Historical Writing

Earliest Historical Works

Chronicles or Annals

*Spring and Autumn Annals, 722-481 BCE

Records of the Grand Historian (Hansen) or Grand Scribe's Records (Li Feng), Shiji

Sima Tan (d. 110 BCE)

*Sima Qian (145-87? BCE)

Innovations

Attempt at objectivity
Thematic organization

1. Annals
2. Tables
3. Treatises
4. Hereditary houses of pre-imperial period
5. Biographies/Descriptions of Foreign Peoples

Model for later dynastic histories

Historical Writing Institutionalized

History of Western Han Dynasty

Ban Biao (d. 54), private history
Ban Gu (32-92), court historian
*Ban Zhao (45-120)

*Wang Mang's Usurpation

Lived 45 BCE-23 CE

Dowager Empress Wang, d. 13 CE

Aunt of Wang Mang

Wife of Emperor Yuan (r. 49-33 BCE)

Mother of Emperor Cheng (r. 33-7 BCE)

Political climb

Prime Minister, 8-7 BCE

Limits landholding to 3000 mu (500 acres)

Out of power under Emperor Ai, 7-1 BCE

Return to power in cooperation with Empress Wang

Regent for two child emperors, 1 BCE-9CE

Founds Xin Dynasty, 9-23 CE

Idealistic reformer or opportunist?

Land reform

Idealism of Rites of Zhou

*Well-field (tick-tack-toe) system

井 Chinese character jing meaning "water well"

Threat to power of great landowners

Fall of Wang Mang

Elites resist reforms

Commoners face hardship

Natural Disasters

Yellow River “China’s sorrow”

N to S in 11 CE

*Red Eyebrow rebellion

Shandong, 22-25 CE

Mother Lü (Hinsch, p. 102)

Eastern (Later) Han 25-220 CE

Liu Xiu (5 BCE-56 CE)

Emperor Guangwu (r. 25-56 CE)

Political Conflicts at Center

Emperor Huan (r. 146-168)

Consort family

Empress Liang (d. 159)

Liang Ji (d. 159), Regent

Eunuch coup d’état in 159

Theories of Han Decline

Traditional

Poor administration

Emperors, Women, Eunuchs

Present standard interpretation

Rise of provincial elite decentralizes power

Political power

System of recommending officials

Economic power

Concentration of land in hands of provincial elite

Decline of small farming

Avoidance of taxes

Over-taxation of peasants leading to rebellion

Breakdown of central control

Natural disasters

Cooling climate

Epidemics, 173 and 179 CE

Floods and locusts, 175

Popular Daoist religion and rebellions

Change in focus

Laozi as deity, not philosopher

Lay community, not individual

Healing, not immortality

“Five Pecks of Rice”

Founded, ca. 142 CE

SW China

Zhang Daoling

*Yellow Turbans or Way of Great Peace (Taiping)

Eastern and central China

Millenarian uprising in 184 CE

Tradition of syncretic religion and millenarian uprisings persists in China to present

Taiping Rebellion (Christian) mid-19th century

Falungong (Buddhist-Daoist healing)

Presently banned in China

Rise of regional generals

Cao Cao (ca. 155-220)

Central rule limited, 184-220

Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 CE)

Cao Cao controls court, 192-220

*The Three Kingdoms

Wei (220-65)

Cao Pi (187-226)

(Shu) Han (221-63)

Wu (222-80)

Wei (220-65)

*Cao Cao, d. 220

Han “Regent” in 192

*Cao Pei, d. 226

Founded Wei Dynasty

Imitates Wang Mang’s pattern of usurpation

(Shu) Han (221-63)

Liu Bei, d. 223

Wu (222-80)

Sun Quan, d. 252

Significance

Decentralization of power

Personalization of politics

Source of fame

Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Attributed to Luo Guanzhong (ca. 1330-1400)

Published 1522

Goodman, "Lives and Times of the Political Public at the End of the Han”

Members of leading families

Sima Yi (179-251)

“Five Pecks of Rice” or Celestial Master Daoists

Zhang Daoling

Zhang Lu (d. 217)

Wangs of Donghai (SW Shandong)

Wang Lang (ca. 165-228)

Wang Su (195-256)

Yus of Guji

Yu Fan (164-233)