Han Dynasty Latter Han (East Han) Dynasty (25-220)

Kept the Prosperity of Former Han

40 Ban Gu and Ban Chao

Upper: An Authoritative Historian and Man of Letters
Lower: A Famous Strategist

Ban Gu and Ban Chao were brothers. Ban Gu (32-92) was an authoritative historian and man of letters, the author of an important official book History of Former Han Dynasty. In view of Sima Qian’s Shi Ji which covered only the early part of Former Han history, Ban Biao, Ban Gu’s father engaged to write Second Part of Shi Ji, but he died early. When finding out some flaws in his father’s scripts, Ban Gu began to rewrite the book himself. But, he was arrested under an accusation of “stealthily revised nation’s history” a serious crime subject to a capital punishment. Thanks to his brother Ban Chao who filed a letter to Emperor Mingdi to his defense. Mingdi was very pleased when reading Ban Gu’s writing, and ordered him to specially write the book. Ban Gu’s work History of Former Han boasted to have its distinct features: It had more complete categories and informative descriptions, especially it initially created a variety of “zhi” (annals) in the book, such as: annals of astronomy, of nature, of territory, of schools of thought, academic and culture, … The book set a precedent to record down dynasty history that made all the dynasties to follow suit. China now had a total of Histories of Twenty-Four Dynasties, one of rare treasures of historical and literature heritages.

Ban Chao (32-102) was younger. He had been an office clerk doing small things to earn a living for his mother. One day he threw off his pen (brush), said: “A real man should achieve merits on battlefield rather than wasting time on pens and papers.” (“threw pen and join army” became an idiom) By the time, Xiong Nu’s military strength had staged a comeback. In 73, Emperor Mingdi sent Ban Chao to the West Land (Xinjiang) for diplomatic purpose. He led a corps of 30 fighters arriving at Shan Shan State. At first, the ruler of the state hospitalized them warmly, but one day he turned cold-shouldered all of a sudden. Ban said to his fellow fighters: “Xiong Nu soldiers might come here, if so was the case, the ruler might betray us, and we will possibly become food of wolves.” The fighters asked what they could do, he said resolutely: “Not enter tiger den, not gain baby tiger!” (the words became an idiom) When dark set in, the 30 fighters encircled Xiong Nu men’s residence and set on fire. Xiong Nu men were killed one after one who flurried to escape outside, making a total death of 30, with more died in the fire. The next morning, Ban Chao met the ruler by holding a cluster of human heads. The ruler was scared, and agreed to establish relationship with Han Empire.

Ban Chao was a man featuring bold and sharp-witted, he spent his entire life time in the West Land, built bridges among the West Land States and Han Empire, and finally drove Xiong Nu’s force out of there.