In the following notes, citations from the Shih Chi (SC), Han Shu (HS), and Hou Han Shu (HHS) all refer to the punctuated editions published in Peking by Chung-hua shu-chli between 1959 and 1962, and reprinted in 1972. The title abbreviations are followed by chapter number and page number. The division of chapters into parts by later editors is ignored. Unless otherwise stated, the translations are my own.

1. For a general discussion of Ssu-ma Ch'ien's comments and Pan Ku's use of the form see Watson, Burton, Ssu-ma Ch'ien: Grand Historian of China (New York: Columbia University Press, 1958), pp. 131–132 Google Scholar.

2. Sung-tao, Kuo, “Sui-pien cheng-chih” (An investigation of reality in the history of frontier pacification), in Yang-chih shu-wu wen-chi, 3:15b–17b Google Scholar. See Yang, Lien-sheng, “Historical Notes on the Chinese World Order,” in Fairbank, John King, ed., The Chinese World Order: Traditional China's Foreign Relations (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1968), pp. 20–33 Google Scholar, which contains a lengthy translation of passages from Kuo's work (pp. 23-24). Yang makes frequent reference to Pan Ku in these notes and even quotes a passage by Tung Chung-shu that appears in the tsan to HS 94, but he does not discuss the tsan itself.

3. Gungwu, Wang, “Early Ming Relations with Southeast Asia: a Background Essay,” in Fairbank, , pp. 34–62 Google Scholar. Wang draws heavily on the tsan on pp, 40-41, and praises it in note 13 to page 41.

4. For the text of the tsan, see HS 94, 3830-34, The tsan along with the whole of HS 94 was freely rendered into English over one hundred years ago by Wylie, A., “History of the Heung-noo and their Relations with China,” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 3, no. 3 (01 1874):401–451 Google Scholar and 5, no, 1 (July 1875):42-80. I am currently engaged in a study of the whole of HS 94.

5. Gungwu, Wang, “Early Ming Relations,” p. 40 Google Scholar.

6. Kuang-wu-ti (r. A.D. 25-57) founded the Later Han Dynasty. The Han Shu was written over a period of some twenty years that overlapped the reigns of his immediate successors, Ming-ti (r. A.D. 58-76) and Chang-ti (r, A.D. 76-89) (HHS 40.1334). For a detailed assessment of Kuang-wu-ti's Hsiung-nu policy see Bielenstein, Hans, Emperor Kuang-wu-ti and the Northern Barbarians (Canberra: Australian National University, 1956)Google Scholar and especially the same author's “The Restoration of the Han Dynasty,” vol. 3, in Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities 39 (Stockholm, 1967):102ffGoogle Scholar.

7. Wright, Arthur F., “On the Uses of Generalization in the Study of Chinese History,” in Gottschalk, Louis, ed., Generalization in the Writing of History (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1963), p. 37 Google Scholar. This was true not only of the Han but of earlier and later eras as well.

8. HS 94.3830.

9. HS 94.3812. The entire memorial occupies pp, 3812-16.In it, Yang Hsiung argued against the emperor's decision to refuse the Shan-yü permission to come to court, and succeeded in having it reversed, Yang Hsiung was one of the outstanding figures of the age. See HS 87 and The Han Shu Biography of Yang Xiong (53 B.C.-A.D. 18), translated and annotated by Knechtges, David R., Center for Asian Studies, Occasional Paper no. 14, Arizona State University (Tempe, 1982)Google Scholar.

10. See Wright, , “On the Uses,” p. 38 Google Scholar.

11. HS 94.3830. The list reads as follows: Kao-tsu was advised by Liu Ching; Lü-hou by Fan K'uai and Chi Pu; Wen-ti by Chia I and Ch'ao Ts'o; and Wu-ti by Wang Hui, Han An-kuo, Chu Mai-ch'en, Kung-sung Hung, and Tung Chung-shu. This list of names has little to do with the statesmen included in the body of the chapter. Only Liu Ching, Fan K'uai, and Chi Pu receive extended mention in HS 94, Wang Hui and Han An-kuo receive cursory mention, while the rest of the statesmen on the list receive no mention whatsoever. I deal with the distribution of information between HS 94 and the rest of the Han Shu in the study mentioned in 4 above.

12. See HS 52.2398-2403 (the biography of Han An-kuo) for an account of a court debate in which he opposed Wang Hui's proposal that ho-ch'in be abandoned. and HS 48.2242 (the biography of Chia I). Yü, , Trade and Expansion, p. 11 Google Scholar. provides a translation of one of Chia I's extravagant proposals. Through the millennia, Chia I has been much revered by out-of-office literati. He possessed great talent but little sense of the political realities at Wen-ti's court. His readiness to criticize all and sundry and the alacrity with which he offered solutions to any question” made him few friends. It is not surprising that his career suffered reverses. Pan Ku himself is dismissive of Chia I's recommendations in the tsan to his biography (HS 48.2263). For a fuller discussion of the advocates of ho-ch'in and cheng-fa, see Chang, Chun-shu, “War and Peace with the Hsiungnu in Early Han China: The Hsiungnu Challenge (200-133 B.C.) and the Origins of Han Wu-ti's Military Expansion,” in Essays in Commemoration of the Eightieth Birthday of Professor T'ao Hsi-shenq (Taipei, 1979). pp. 698–611Google Scholar [reverse pagination], esp. pp. 660-658.

13. Ch'ao Ts'o (d. 152 B.C.) is exceptional, in the preserved documentation of this period, in advocating well-organized frontier defenses as an integral part of any policy for dealing with the Hsiung-nu. Pan Ku presents Ch'ao Ts'o's lengthy and detailed memorials on the subject in his biography (HS 49, esp. 2286ff.), but excludes all mention of his proposal s from HS 94. Pan Ku was, however, resolutely opposed to those who would abandon frontier defenses. See below. For translations of parts of Ch'ao Ts'o's proposals, see Chang, pp. 673-670, and bur, C. Martin Wil, Slavery in China During the Former Han Dynasty (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1943), pp. 283–285 Google Scholar.

14. HS 94.3830.

15. For the establishment of ho-ch'in, see HS 94, 3754 (this passage appears to be corrupt), Liu Ching's fanciful case for ho-ch'in is preserved in his biography, HS 43.2122. The gifts to the Shan-yü varied over time. For a detailed discussion, see Chang, pp. 696-682 [reverse pagination].

16. Wen-ti opened border markets to the Hsiung-nu, sent another woman of the Han house to be the Shan-yü's consort, and increased the annual gifts to the Shen-yü by 1,000 chin of gold, HS 94.3831.

17. HS 94.3831.

18. Ibid.

19. Gungwu, Wang, “Early Ming Relations,” p. 40 Google Scholar.

20. HS 94.3832. Herein may be seen a reference to Ch'ao Ts'o's recommendations; see n, 13 above.

21. “Chin-ku she-chi ch'en yeh,” HS 78.3292. See Watson, Burton, trans., Courtier and Commoner In Ancient China: Selections from the History of the Former Han Dynasty by Pan Ku (New York: Columbia University Press, 1974), pp. 198–221 Google Scholar for a translation of HS 78, Watson translates this passage “…one of the true protectors of the altars of soil and grain in recent centuries!” (p. 221 ).

22. HS 78, 3278, Watson, , Courtier and Commoner, p. 207 Google Scholar, He held this office from 61-59 B.C. when he was promoted to the office of Grandee Secretary (yü-shih tai-fu), see HS 19-807-08, For a full description of the responsibilities of the Grand Herald, see Bielenstein, Hans, The Bureaucracy of Han Times (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980), pp. 39–41 CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Among his other duties, “The Grand Herald administered all barbarians who had ‘attached themselves to righteousness’, which, in practice, meant the reception in the capital of foreign missions and hostages, the negotiations with foreigners and the occasional conferring of Chinese titles” (pp. 39-40).

23. See HS 94.3781-96 for an account of the Hsiung-nu in decline.

24. See HS 94.3797 for an account of a debate at the Hsiung-nu court in which the arguments of the Left I-chih-tzu King persuaded the Shan-yü to “submit” to the Han. This Hsiung-nu noble later defected to the Han and Pan Ku no doubt drew upon the reports of his “debriefing” in framing this account. The Left I-chih-tzu King would have done his utmost to make his new masters aware of all that he had done on their behalf.

25. HS 78, 3282; translation from Watson, , Courtier and Commoner, p. 213 Google Scholar. There are accounts of this court debate in Hsiao Wang-chih's biography (HS 78.3283) and in the “Annals of Hsüan the Filial” (HS 8, 270), but it is not mentioned in HS 94.

26. See the correspondence between Wen-ti and Mo-tun Shan-yü (HS 94.3756-58, 3762-64) for evidence of the parity accorded the Shan-yü.

27. See esp. HS 78.3282-83.

28. HS 94, 3832. The nature of Hu-han-yeh Shan-yü's “submission” will receive detailed treatment elsewhere.

29. This era of peace was, in Pan Ku's view, brought to an end because of the “usurper” Wang Mang's ill-considered and precipitous actions (HS 94.3833), Pan Ku makes the same point in the chapter itself (HS 94.3818ff. ). Bielenstein presents a vigorous defense of Mang's, Wang Hsiung-nu policy in his “Restoration of the Han,” vol. 3:94–102 Google Scholar.

30. For example, the treatment of Lü-hou's dealings with Mo-tun Shan-yü in HS 94 is about five times as long as it is in SC 110 (305 to 58 characters); cf. HS 94.3754-55 with SC 110.2895. At the beginning of his account of Wen-ti 1s reign, Pan Ku inserts an imperial decree not found in SC 110; cf. HS 94.3756 with SC 110.2895.

31. In the last two-thirds of HS 94, that part of the chapter which is not dependent on SC 110 but is composed by Pan Ku, we find the fu 11 texts of three memorials and summaries of numerous others. The three full memorials are: 1) Hou Ying to Yüan-ti against permitting Hu-han-yeh Shan-yli to take over protection of the northern frontier (33 B.C.)? HS 94.3803-04; 2) Yang Hsiung to Ai-ti against rejecting the Shan-yü's request that he be permitted to come to court (3 B.C.), HS 94.3812-16; and 3) Yen Yu to Wang Mang against launching a great military expedition against the Hsiung-nu (A.D. 10-11), HS 94.3824-25.

32. HS 78.3282-83.

33. HS 94.3798. Burton Watson explains the meaning of this formulation as follows: “Chinese lords and officials, no matter how eminent, were obliged to refer to themselves by their personal names when addressing the emperor, but the Shan-yü is here excused from this duty. The pronoun ch'en, ‘your servant’ or ‘your subject,’ was presumably so conventionalized in usage that it would not offend the Shan-yü” (Courtier and Commoner, p. 213, n. 16).

34. HS 78.3282.

35. HS 94.3833.

36. HS 94.3803-04.

37. HS 94.3803. Pan Ku refers the reader to the biographies of Kan Yen-shou and Ch'en T'ang (HS 70) for details of the elimination of Chih-chih Shan-yü (HS 94.3802). Such cross-references appear from time to time in the Han Shu, For a detailed discussion of the elimination of Chih-chih Shan-yü and its wider implications, see Loewe, Michael, Crisis and Conflict in Han China, 104 B.C. to A,D. 9 (London: George Allen and Unwin, Ltd., 1974)Google Scholar, chap. 7, “The Punishment of Chih-chih-36 B.C.,” pp. 211-251.

38. HS 94.3803-05. This is Hou Ying's sole appearance in the Han Shu, nothing more is known of him from other sources.

39. HS 94-3833.

40. HS 94.3824-25.

41. HS 94.3833.

42. HS 94.3825.

43. HS 94.3833-34, cf. HS 78.3282.

44. HS 94.3834. For a “historical survey” of chi-mi. see Yang, Lien-sheng, “Historical Notes,” in Fairbank, , ed,. The Chinese World Order, pp. 31–33 Google Scholar. The message is very much the same in the tsan to HS 96, the “Memoir on the Western Regions,” HS 96.3928-30. Also see China in Central Asia, the Early Stage: 125 B.C.- A.D. 23, an Annotated Translation of Chapters 61 and 96 of the History of the Former Han Dynasty, trans. by Hulsewé, A. F. P. with an introduction by Loewe, M. A. N. (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1979), pp. 197–203 CrossRefGoogle Scholar. At 600 characters, it is just over half the length of the tsan to HS 94, but it is still among the longest. It describes the separateness of the Western Regions from China in familiar terms, while it condemns cheng-fa with even greater force than the tsan to HS 94. The authorship of this tsan has been queried. It is argued, on the basis of internal evidence, that it was written by Pan Ku's father, Pan Piao (see Hsu Sung's note in Wang Hsien-ch'en, Han Shu pu-chu HS 94, pt. 2:39B; see also Hulsewé and Loewe, p. 197, n. 713). The question is interesting but not important when considered in the light of Pan Ku's editorship of the entire Han Shu. If this tsan was written by Pan Piao, then his son agreed with the sentiments expressed in it. If he had not, Pan Ku would not have hesitated to rewrite it, for it is difficult to believe that he would have uncritically incorporated material into the Han Shu even if it were from his father's hand. The passage upon which the attribution of the tsan to Pan Piao rests is one which Kuang-wu-ti is praised for declining to involve himself with the Western Regions: “Our saintly emperor [Kuang-wu-ti] has surveyed the circumstances of past and present; and in view of the expediency of the times, he has kept them [the cities and the states of the Western Regions] under chi-mi and not cut them off, declining [their offers] and not bestowing [gifts upon them]” (HS 96.3930, trans- from Hulsewé and Loewe, p. 203, with modifications). The sentiments expressed here are entirely in accord with those found in the tsan to HS 94.

45. Bielenstein, , “Restoration of the Han,” vol. 3:129–131 Google Scholar.

46. In another context, in a memorial presented to Chang-ti in about A.D. 79, Pan Ku urged the emperor to follow the policies of Hs'u'an-ti's last years and not to abandon chi-mi. This memorial is included in the Hou Han Shu biography of Pan Ku, HHS 40.1374.