A foundational Chinese historical text compiled by Ban Gu (32–92 CE) of the Eastern Han dynasty.
Following Sima Qian‘s completion of the Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji), numerous scholars attempted continuations. Among them, Ban Biao (Ban Gu’s father) authored a 65-chapter supplement titled Sequel to the Shiji. When Ban Biao died in 54 CE (the 30th year of Jianwu under Emperor Guangwu), his son Ban Gu, while observing mourning, resolved to fulfill his father’s ambition by composing a comprehensive history of the Western Han dynasty.
He began work on the Hanshu three years later. In 62 CE (the fifth year of Yongping under Emperor Ming), Ban Gu was imprisoned on charges of “privately compiling national history” – a serious offense at the time. His younger brother, the famed general Ban Chao, rushed to Luoyang and submitted a memorial defending him. Impressed by Ban Gu’s draft manuscripts, Emperor Ming not only pardoned him but appointed him as an official historian and commissioned him to continue the project.
Decades later, in 92 CE (the fourth year of Yongyuan under Emperor He), Ban Gu was implicated in the political downfall of Dou Xian, a powerful consort kin accused of treason. Though likely innocent, Ban Gu was arrested and died unjustly in prison. At that time, parts of the work – specifically the “Tables” (biao) and the “Treatise on Astronomy” (Tianwen Zhi) – remained unfinished.
Emperor He then ordered Ban Zhao (Ban Gu’s highly learned sister, also known as Ban Ji) and the scholar Ma Xu to edit, complete, and finalize the missing sections. Through their efforts, the Hanshu was brought to completion as a coherent whole.
The Hanshu largely follows the biographical (jizhuanti) framework established by the Shiji, but with key innovations: it replaces Sima Qian’s “Treatises” (shu) with “Monographs” (zhi), abolishes the “Hereditary Houses” (shijia) category (absorbing noble lineages into “Biographies”), and renames “Basic Annals” (benji) simply as “Annals” (ji). Covering the entire span of the Western Han dynasty (206 BCE–9 CE), it comprises 100 chapters, later divided by editors into 120 scrolls.
As the first dynastic history (duandaishi) written in the biographical style – focusing exclusively on a single ruling house rather than spanning multiple dynasties – the Hanshu marked a major breakthrough in Chinese historiography after Sima Qian. Its influence was so profound that later generations often paired Sima Qian and Ban Gu as “Sima and Ban” or referred to their works jointly as “Shi-Han”, recognizing them as twin pillars of classical Chinese historical writing.
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