN 978-1-60497-561-1. The "Basic Annals of Emperor Wen" is a chapter that Biao seems to have written entirely. Ban Biao appears as the commentator in the final remarks of the chapter. The passage states, 贊曰﹕臣外祖兄弟為元帝侍中，語臣曰元帝多才藝，美史書．The Eulogy states: My (your minister's) maternal grandmother's older and younger brothers were made the palace retainers of Emperor Yuan. They informed me that Emperor Yuan had several talents in the arts and considered historical books attractive.
    The "minister" in this Eulogy is usually identified as Ban Biao. The Han commentator, Ying Shao, noted that "the annals of both Yuan and Cheng were written by Ban Biao; when 'chen' 臣 (i.e., 'minister') is used, the speaker is Biao. The distaff relative mentioned is Jin Chang" 元，成帝紀皆班固父彪所作，臣則彪自說也．外祖，金敞也.
  6. ^ a b c d Knechtges (2010a), p. 121.
  7. ^ a b c d e Knechtges (2010a), p. 122.
  8. ^ Knechtges (2010a), p. 125.
  9. ^ Knechtges (2010b), p. 8.
  10. ^ a b c Knechtges (2010a), p. 126.
  11. ^ de Crespigny (2007), p. 7.
  12. ^ Chen, Sanping (2011). "Two Notes on the Xiongnu Ancestry of the Authors of "Han-shu"". Central Asiatic Journal. 55 (1): 33–36. ISSN 0008-9192. JSTOR 41928567.
    Clark, Anthony E. (2008). Ban Gu's history of early China. Amherst (N.Y.): Cambria press. p. 183. ISBN 978-1-60497-561-1.
    Clark, Anthony E. (2008). Ban Gu's history of early China. Amherst (N.Y.): Cambria press. p. 44. ISBN 978-1-60497-561-1. The "Basic Annals of Emperor Wen" is a chapter that Biao seems to have written entirely. Ban Biao appears as the commentator in the final remarks of the chapter. The passage states, 贊曰﹕臣外祖兄弟為元帝侍中，語臣曰元帝多才藝，美史書．The Eulogy states: My (your minister's) maternal grandmother's older and younger brothers were made the palace retainers of Emperor Yuan. They informed me that Emperor Yuan had several talents in the arts and considered historical books attractive.
    The "minister" in this Eulogy is usually identified as Ban Biao. The Han commentator, Ying Shao, noted that "the annals of both Yuan and Cheng were written by Ban Biao; when 'chen' 臣 (i.e., 'minister') is used, the speaker is Biao. The distaff relative mentioned is Jin Chang" 元，成帝紀皆班固父彪所作，臣則彪自說也．外祖，金敞也.
  13. ^ Hsu, 98.
  14. ^ Companion to Historiography. Chapter 1; The Evolution of Two Asian Historiographic Traditions. Ed. Michael Bentley. Routledge. 2002

Works cited edit

  • Bielenstein, Hans. "Pan Ku's Accusations against Wang Mang." In Chinese Ideas about Nature and Society: Studies in Honour of Derk Bodde. Ed. Charles Le Blanc and Susan Blader. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1987, 265–70.
  • Anthony E. Clark, Ban Gu's History of Early China (Amherst: Cambria Press, 2008). [1]
  • de Crespigny, Rafe (2007). "Ban Gu 班固". A Biographical Dictionary of the Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23–220 AD). Leiden: Brill. pp. 6–7. ISBN 978-90-04-15605-0.
  • Hsu, Mei-ling. "The Qin Maps: A Clue to Later Chinese Cartographic Development," Imago Mundi (Volume 45, 1993): 90–100.
  • Knechtges, David R. (2010a). "From the Eastern Han to the Western Jin". In Owen, Stephen (ed.). The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature, Vol. 1: To 1375. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 116–98.
  • ——— (2010b). "Ban Gu 班固". In Knechtges, David; Chang, Taiping (eds.). Ancient and Early Medieval Chinese Literature: A Reference Guide, Part One. Leiden: Brill. pp. 6–16.
  • Van der Sprenkel, O. B. Pan Piao, Pan Ku, and the Han History. Centre for Oriental Studies Occasional Paper, no. 3. Canberra: Australian National University, 1964.
  • Yü, Ying-shih. (1967). Trade and Expansion in Han China: A Study in the Structure of Sino-Barbarian Economic Relations. Berkeley: University of California Press.

External links edit

Further reading edit

  • Yap, Joseph P, (2019). The Western Regions, Xiongnu and Han, from the Shiji, Hanshu and Hou Hanshu. ISBN 978-1792829154

January 01, 1970
chinese, deity, pangu, this, chinese, name, family, name, chinese, historian, poet, politician, best, known, part, compiling, book, second, china, dynastic, histories, also, wrote, number, major, literary, form, part, prose, part, poetry, which, particularly, . For the Chinese deity see Pangu In this Chinese name the family name is Ban Ban Gu AD 32 92 was a Chinese historian poet and politician 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 Ban GuBan Gu 1st century Chinese poet historian and compiler of the Book of HanBornAD 32Anling Fufeng County Han dynasty now Xianyang Shaanxi DiedAD 92 aged 59 60 Other namesMengjianOccupation s Historian poet politicianKnown forBook of HanRelativesBan Biao father Consort Ban grand aunt Ban Chao brother Ban Zhao sister Ban Gu Ban Gu in Chinese charactersChinese班固TranscriptionsStandard MandarinHanyu PinyinBan GuGwoyeu RomatzyhBan GuhWade GilesPan1 Ku4IPA pa n ku Yue CantoneseYale RomanizationBaan GuJyutpingBaan1 Gu3IPA paːn kuː Southern MinHokkien POJPan KooMiddle ChineseMiddle ChinesePaen KuOld ChineseBaxter Sagart 2014 pˤ lt r gt an k ˤa sAlternative Chinese nameTraditional Chinese孟堅Simplified Chinese孟坚Literal meaning courtesy name TranscriptionsStandard MandarinHanyu PinyinMengjianGwoyeu RomatzyhMenqjianWade GilesMeng4 chien1Yue CantoneseYale RomanizationMaahng ginJyutpingMaang6 gin1Southern MinHokkien POJBing kianMiddle ChineseMiddle ChineseMae ng kenOld ChineseBaxter Sagart 2014 mˤrang s kˤin lt g gt Contents 1 Family background 2 Life 3 Legacy 4 Ban family 5 See also 6 References 6 1 Citations 6 2 Works cited 7 External links 7 1 Further readingFamily background editThe 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 during the reign of the First Emperor a man named Ban Yi 斑 or 班壹 Ban Yi fled north to the Loufan t 樓煩 s 楼烦 Loufan near the Yanmen Pass in what is now northern Shanxi Province 1 2 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 3 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 Gu s grandmother on the paternal side was Xiongnu and was a descendant of the Xiongnu king Xiutu 4 5 The partly Xiongnu origins of Ban Gu might help explain his skills in matters related to China s history and foreign relations 4 Ban s twin brother Ban Chao was a famous military leader and explorer of Central Asia 6 His sister Ban Zhao was one of the most famous female scholars in Chinese history 6 and contributed to the Han Shu after Ban Gu s imprisonment and subsequent death Life editBan s father Ban Biao died in AD 54 when Ban was twenty two 6 After his father s death Ban spent a period of time pondering what path he should pursue in life eventually composing a long fu on his situation entitled Fu on Communicating with the Hidden Chinese 幽通賦 pinyin Yōutōng fu which is famous as one of the earliest known fu used to discuss philosophical questions 6 Ban did not immediately begin an official career but remained in the Ban family home in Anling to work on the completion of his father s historical sequel to Sima Qian s Records of the Grand Historian 7 Around AD 60 rumors were reported to Emperor Ming of Han that Ban was privately revising the national history which caused the imperial court to become concerned about the type of account Ban would write of the fall of the Western Han and the rise of the Eastern Han 7 Ban was subsequently arrested and the Ban family library confiscated though Ban s brother Ban Chao was able to intercede on his behalf and secure Ban s release 7 Ban was assigned to compile the annals of Emperor Guangwu of Han the first Eastern Han emperor and in AD 64 was assigned to the collation of books in the imperial library and promoted to the rank of gentleman 7 Emperor Ming was so impressed with the quality of Ban s work that in AD 66 he gave him permission to resume his work on the history of the Western Han which he worked on for the rest of his life 7 Ban continued to serve in the imperial library and at the imperial court throughout the second half of the 1st century AD During the reign of Emperor Zhang of Han Ban was promoted to the position of Marshal of the Black Warrior Gate 8 9 Ban later served as a high ranking literary official under Dou Xian the brother of Emperor Zhang s empress 10 Although Dou won prestige for two successful campaigns against the Xiongnu in AD 92 he was suspected by Emperor He of Han of plotting a rebellion and forced to commit suicide 10 Immediately thereafter Ban was dismissed from office and arrested by an old rival Chong Jing who was serving as the prefect of Luoyang 11 Ban died in prison that same year at 61 years old 10 Legacy edit nbsp Family tree of Ban Biao 12 The modern historian Hsu Mei ling states that Ban Gu s written work in geography set the trend for the establishment of geographical sections of history texts and most likely sparked the trend of the gazetteer in ancient China 13 The tendency of both Chinese and Western scholars to view China s history in a dynastic framework is thought to be a direct result of Ban Gu s decision to write the Book of Han in the manner in which he did 14 Ban family editBan Biao 班彪 3 54 father Ban Gu 班固 32 92 first son Ban Chao 班超 32 102 second son Ban Xiong 班雄 after 107 Ban Chao s eldest son Ban Shi 班始 130 Ban Xiong s son Ban Yong 班勇 c 128 youngest son of Ban Chao Ban Zhao 班昭 c 45 c 117 daughter See also edit nbsp Poetry portal Han poetry Twenty Four HistoriesReferences editCitations edit a b c Knechtges 2010a p 119 Loewe Michael Ban Yi A Biographical Dictionary of the Qin Former Han and Xin Periods 221 BC AD 24 Leiden Brill archived from the original on 2018 01 12 retrieved 2018 01 12 Yu 8 a b Chen Sanping 2011 Two Notes on the Xiongnu Ancestry of the Authors of Han shu Central Asiatic Journal 55 1 33 36 ISSN 0008 9192 JSTOR 41928567 Clark Anthony E 2008 Ban Gu s history of early China Amherst N Y Cambria press p 44 ISBN 978 1 60497 561 1 The Basic Annals of Emperor Wen is a chapter that Biao seems to have written entirely Ban Biao appears as the commentator in the final remarks of the chapter The passage states 贊曰 臣外祖兄弟為元帝侍中 語臣曰元帝多才藝 美史書 The Eulogy states My your minister s maternal grandmother s older and younger brothers were made the palace retainers of Emperor Yuan They informed me that Emperor Yuan had several talents in the arts and considered historical books attractive The minister in this Eulogy is usually identified as Ban Biao The Han commentator Ying Shao noted that the annals of both Yuan and Cheng were written by Ban Biao when chen 臣 i e minister is used the speaker is Biao The distaff relative mentioned is Jin Chang 元 成帝紀皆班固父彪所作 臣則彪自說也 外祖 金敞也 a b c d Knechtges 2010a p 121 a b c d e Knechtges 2010a p 122 Knechtges 2010a p 125 Knechtges 2010b p 8 a b c Knechtges 2010a p 126 de Crespigny 2007 p 7 Chen Sanping 2011 Two Notes on the Xiongnu Ancestry of the Authors of Han shu Central Asiatic Journal 55 1 33 36 ISSN 0008 9192 JSTOR 41928567 Clark Anthony E 2008 Ban Gu s history of early China Amherst N Y Cambria press p 183 ISBN 978 1 60497 561 1 Clark Anthony E 2008 Ban Gu s history of early China Amherst N Y Cambria press p 44 ISBN 978 1 60497 561 1 The Basic Annals of Emperor Wen is a chapter that Biao seems to have written entirely Ban Biao appears as the commentator in the final remarks of the chapter The passage states 贊曰 臣外祖兄弟為元帝侍中 語臣曰元帝多才藝 美史書 The Eulogy states My your minister s maternal grandmother s older and younger brothers were made the palace retainers of Emperor Yuan They informed me that Emperor Yuan had several talents in the arts and considered historical books attractive The minister in this Eulogy is usually identified as Ban Biao The Han commentator Ying Shao noted that the annals of both Yuan and Cheng were written by Ban Biao when chen 臣 i e minister is used the speaker is Biao The distaff relative mentioned is Jin Chang 元 成帝紀皆班固父彪所作 臣則彪自說也 外祖 金敞也 Hsu 98 Companion to Historiography Chapter 1 The Evolution of Two Asian Historiographic Traditions Ed Michael Bentley Routledge 2002 Works cited edit Bielenstein Hans Pan Ku s Accusations against Wang Mang In Chinese Ideas about Nature and Society Studies in Honour of Derk Bodde Ed Charles Le Blanc and Susan Blader Hong Kong Hong Kong University Press 1987 265 70 Anthony E Clark Ban Gu s History of Early China Amherst Cambria Press 2008 1 de Crespigny Rafe 2007 Ban Gu 班固 A Biographical Dictionary of the Later Han to the Three Kingdoms 23 220 AD Leiden Brill pp 6 7 ISBN 978 90 04 15605 0 Hsu Mei ling The Qin Maps A Clue to Later Chinese Cartographic Development Imago Mundi Volume 45 1993 90 100 Knechtges David R 2010a From the Eastern Han to the Western Jin In Owen Stephen ed The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature Vol 1 To 1375 Cambridge Cambridge University Press pp 116 98 2010b Ban Gu 班固 In Knechtges David Chang Taiping eds Ancient and Early Medieval Chinese Literature A Reference Guide Part One Leiden Brill pp 6 16 Van der Sprenkel O B Pan Piao Pan Ku and the Han History Centre for Oriental Studies Occasional Paper no 3 Canberra Australian National University 1964 Yu Ying shih 1967 Trade and Expansion in Han China A Study in the Structure of Sino Barbarian Economic Relations Berkeley University of California Press External links editWorks by Gu Ban at Project Gutenberg Works by or about Gu Ban at Internet Archive Further reading edit Yap Joseph P 2019 The Western Regions Xiongnu and Han from the Shiji Hanshu and Hou Hanshu ISBN 978 1792829154 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Ban Gu amp oldid 1193431973, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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