 | THE HISTORY OF THE FORMER HAN DYNASTY The history of the former Han dynasty |  |
Its sources
Concerning the sources of this and other chapters, I shall have something
to say in the volume of "Prolegomena" to this series. In the main,
the sources here are the same as elsewhere: imperial messages and edicts,
stenographical reports of imperial conversations (cf. 99 A: 27a), some
official annals kept at the palace, memorials to the throne, with their very
varied contents, such as even testimony at trials and the reports given by
informers. In addition, Pan Ku used the political pamphlets of the day,
which probably also formed part of the memorials to the throne, sometimes
being presented to the throne by the author of the pamphlet, and
sometimes (in the case of those attacking Wang Mang) forming part of
the evidence memorialized to justify a condemnation. The material that
might have come from the above sources may well account for practically
the whole of this chapter.
In this chapter, the amount of direct and extended quotation from
primary sources is noteworthy. In Part A, these explicit quotations form
68% of the whole; in Part B, 53%; and in Part C, 41% (exclusive of the
eulogy); an average of 55% for the chapter. Pan Ku was himself a poet
and literary artist of the first rank, and plainly admired the Confucian
literary products of Wang Mang's time, including Wang Mang's own
edicts, hence was led to quote them as examples of the age's literary
27b-29a) alone account for 27% of the direct quotations in Part A.
In addition to the direct quotations, there is a very large amount of
information that must have come from written documents, such as official
appointments, enfeoffments, summaries of official orders concerning economic
matters, concerning the redistricting of territory, concerning military
expeditions, etc. Much of this material is probably fragmentary
direct quotation. Since there is no difference in Chinese style between
direct and indirect discourse (except for the personal pronouns, the phrase
"your servant," and a few such phrases), a clever compiler, such as Pan
Ku shows himself to be, could more easily piece together phrases from
earlier documents to produce his own account than himself compose the
whole account anew. The peculiar description of the bandits in 99 C:
14b, which makes them out to be beggars going about asking for food,
blaming the fighting upon the government officials who come out and get
hurt, was very likely part of the report sent in by the Higher Subordinate
Official of the Commander-in-chief mentioned immediately afterwards,
who was captured by the bandits and freed, probably because he promised
to plead for them. Pan Ku used it as his own account of the bandits
(without mention of his source), since it came from a man who could
speak at first hand about them.
Another noteworthy feature of the age was the number of extensive
political documents, chiefly propaganda, that are mentioned in this
chapter. Evidently it was an age when there was a large reading public,
who eagerly perused such documents and passed them from hand to hand.
In A.D. 5, 487,572 persons (probably by groups) turned in memorials at
the capital concerning Wang Mang (99 A: 19b). We hear of a work on
filial piety written by Wang Mang in eight fascicles (99 A: 17a), of a
report by the eight commissioners concerning the people's customs,
praising Wang Mang, in 30,000 words (99 A: 23b), of a piece of propaganda,
entitled "The Mandate of Heaven Given Through Portents," in
42 fascicles (99 B: 9a), of a remonstrance to Wang Mang written by his
general, Chuang Yu, in three fascicles (99 C: 5b), of a book of revelations
written by Wang K'uang4b attacking Wang Mang, in over 100,000 words
(99 C: 12b), and of Wang Mang's own apologia, in more than a thousand
words (99 C: 25a). In addition there are mentioned other political
documents that must have been extensive, but about whose length we
are given no information: Chai Yi's message attacking Wang Mang, sent
about the country at the outset of his rebellion (99 A: 30a; 84: 11a);
Liu Yin4a Po-sheng's messages (99 C: 20a), and Wei Hsiao's message
(HHS, Mem. 3: 2a-4a), all attacking Wang Mang. There must have
been many more, in addition to the government documents and constant
(quoted in HS 100 A: 7b-11b) was probably a pamphlet passed about
the country in support of Emperor Kuang-wu.
Stange (in Die Monographie über Wang Mang, p. xxiv) states that this
chapter contains many matters which could only have come from oral
tradition or court gossip. There are, of course, some matters that did
come from oral tradition, such as the opinion about Wang Mang's music
(99 C: 4b), which might indeed have come from Pan Chih, Pan Ku's
grandfather. But such matters that are traceable to no written sources
are very much fewer than one might think, and Stange's own examples
are all chosen unfortunately.
Whenever a capital sentence was imposed, the facts upon which that
sentence was based were summarized in the form of a memorial and sent
to the emperor for his approval before the sentence was carried out.
These memorials then formed part of the government records, were
preserved, and were available to Pan Ku for the compilation of his History.
The government archives from Former Han times must have been
very extensive. The most surprising case is that in a memorial of A.D. 9
(99 A: 34b), Wang Mang mentions a book of revelation by Kan Chung-k'o
as being extant and stored in the Orchid Terrace (the imperial archives).
Now this remarkable work (in twelve rolls) had been written some time
in the reign of Emperor Ch'eng. It contained a prophecy that the Han
dynasty had come to the end of its period and must receive a renewed
mandate from Heaven. The famous Liu Hsiang had memorialized that
the matter was a fabrication to impose upon the vulgar, and Kan Chung-k'o
died in prison. In 5 B.C., a disciple, Hsia Ho-liang, memorialized
this book to Emperor Ai, who was impressed by it and changed his own
title and year-period in order to conform with this prophecy. (It was
evidently this copy that Wang Mang read.) A few months later, when
his illness did not improve, Emperor Ai abrogated his change and turned
Hsia Ho-liang over to his officials, who decided that he had maliciously
deceived the Emperor, which was an inhuman crime; he and his associates
were executed. Now if this repudiated prophetic book, forming part of a
memorial from a man who was executed for one of the most serious crimes
in the code, was preserved in the imperial archives for a period of fourteen
years, during three reigns, it is likely that memorials to the throne were
generally preserved. Such memorials contained information and advice
about all sorts of matters; they must have been an extensive source of
information for anyone who had access to them. Pan Ku occasionally
quotes such memorials, for example, Chuang Yu's advice about the
expedition against the Huns, which advice was rejected (found in 94 B:
19a-b = de Groot, Die Hunnen, pp. 273-275).
Now let us examine the examples of supposedly oral tradition mentioned
by Stange. The first one, the intrigue of Wang Mang against
Shun-yu Chang (99 A: 2a), resulted in the death of Shun-yu Chang, the
execution of his family and several dozen other persons, including a
former Empress, and the promotion of Wang Mang, so that there must
have been official documents recounting the testimony of those examined,
requesting the execution of these persons, detailing the culprit's crimes,
and indicating the person who reported them (cf. Glossary sub Shun-yu
Chang). Pan Ku's information about this incident was very likely based
upon these written documents.
The account of Wang Mang's wife's economy (99 A: 2a, b) also probably
came from a documentary source; some among the hundreds of
thousands of memorials praising Wang Mang probably contained this
detail, as well as many other details of Wang Mang's early life. A similar
memorial was probably the source for his interview with K'ung Hsiu
(99 A: 3b-4a). It is even more probable that the statement made by
Liu Ch'ung to his Chancellor, Chang Shao (99 A: 27a, b), was taken from
a documentary source, either from the report of the magistrate about
this rebellion or from a memorial to Wang Mang by Chang Shao's cousin,
Chang Sung, excusing himself. In the case of Chao Ming's message to
Chai Yi (99 A: 30b), it is quite possible that this message might have
been found in Chai Yi's camp after his defeat or in the city of Yü, to
which he fled and which was taken by storm.
It is not asserted that these conversations actually occurred, any more
than that the Higher Subordinate Official's account of the bandits was
true; it is merely pointed out that these conversations, etc., found in the
HS, could in most cases have been found by Pan Ku in some documentary
source, and that he used them as representing what very likely had happened.
There are many cases, especially in the HS memoirs, in which a
conversation would have enlivened the account and in which no conversations
are recounted. Hence it is most probable that Pan Ku did not
invent the conversations he recounts. He may be criticized for using
other people's invented conversations, but it seems rarely the case
that he himself invented matters which were not found in documents.
We have considered each of the cases Stange brings forward as supposed
instances of oral tradition, and note that, as Pan Ku used them,
they were all probably found by him in written form. The accounts of
conversations, etc., found in the HS are different in their nature from
the ones in the SC that have been so correctly suspected of having been
fabricated by Szu-ma Ch'ien. The latter writer has been known for his
lively accounts of events. Pan Ku's History has been criticized as being
inferior in its literary character—the difference is probably that Pan Ku
he found them in his sources. Hence the reliability of each case must be
judged upon its own merits and any general suspicion of Pan Ku's reliability
must be laid aside.
| THE HISTORY OF THE FORMER HAN DYNASTY The history of the former Han dynasty | |