PREFACE
The first draft of this translation was made in 1941-42 when I
was studying in Peking as a fellow of the Harvard-Yenching
Institute. It was revised during my second stay in Peking in
1947. As it now goes to press after a further lapse of three years
I am very conscious of the need for another revision. In fact if
I were beginning the translation today I would proceed on rather
different principles, especially in the annotation. The reader will
find much that betrays the novice, as often in what is included
as requiring a note as in the significant omissions. The text includes
considerable interesting material for studies which I have
not undertaken; in publishing it in this form it is with the hope
that an English version of the Han shih wai chuan will attract
the attention of those more competent than I to deal with its
many problems, sociological, institutional and philosophical.
I wish to thank Professor Hsü Wei-yü of National Tsing Hua
University and Professor Wang Li-ch`i of National Peking University
for giving me the benefit of their wide knowledge of the
Han shih wai chuan and related texts. Mr. Hsü made some useful
suggestions about bibliography, which I have incorporated in my
account of the history of the text. My indebtedness to Mr. Wang
is acknowledged in the notes to the specific passages about which
I consulted him. To Mr. Achilles Fang I owe a debt not so easily
discharged. Mr. Fang read the entire manuscript, and nearly
every page incorporates corrections which he has suggested.
The first two chapters of this translation were presented to the
Department of Far Eastern Languages at Harvard University as
a doctoral thesis. They were read by Professor J. R. Ware and
were much improved by his criticism. I wish here to thank these
teachers and friends who have been so generous with their time
and knowledge. Without their help this translation would be much
poorer than it is.
J.R.H.
Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1950
