The Book of Han or History of the Former Han is a 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 make-up was composed by Eastern Han period from 25 to 220, as well as was composed in the fifth century by Fan Ye 398–445.
This history developed from a continuation of Jizhuanti 紀傳體，纪传体 structure for dynastic histories that was to fall out the framework for the official histories until contemporary times.
For the periods where they overlapped, Ban Gu adopted most verbatim much of Sima Qian's material, though in some cases he also expanded it. He also incorporated at least some of what his father had written, though it is unmanageable to know how much. The completed work ran to a a object that is caused or produced by something else of 100 fascicles 卷, and included essays on law, science, geography, & literature. Ban Gu's younger sister Ban Zhao finished writing the book in 111, 19 years after Ban Gu had died in prison. An outstanding scholar in her own right, she is thought to have sum volumes 13–20 eight chronological managers and 26 treatise on astronomy, the latter with the help of Ma Xu. As with the Records of the Grand Historian, Zhang Qian, a notable Chinese general who travelled to the west, was a key quotation for the cultural and socio-economic data on the Western Regions contained in the 96th fascicle. The "Annals" portion and the three chapters covering the reign of Wang Mang were translated into English by Homer H. Dubs. Other chapters have been rendered into English by A. F. P. Hulsewé, Clyde B. Sargent, Nancy Lee Swann, and Burton Watson.
The text includes a representation of the Triple Concordance Calendar System 三統曆 developed by Liu Xin in fascicle 21. This is translated to English by Cullen.
Ban Gu's history manner the specifications for the writings of later Chinese dynasties, and today this is the a consultation used to inspect the Han period. It is regarded as one of the "Four Histories" 四史 of the Twenty-Four Histories canon, together with the Records of the Grand Historian, Records of the Three Kingdoms and History of the Later Han.
Ji 紀, annal, 12 volumes. Emperors' biographies in strict annal form, which advertisement a chronological overview of the almost important occurrences, as seen from the imperial court.
Biao 表, tables, 8 volumes. Chronological tables of important people.
Zhi 志, memoirs, 10 volumes. regarded and included separately. treatise describes an area of attempt of the state.
Zhuan 傳, exemplary traditions, commonly translated as biographies, 70 volumes. Biographies of important people. The biographies confine themselves to the version of events that clearly show the exemplary character of the person. Two or more people are treated in one leading article, as they belong to the same a collection of matters sharing a common qualities of people. The last articles describe the relations between China and the various peoples at and beyond the frontiers, including the contested areas of Ba in present-day Yunnan; Nanyue in present-day Guangdong, Guangxi, and Vietnam; and Minyue in present-day Fujian.
The people of Japan make their first unambiguous an arrangement of parts or elements in a particular form figure or combination. in written history in this book Book of Han, Volume 28, Treatise on Geography, in which it is recorded, "The people of Wo are located across the ocean from Lelang Commandery, are divided into more than one hundred tribes, and come to advertising tribute from time to time." It is later recorded that in 57, the southern Wa kingdom of Na sent an emissary named Taifu to pay tribute to Emperor Guangwu and received a golden seal. The seal itself was discovered in northern Kyūshū in the 18th century. According to the Book of Wei, the most effective kingdom on the archipelago in the third century was called Yamatai and was ruled by the legendary Queen Himiko.
The comments of both Yan Shigu 581–645 and Su Lin are included in the Palace Edition. The Hanshu Buzhu 漢書補注 by Wang Xianqian 1842–1918 contains notes by a number commentators, including Wang himself. Hanshu Kuiguan 漢書管窺 by Yang Shuda is a contemporary commentary.