University of Virginia Library

VI. THE HISTORY OF THE FORMER HAN DYNASTY

CHAPTER VI

EMPEROR HSIAO-WU

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of these introductions

The reign of Emperor Wu is perhaps one of the most important periods
in Former Han times. It was an age when fundamental changes in the
Chinese state occurred and when precedents were set which influenced
profoundly the remainder of Chinese history. This chapter is however
not what we should call a history of that reign, and it is not in place to
insert such a history in this translation of source-materials. In order
that the reader may comprehend the events mentioned in this chapter,
however, it is necessary that he should first be given something of the
background to this reign and an account of the important events omitted
from this chapter. In this introduction, after first discussing the sources
of the chapter, especially the corresponding chapter in the SC, I shall
accordingly discuss: the subversion of the state constitution by Emperor
Wu, (who made the emperor an autocratic ruler, with important
consequences for the nature of Chinese government), the severity of
Emperor Wu's government, Li Ling's famous expedition, ancient condemnations
and approvals of Emperor Wu, the influence of his women
and their relatives, his superstitious practises (particularly the incident
of Luan Ta), the development of the examination system, and the progressive
victory of Confucianism (especially the founding of the Imperial
University).

The sources for this chapter—the corresponding chapter of the SC

First of all, we must consider the sources of this chapter, especially
the relation of this chapter to the corresponding one in the SC, a quite
complicated problem. In writing the earlier chapters of the HS, Pan
Ku used as his main source the chapters of the SC dealing with the same
material, reproducing almost all of those chapters, with additions and
corrections. For the present chapter he seems to have had no such
source. SC ch. 12, "The Fundamental Annals of Emperor Wu," as
we have it today, contains but half of the first paragraph in HS ch. 6;
the remainder of SC ch. 12 is reproduced in its entirety from SC ch. 28.
Some early editor recognized that Szu-ma Ch'ien intended to write a
chronicle of Emperor Wu's reign, and inserted, after the first paragraph

(which alone remained of Szu-ma Ch'ien's writing), the account of this
emperor's religious practises presented annalistically in SC ch. 28. It is
doubtful, then, whether Szu-ma Ch'ien really wrote a chapter of "Fundamental
Annals" for Emperor Wu's reign. Had such an account been
available, Pan Ku would certainly have used it in this chapter.

It is evident that Szu-ma Ch'ien at least planned to write such a
chapter. In the preface to his history (SC 130: 29), he says, "Therefore
I finally transmitted [an account of events] from T'ao-and-T'ang [Yao]
down to and ending with the unicorn [captured in 123 B.C.]." The last
sentence in that preface (130: 65) reads, "The Lord Grand Astrologer,
[Szu-ma Ch'ien], says, `I have transmitted [an account of] the generations
beginning with the Yellow Lord down to and ending with [the
period] T'ai-ch'u [104-101 B.C.], in one hundred thirty chapters'."
The original versified table of contents (130: 32, 33) includes, moreover,
a stanza for an annals of Emperor Wu's reign:

If such a chapter was ever written, it seems to have perished very early,
for no early writer refers to it. It seems indeed very likely that Szu-ma
Ch'ien never wrote a complete chapter. Yet there is some evidence that
he may have written part of such a chapter. Pan Piao (A.D. 3-54), in his
"Summary Discussion" (Lüeh-lun, quoted in HHS, Mem. 30 A: 3a;
trans. in the "Introductory Volume" of this series), reproduces the
statement of Szu-ma Ch'ien, saying that the latter, "beginning with the
Yellow Lord and ending with the capture of the unicorn, composed
`Fundamental Annals', `Hereditary Houses', `Memoirs', `Treatises',
and `Tables', in altogether 130 fascicles," but adds, "Ten fascicles
(chapters) are missing." Pan Ku, in his own preface (HS 100 B: 1a)
likewise uses Szu-ma Ch'ien's date for the close of the SC, saying, "In
[the dynasty's] sixth reign, a clerkly courtier, [Szu-ma Ch'ien], thereupon
. . . privately composed `Fundamental Annals', placing them at
the end of [his chapters devoted to] the various kings . . . . After [the

period] T'ai-ch'u, [these records] are lacking and were recorded." Pan
Ku thus likewise ends the account in the SC with the period T'ai-ch'u.

In other chapters, the present text of the SC however carries the
account to a much later date. (Most of this additional material must
be supplementation by later hands, although some of it was probably
written by Szu-ma Ch'ien himself.) The dates given by
Szu-ma Ch'ien for ending his account, "the capture of the unicorn [123]"
and "T'ai-ch'u [104-101]," are moreover not consistent. They are
evidently a literary way of saying, "after Emperor Wu had begun his
reign," and may be nothing more than literary phrases. The SC versified
table of contents could not have been written until after 104 B.C.,
since it mentions the change of calendar made in that year. That stanza
need not moreover be understood to imply that Szu-ma Ch'ien actually
wrote a "Fundamental Annals" for Emperor Wu's reign, for it may have
merely represented his plan for future writing. There is thus no definite
evidence from the SC or HS concerning whether Szu-ma Ch'ien did or
did not write an annals for Emperor Wu's reign.[1]

There is a possibility based on circumstantial accounts, that such
annals were written and destroyed. P'ei Yin (fl. 465-472), in a
note on SC 130: 65, quotes a comment from the HS Chiu-yi (by Wei
Hung, fl. 25-57), saying, "Szu-ma Ch'ien, in composing his `Fundamental
Annals of Emperor Ching', spoke very much of his defects together with
the faults of Emperor Wu. Emperor Wu became angry and sliced [the
writing] off [the tablets on which the book was written]. Later [Szu-ma
Ch'ien] was sentenced for recommending Li Ling. [Li] Ling had surrendered
to the Huns, hence [the Emperor] committed [Szu-ma] Ch'ien
to the Silkworm House, [where he was castrated. He spoke] some
bitter words, was committed to prison, and died."

The above saying has been taken to imply that Emperor Wu destroyed
the original chapters of the SC which dealt with Emperors Ching and Wu.
Wang Su (159-256) early seems explicitly to have understood it thus.
The San-kuo Chih (by Ch'en Shou, 223-297), in its "Treatise on Wei,"
13: 28a f, the "Memoir of Wang Su," towards the end, says, "Emperor
[Ming, 227-239], also questioned [Wang Su, saying], `Because Szu-ma
Ch'ien was punished, he cherished secret strong feelings within [himself]
and composed the SC to blame and condemn [Emperor] Hsiao-wu, which
makes people gnash their teeth.'

"[Wang Su] replied, `When Szu-ma Ch'ien recorded events, he did not
praise [anyone] without reason or hide any evil [deeds]. Liu Hsiang

[79-8 B.C.] and Yang Hsiung [53 B.C.-A.D. 18] admitted that he had
stated things well and had the qualities of a capable historian, and called
[his book] a recording of facts. [The foregoing statements are taken from
Pan Ku's eulogy on Szu-ma Ch'ien, HS 62: 26a.] Emperor Wu of the
Han [dynasty] heard that he had written the SC, took the "Fundamental
Annals of [Emperor] Hsiao-ching" together with those recording his own
[reign], and read them. Thereupon he became furious, sliced them off,
and threw them away. Down to the present, these two chapters have
the title but no writing. Later there happened the affair of Li Ling,
and thereupon [the Emperor] committed [Szu-ma] Ch'ien to the Silkworm
House. Thus there were secret strong feelings on the part of [Emperor]
Hsiao-wu and not upon the part of the historian [Szu-ma] Ch'ien."

The dependability of these two accounts is questionable. Wang Su's
reply seems merely an expansion of Wei Hung's statement, and hence
may perhaps be neglected. Wei Hung seems moreover to have been
quite mistaken. In the first place, his statement about Szu-ma
Ch'ien's death in prison is not corroborated. Unfortunately, Pan Ku's
biography of Szu-ma Ch'ien says nothing concerning the circumstances
of his death. Since Pan Ku admired Szu-ma Ch'ien greatly, he undoubtedly
collected all that was known about that famous historian; if
Szu-ma Ch'ien had died in prison, that fact would hardly have escaped
Pan Ku's notice. The only time that we know of Szu-ma Ch'ien having
been in prison was at the time that he was castrated, and HS 62: 16a says,
"After [Szu-ma] Ch'ien was punished, he became Chief Palace Writer
and was honored and favored in that position." (The Chief Palace
Writer was the eunuch imperial private secretary, a very important
position.) Moreover, in HHS, Mem. 50 B: 20a, the Minister over the
Masses, Wang Yün, when interceded in behalf of Ts'ai Yung, is said to
have replied as follows, in 192 A.D., "In former times, Emperor Wu did
not kill Szu-ma Ch'ien and left him to compose libelous writings to be
transmitted to later generations." Indeed, in HS 62: 12b, Pan Ku seems
to represent Szu-ma Ch'ien as writing at least his "Introductory Memoir"
(SC ch. 130) after his punishment, and the same chapter quotes a letter
of Szu-ma Ch'ien written after his punishment.[2] Probably Szu-ma

Ch'ien's death, which occurred within the forbidden apartments of the
imperial palace, to which few persons were admitted, was merely unnoticed.
Hence the second part of Wei Hung's statement is false.

Wei Hung's impression of Szu-ma Ch'ien's attitude towards Emperor
Wu is nevertheless correct. SC ch. 30 (Mh III, 552 ff) contains what
are practically annals for the years 124-110; that chapter constitutes a
picture of the ruin brought by war upon a prosperous empire. The
genuine portions of the SC thus contain a drastic criticism of Emperor
Wu's policies.

Pan Ku probably did not himself have any SC "Fundamental Annals
for Emperor Wu." In 62: 16a he repeats his father's statement, "Moreover
ten chapters [of the SC] are lacking; there is a listing [for them, but]
there is no writing [for them]." Chang Yen (iii cent.; also trans. in
Mh I, cci) attempted to enumerate these ten chapters, and writes, in a
note to the passage quoted above, "After the death of [Szu-ma] Ch'ien,
there were lacking the `Annals of [Emperor] Ching' [SC ch. 11], the
`Annals of [Emperor] Wu' [ch. 12], the `Book on Rites' [ch. 23], the `Book
on Music' [ch. 24], the `Book on War' [Szu-ma Cheng (fl. 713-742) says
it was lost (possibly because of criticism like that in HS 100 A: 5a) and
that Master Ch'u substituted for it part of Szu-ma Ch'ien's account of
the calendar, under the title, the `Book on the Sonorous Tubes,' ch. 25;
cf. Mh I, ccii, ccv-ccvii], the `Table by Years of the Generals and Chancellors
since the Rise of the Han [Dynasty', ch. 22], the `Memoir on Fortune-tellers'
[ch. 127], the `Hereditary House of the Three Kings' [ch. 60], the
`Memoir on the Tortoise and the Milfoil' [ch. 128], and the `Memoir of
Fu [K'uan] and Chin [Hsi,' ch. 98]. During [the time of Emperors]
Yüan and Ch'eng [48-7 B.C.], Master Ch'u supplied what was missing
and composed the `Annals of Emperor Wu,' the `Hereditary House of the
Three Kings,' and the `Memoirs of the Tortoise and the Milfoil' and `on
Fortune-tellers.' Their words and phrases are rustic and low, not
[Szu-ma] Ch'ien's original ideas."

It is doubtful whether Chang Yen's statement contains any independent
evidence. There is no doubt that most of the present SC ch. 12
has been supplied; chs. 60, 127, and 128 at present contain long passages,
said in the text to have been composed by the Master Ch'u; chs. 23 and 24
are filled out with long quotations from previous literature (cf. Mh I, ccii
for Szu-ma Cheng's explanation of Chang Yen's choice, and ibid. ccvii,
for Chavannes' criticism). Chang Yen is plainly depending for his
information upon internal evidence to be found in substantially what is
the present text of the SC. In mentioning SC chs. 11 and 12 he may be
under the influence of Wei Hung's statement, which itself is very doubtful.
We have moreover seen that there is every reason to believe that the

SC text of the "Annals of Emperor Ching" was used by Pan Ku and that
this chapter was written by Szu-ma Ch'ien (cf. HFHD, I, 291-292).

The copy of the SC in Pan Ku's family library was made from the
original, which Szu-ma Ch'ien says he deposited in the imperial private
library (HS 100 A: 5a). In addition he made a copy for circulation in the
capital outside the Palace (SC 130: 64), which seems to have been kept
by his grandson Yang Yün. After Yang Yün's execution, this copy may
have been preserved by Szu-ma Ch'ien's other descendants, who were
living as late as the time of Wang Mang and for whom a noble title was
then asked (Cf. HS 62: 25a; Fr. Jäger in Asia Major 9: [1933], 36). The
additions now found in the text of the SC were probably made to that
copy, to which Pan Ku may have had access. While composing his
History, he moreover had free access to the imperial private library.
Access to the copy of the SC in the imperial private library was commonly
denied, and even copies of it were at first refused; Pan Ku's clan would
not lend their copy (HS 100 A: 6b).

Chang Yen does not thus seem to have been making an independent
statement about the contemporary text of the SC, but merely to have
been guessing about what chapters were missing from Pan Piao's
copy. Concerning the "Annals of Emperor Ching," at least, he guessed
wrong. We may then dismiss as unsupported, except by the internal
evidence of the SC text, Chang Yen's statement about the missing
chapters of the SC. Except for that internal evidence, which is as
available to us as to earlier critics, we are left then merely with the statement
of Pan Piao that his copy lacked ten chapters, and we do not know
from ancient information which these ten were or even whether they were
all chapters dealing with Han times.

The HS "Annals of Emperor Wu" are then an original composition of
Pan Ku, in which he was not following any chapter of the SC, because
none was available. It is the first such chapter in the book. Szu-ma
Ch'ien however had written much about Emperor Wu's reign: parts of
SC chs. 28 and 30 are really annals dealing with some years in that reign.
These chapters were utilized by Pan Ku. He also had the additions
made to the SC by writers like Master Ch'u, who lived between his time
and that of Szu-ma Ch'ien. The majority of the material in these
"Annals" is however Pan Ku's own compilation and was taken, in all
probability, from the same sources as the material which did not come
from the SC now found in the preceding chapters: from the collection of
imperial edicts and important memorials to the throne, which we know
were preserved in the imperial files, and from some sort of palace annals
recording travels of the emperors, together with portentous happenings
and deaths of important persons.

A summary of Emperor Wu's reign

The history of this period, in the Occidental sense of the word, is to be
found, for the most part, not in Pan Ku's "Annals", but in his "Treatises"
and "Memoirs", which elaborate the chronological summary given here.
These "Memoirs" are largely abstracted in the Glossary, which contains
an account of every person, place, and government office mentioned in
the "Annals". The reader is referred to it for many important matters
concerning this and other chapters. A reading of the relevant
"Memoirs" and "Treatises" impresses one with the tremendous activity
of the time and with the control exercised by Emperor Wu over the
elaborate governmental mechanism.

The Emperor was, in more ways than one, le grand monarque of Han
times. Not only did he reign for more than half a century, but he came
to the throne at the age of fifteen and a half, so that shortly after he
began his reign he came into the most vigorous years of his manhood
and was prepared to infuse his own vigor into the government. In addition
to his many brilliant achievements, he overturned the unwritten
constitution of the state, which limited the emperor's powers, and made
himself an absolute autocrat. He made continual demands upon his
realm until its resources were exhausted and disorder ensued. He made
the relatives of his favorite women influential officials. He devoted
much time to the pursuit of supernatural beings. He set in operation
the examination system in the form which it maintained until T'ang
times, and, through the Imperial University, he was to a considerable
degree responsible for the victory of Confucianism over its rivals, although
he was personally only a nominal Confucian.

His reign became a period about which romance gathered. There
have come down two famous collections of such stories, the Stories from
[the Reign of Emperor] Wu of the Han [Dynasty] (Han-Wu Ku-shih) and
the Secret Memoirs of [Emperor] Wu of the Han [Dynasty] (Han-Wu
Nei-chuan), both of which are full of miracles and wonderful stories. In
addition, there are many other romances and plays based upon events
in this reign. Some of these deal with Szu-ma Hsiang-ju, the famous
poet, who, because he did nothing of administrative importance, is not
even mentioned in this chapter, although Pan Ku admired him highly
and devotes a long memoir to him.

This is not the place to write a history of Emperor Wu's reign.
Chavannes has supplied a long account of its events, external and internal,
including an account of his military campaigns, his enfeeblement of the
nobles, his selection of commoners as his ministers, his change in the
calendar, his sale of noble ranks, his monetary changes, and his cultivation
of letters (Mh I, lxii-cvii). Here will be found merely an attempt

to indicate something of the background to this reign and some important
events omitted from the "Annals."

His subversion of the unwritten state constitution and the consequences
thereof

Soon after he ascended the throne, Emperor Wu evidently determined
to rule as well as to reign. In attaining that goal he made in the fundamental
unwritten constitution of the state an important change which
has had far-reaching effects upon Chinese history.

In the conduct of government the Han practise had previously been
that the emperor delegates his power to his important officials, especially
the Lieutenant Chancellor, and confines his own activity chiefly to the
appointment and dismissal of his high officials. All important matters,
such as the issuance of important governmental orders and the confirmation
of all capital sentences, came to the emperor for final approval; in
deciding such matters, the emperor seems to have ratified, without
questioning, the decisions of his high officials. When important officials
disagreed, it seems to have been the custom to convoke the members
of the imperial court, including the high officials, the heads of bureaus,
the Erudits, the Gentlemen, etc., to a discussion, at which the emperor
presided; the consensus of opinion reached at this assembly was then
adopted by the emperor. This limitation of imperial power had been
embodied in and strengthened by the custom that the emperor rarely or
never acts on his own initiative; he merely approves or disapproves the
suggestions of his officials (cf. HFHD, I, 16, 17). Government business
came to the high ministers, who usually decided matters and, sometimes
after convoking their own subordinates, submitted their decisions to the
emperor for ratification. While the emperor was thus theoretically an
absolute monarch, in practise his official acts were determined by the
group of officials with whom he had surrounded himself. This constitutional
practise seems admirably designed, but its continuance required a
degree of self-denial and freedom from overweening ambition not to be
found continuously in any line of rulers.

This custom, which made the emperor chiefly the personnel manager
of the government, was plainly a Legalistic (and Taoistic) practise. It
was called "governing by non-activity" and was strongly advocated by
Han Fei and by Chuang-tzu (Cf. W. K. Liao, Complete Works of Han Fei
Tzu, vol. I, ch. VIII; Fung, History of Chinese Philosophy, I, 330-5).
Since the Ch'in government adopted Legalist practises and the early Han
rulers adopted Ch'in practises, this imperial abnegation of ruling power
came almost certainly to the Han dynasty from the Ch'in, along with
many other governmental institutions and offices. Hsiao Ho, the actual

founder of the Han governmental mechanism and the Han constitution,
had been thoroughly trained in Ch'in procedures before he joined the Han
forces. This conception of the imperial power was furthermore not
contradicted by Confucian teachings. While the Book of History does
not plainly represent any of the ancient sages as explicitly following it,
yet the practise is quite in harmony with what these sages are represented
as doing and with other Confucian teachings. For example, Shun urges
Yü, his successor, to give up his own opinion and follow that of others
(Book of History, II, ii, 3; Legge, p. 53); in the "Great Plan," the ruler
is directed to consult with the ministers, officers, common people, and
the divining instruments (ibid. V, iv, 25). The Confucian theory was
that the ruler should serve as a model, and his subordinates would
accordingly become virtuous without the ruler's interference. Mencius
called the ruler who enforces his will by physical force a Lord Protector
(pa) in contrast to the true king (wang), who governs by moral suasion.
Thus it was quite possible to read Confucian sanction from the Classics
into the practise of turning the actual work of government over to the
ministers and bureaucracy. At the same time it was possible for sincere
Confucians to allege that this practise was one of the "evils inherited"
from the Ch'in dynasty (HS 6: 39a) and to reinforce by this argument
the Emperor's natural ambition to dominate the governmental mechanism
of which he was the head, urging that only by such a change could
this anti-Confucian practise be removed. Szu-ma T'an makes imperial
initiative in government a Confucian teaching (SC 130: 9; trans. in L. C.
Porter, Aids to the Study of Chinese Philosophy, p. 51). Thus criticism
of the change could be stifled by an appeal to the Confucian philosophy.

Such a change, from passivity to imperial initiative in government,
was foreshadowed when Emperor Wu, early in his reign, showed himself
ambitious, active, and dominating. At first he followed the earlier
practise of leaving matters to the decision of his Lieutenant Chancellors.
But after the death, in 131 B.C., of T'ien Fen, his uncle and Lieutenant
Chancellor, Emperor Wu took the government into his own hands. He
did not allow any of his Lieutenant Chancellors to remain in office long
enough to gain prestige. They were tripped up on some one of the many
vague laws and were sentenced for crime. None of them held office for
more than four years, except the incompetent and subservient Shih
Ch'ing, who did not know enough to interfere in government business.
The others all died or were dismissed in disgrace. From 121 to 88 B.C., a
period of thirty-three years, during which there were seven Lieutenant
Chancellors, only Shih Ch'ing died a natural death; the others were all
condemned for some crime or other. The result of this continual overturn
of the outstanding government official was that government business

came naturally in the first instance to the throne, instead of to the
Lieutenant Chancellor, and that the ministers became merely the agents
of the throne, instead of actually controlling the government.

Thus Emperor Wu altered the constitution of the state, and the
emperor became the ruler, an absolute monarch who directed the government
in person, instead of merely reigning and delegating his powers to
the most capable subordinate he could discover. This profound change
naturally had important consequences for subsequent history.

In the first place, it removed an important check to misgovernment.
As long as the Lieutenant Chancellor was ruling, it was possible for
complainants to criticize this official; once the emperor actually assumed
the direction of matters, it was no longer possible to criticize the government
for its mistakes, since the emperor was above criticism. Szu-ma
Ch'ien, in pleading for Li Ling, was actually criticizing the Emperor;
such criticism was lese-majesty, for which Szu-ma Ch'ien was punished
severely. Thus by placing the ruling power above criticism, the imperial
government was deprived of the corrective power that comes from popularly
expressed criticism. Emperors Wu and Wang Mang ruined the
country, bringing about serious depopulation and banditry; yet critics
could not ask to have the ruling authority changed, as they had done in
the times of Emperors Wen and Ching, when the Lieutenant Chancellors
were criticized. The very serious mistakes in Emperor Wu's reign, such
as his economic policies, the loss of Li Ling, and the rebellion of the
Heir-apparent Li, were made possible by the absence of effective criticism
for governmental policies.

In the second place, the emperor's private secretaries, the Masters of
Writing or the Palace Writers, instead of the Lieutenant Chancellors,
came to be the most powerful officials in the government. These
secretaries became the sieve through which all official documents passed.
Since the emperor could not possibly examine all memorials and documents,
and since he remained enclosed by the barrier composed of his
entourage and palaces, the person who selected what reports and documents
were seen by the emperor could largely determine the emperor's
decisions. Emperors Wu and Hsüan were alone able to a certain extent,
by their personal activity, to break through this barrier; other emperors,
who were not so active or able, usually succumbed to the restrictions
thrown about them. There accordingly came into being the curious office
of Intendant of Affairs of the Masters of Writing (Chih Shang-shu Shih),
the occupant of which, by controlling the imperial secretaries, controlled
the emperor and the government. The Lieutenant Chancellor now
became, not the dominating official in the government, but a convenient
figurehead, a position to which some aged Confucian scholar could be

appointed, in order to give the government the flavor of virtue. The
Intendant of Affairs of the Masters of Writing was usually concurrently
Commander-in-chief, and important government matters, such as
important appointments, were usually decided by him. Occasionally
emperors tried to nullify the power of the Intendant of Affairs of the
Masters of Writing by appointing two persons to this post, to check each
other, but, in such cases, the stronger of the two, by using the threat of
legal condemnation afforded by the complicated and vague laws, usually
dominated the other. Thus the attempt of the emperor to grasp the
governing power in person merely drove that power to subterranean
places.

Thirdly, it now became possible for persons who held no official positions
to dominate the government through their possession of the imperial
confidence. Hence intrigue became rife in the court. Since the emperor
had little or no contact with the public and was naturally suspicious of
self-seeking among his courtiers, the persons whom he trusted could
dominate the government. The most important of these persons was
his mother, the Empress Dowager, obedience to whom was required by
the Confucian virtue of filial piety. She, being a woman, was also
immured in the palace, and so came to depend upon her close relatives.
They were blood relatives or connections of the emperor and their position
in the court depended upon the possession of the throne by this
particular emperor, hence he could be confident that their interests were
fundamentally identical with his own. Consequently they were trusted
and given high positions. Thus Emperor Wu's seizure of governmental
control inaugurated the periods of intrigue and domination by imperial
maternal relatives, which so defaced the succeeding periods of his dynasty
and resulted in the downfall of the Former and Later Han dynasties.

The foregoing consequences of Emperor Wu's over-ambitious overturn
of the state constitution did not for the most part manifest themselves
until the reigns of succeeding emperors. By his own penetration
and activity he minimized them during his own reign. He was, for
example, so far-sighted as to see to it that his successor should have no
living mother. Emperor Hsüan, because of his unusual upbringing,
likewise avoided these consequences. But under rulers of lesser ability,
they became inevitable. All the reigns after Emperor Hsüan suffered
from them.

The undue severity of his rule

In order to strengthen the government's control over the people,
Emperor Wu had Chang T'ang and others enact a strict and detailed
code of laws, so that it became difficult for anyone to keep out of prison

except by the favor of the emperor or of some official. At this time,
Wang Wen-shu moreover made popular among officials his method of
controlling the people by protecting certain criminals and using them as
his "teeth and claws" in suppressing others. It is said that when Tu
Chou was Commandant of Justice, there were always in prison more
than a hundred officials, of ranks as high as two thousand piculs, waiting
for their cases to be decided, and that each year there were more than a
thousand cases concerning commandery officials, the larger cases involving
several hundred accused and the minor ones involving several dozen
people. By contrast, Emperor Wen is said to have pronounced only
four hundred verdicts in his whole reign (cf. 4: 22a).

One reason for this startling number of prisoners was doubtless the
Emperor's constant demands for soldiers and workmen. By about 115
B.C., the regular levies for military service seem to have been mostly
exhausted and volunteers no longer appeared. Several armies had been
lost in expeditions against the Huns and even horses had become scarce.
When, in 112, it became desirable to send expeditions against the kingdom
of Nan-yüeh, the prisons were opened and amnesty was offered to those
who would go with the armies. After that time most of the Chinese
armies were composed of criminals. Probably many of Emperor Wu's
edifices were also built by criminal workers—about 110 B.C., when
Emperor Wu wanted to build the T'ung-t'ien Terrace and no laborers
were available, Wang Wen-shu asked for leave to restudy the cases in
the Palace Military Commander's office, and set free those who could
work, thus securing several ten-thousands of men (cf. Glossary, sub
voce). Government slaves were also secured by condemning people to
penal servitude. Such slaves were employed in the government monopolies
in salt, iron, and liquor. In 44 B.C., Kung Yü reported that the
government still employed more than a hundred thousand convicts for
that purpose. Szu-ma Ch'ien states that through condemnations for
false reporting of property and capital, the government obtained wealth
in cash by the hundred-thousands, in slaves by the thousands and ten-thousands,
and in fields to the amount of several ten-thousands of mou
in large prefectures and over ten thousand mou in small prefectures, with
residences in proportion, so that merchants and the middle class were
ruined (cf. Mh III, p. 585 f; HS 24 B: 16a, b).

The undue demands made upon the people by Emperor Wu wrecked
the country. In SC ch. 30, Szu-ma Ch'ien gives a picture of the economic
calamities that came upon his country while Emperor Wu was exhausting
the reserves accumulated during the peaceful reign of Emperor Wen.
The Emperor drained the country, while his sycophantic officials and

complaisant courtiers fed his megalomania. The wastage in the army
was especially great, for the Chinese generals, spurred by imperial commands,
often took undue risks. In 129 B.C., Li Kuang3 and Kung-sun
Ao were defeated; the latter is said to have lost 7000 men. In 123, Chao
Hsin4 surrendered to the Huns and Su Chien's troops, comprising more
than 3000 cavalry, were killed or surrendered. In 121, Li Kuang3 lost
most of 4000 men. In the strenuous campaigns of 119, Chinese are said
to have been killed by the ten-thousands, and more than a hundred
thousand army horses were worn out and died. In 103, Li Kuang-li lost
eight to nine-tenths of his army, composed of several ten-thousands of
men. In 102, Chao P'o-nu was captured by the Huns with 20,000 men.
In 101, Li Kuang-li brought back from Ferghana only ten thonsand-odd out
of sixty thousand men. In 99, he again returned, having lost six to seven-tenths
of a much larger force. In that year all but 400 of Li Ling's 5000
famous foot-soldiers were destroyed. In 90, Li Kuang-li surrendered to
the Huns with 70,000 men. Thus Emperor Wu's rule was anything but
kindly. His intense desire for fame made his reign a calamity to China.

Li Ling's brilliant military exploit

Perhaps the most brilliant military exploit in Han times after the
death of Hsiang Yü was the famous expedition of Li Ling deep into Hun
territory. It throws so much light upon Emperor Wu and upon military
practises that it is perhaps worth recounting.

Li Ling was a grandson of Li Kuang3, a doughty and intrepid fighter
from the Commandery of Lung-hsi (in the present Kansu). Li Kuang3
had been a famous archer, who was said to have mistaken in the dusk a
stone for a tiger and to have sunk an arrow deep into it. He intrepidly
attacked greatly larger forces of Huns, with the result that he twice lost
all or almost all his soldiers in battle. He shared the hardships of his
men and achieved great fame by his valor and ability. When, in 119
B.C., a strenuous attempt was to be made to capture the Hun Shan-yü,
Li Kuang3, who was then a general, asked several times to go along. He
was more than sixty years of age, and Emperor Wu thought him too old,
but he was finally made General of the Van, with secret orders to the
Commander-in-chief, Wei Ch'ing, to keep him in the rear. Emperor Wu
had consulted the diviners about Li Kuang3, and had been told that his
fate was to be an evil one, so did not wish Li Kuang3 to lead in the
expedition; Wei Ch'ing wanted his personal friend, Kung-sun Ao, to have
the opportunity of capturing the Shan-yü, because Kung-sun Ao had
arrived late with his army at a rendezvous, a capital crime. He
had been allowed to ransom his life, but had lost his noble rank and

wealth. Hence Wei Ch'ing removed Li Kuang3 to the command of the
Right. The proud Li Kuang3 became angry and arrived late at the
rendezvous. Wei Ch'ing's expedition defeated the Huns, but failed to
capture the Shan-yü, possibly because it lacked Li Kuang3. When the
expedition returned, Li Kuang3 was questioned; he admitted his fault,
recounted his seventy victories over the Huns, and committed suicide.
Thus the intrepid commander was robbed of his opportunity and his life
by imperial superstition, professional jealousy, and his own pride.

In 99 B.C., his grandson, Li Ling, had entered the imperial service and
had been stationed in Kansu with a force of five thousand picked men to
defend the frontiers. He was an excellent horseman and archer, and
trained his men carefully. An expedition of thirty thousand cavalry was
to be sent to attack the Hun Worthy King of the West at the T'ien
Mountains (north of the present Chinese Turkestan). Emperor Wu
summoned Li Ling, intending to put him in charge of the baggage train,
whereupon the latter suggested that it would be better to send him on an
independent expedition into the present Mongolia, in order to divide the
Hun forces. Emperor Wu replied that there was no more cavalry
(who fought as horse-archers) available, but Li Ling answered that he
wanted only his five thousand infantry, saying that he liked to fight
with a few against many.

Previous to this time, because the Huns fought on horseback, cavalry
had always been sent to attack them; Li Ling for the first time opposed
infantry, to the Hun cavalry in Hun territory. Emperor Wu approved
his plan, and ordered Lu Po-tê to support Li Ling and to meet him halfway
on his return. But Lu Po-tê was a General, while Li Ling was only
a Chief Commandant; Lu Po-tê did not want to appear subordinate to
Li Ling, and memorialized that the expedition should be delayed.
Emperor Wu misunderstood his meaning, thought that Li Ling had
regretted his proposal, became very angry (for he would not tolerate
cowardice among his officers), and ordered Lu Po-tê off to another part
of the border, while he commanded Li Ling to set out against the Huns in
November.

Li Ling sent back the Emperor correct information concerning what
had happened between him and Lu Po-tê and, after getting no reply,
started out with his men northwards from the present Chü-yen (Etzina)
towards the present Urga, then approximately the seat of the Shan-yü.
He marched for about thirty days, mapping the mountains and streams
and sending a subordinate back to report to Emperor Wu. The force
was then opposite the Shan-yü's location. The latter discovered the
Chinese and surrounded Li Ling with a troop said to have consisted of

thirty thousand horsemen. Li Ling encamped between two mountains
and used his large carts to wall his camp. He led his troops out of the
camp and arrayed them, ordering the front ranks to bear pikes and
shields and the rear ranks to bear bows and crossbows. At the sound of
the drum they were to advance; at the sound of the bell they were to
stop. The Huns attacked, and Li Ling's footmen awaited them unflinchingly,
while a thousand cross-bows, which outranged the Hun
longbows, were discharged at the Huns. The effect was terrible; the
Huns fled to the mountains with the Chinese in pursuit. Several
thousand Huns were killed. The Parthians, at the battle of Carrhae
(54 B.C.) and in Antony's retreat from Phraaspa (36 B.C.), showed that
the best foot soldiers of the time (Roman legionaries) were no match for
horse-archers adequately supplied with arrows; Li Ling showed that
footmen, when properly organized and supplied with enough crossbows,
could vanquish an overwhelming force of horse-archers.

But without support Li Ling could not follow up his victory. The
Shan-yü summoned reinforcements, while Li Ling led his men southeastwards,
towards the Chinese border, fighting as he went, always
beating off overwhelming numbers and inflicting severe punishment upon
the Huns. Crossbows that shot several arrows at a time were used so
effectively that the Shan-yü himself had to dismount and flee on foot.
The severely wounded Chinese were carried in carts; the moderately
wounded pushed carts; while the slightly wounded kept on fighting.
When the Chinese reached a place only a hundred-odd li from the frontier,
they had to pass through a narrow valley. The Shan-yü was going to
cease the pursuit, but his chiefs warned him that it would be a great
shame for him not to be able to destroy several thousand Chinese with
several ten-thousands of Hun horsemen. If Li Ling got forty or fifty li
further on to level ground, he could not be stopped. Just then a Chinese
captain turned traitor and surrendered to the Huns, bringing the news
that there were no supporting troops coming to assist Li Ling, and that
his arrows were almost exhausted. The Huns attacked with renewed
vigor, surrounded the Chinese, blocked the valley, and rolled rocks and
stones down, while their arrows fell like rain. Without arrows, the
Chinese were helpless. They abandoned their carts and fled. Only
three thousand were left; the men fought with cart axles, the officers
used their short swords. Although many were killed, they could not
win through the valley.

It was then the chivalric Chinese tradition that a defeated leader must
die with his men. Li Kuang3 had once escaped after his men had all
been killed and he had been captured; Emperor Wu had pardoned him

for not dying and allowed him to ransom his life by a money payment.
A second time he had been trapped by the Huns and almost all his men
killed before he was rescued; this time he had not been punished, because
he had not been actually defeated. Thus exceptions could be made to the
code at the Emperor's will, but he expected his defeated generals to die
in battle.

Li Ling saw that the situation was hopeless. After dark he cut off his
banners and flags and buried his army's treasure. He told his men to
scatter and try to escape, while he and his second in command set out on
horseback with only ten-odd followers. His second in command was
killed, while Li Ling, remembering his grandfather's unjust fate, surrendered
to the Huns. Only four hundred-odd of Li Ling's troops arrived
safely at the Chinese fortifications.

When the news of Li Ling's defeat reached Emperor Wu, the latter
merely hoped that Li Ling had died with his men. But when the news
came that he had surrendered, Emperor Wu became very angry. His
officials accordingly condemned Li Ling, all except Szu-ma Ch'ien, the
historian, who had originally recommended Li Ling. He now defended
him, saying that Li Ling had had no support; he had been defeated only
when his ammunition had been exhausted; in marching deep into enemy
territory and defeating ten-thousands of horsemen with only five
thousand infantry he had performed the most glorious exploit in history.
Emperor Wu sentenced Szu-ma Ch'ien to castration because of the implied
criticism. A year later, the Emperor recognized that he had been
to blame for not ordering Li Ling supported, and sent for Li Ling, but
the latter would not return to China. His family was later exterminated.
Thus a chivalric code and an irascible emperor deprived China of its
most brilliant military genius.

Ancient appraisals of Emperor Wu

The final result of Emperor Wu's continued over-taxation, wastage,
and misgovernment was civil disorder. In 99 B.C., the people in what is
now Shantung, provoked by the misgovernment of the local officials,
who had widely imitated Wang Wen-shu, took generally to brigandage.
Emperor Wu, with characteristic energy, sent out Special Commissioners
Clad in Embroidered Garments, with dictatorial power over life and
death, who put down this virtual insurrection, executing perhaps more
than ten thousand robbers and several thousand others in each commandery,
including the highest officials. The witchcraft and black magic
case of 91 B.C., with its arbitrary inquisitorial executions, involved
the death of ten-thousands in addition to ten-thousands killed in the

fighting (cf. Glossary, sub Chiang Ch'ung and Liu Chü). When in 72
B.C., Emperor Hsüan wanted to honor his great-grandfather, Emperor
Wu, the Confucian scholar Hsia-hou Sheng protested, saying that
although Emperor Wu had repulsed the barbarians and had extended the
borders of the empire, he had nevertheless killed many soldiers, had
exhausted the wealth and strength of the people, and had been boundlessly
extravagant. The empire was bankrupt, the people had become
destitute vagabonds, and more than half of them had died. Locusts
had risen in great swarms and had bared the earth for several thousand
li, so that the people had taken to cannibalism and the granaries had not
been refilled to this day. Emperor Wu had done nothing good for the
people, so should not be honored with any special dances.

In spite of these troubles, Emperor Wu must have been extremely
popular, especially among the officials, because of his military conquests,
his reforms in ceremonial, his encouragement of literature, the founding
of the Imperial University, etc. There was also probably considerable
enthusiasm for him among the people, because of his magnificence and
his grants. Yet Hsia-hou Sheng undoubtedly represented one phase of
popular opinion, perhaps that dominant in the eastern part of China.
Emperor Hsüan's glorification of his great-grandfather seems to have
received general acclaim; Hsia-hou Sheng was imprisoned for his criticism.
In the Discourses on Salt and Iron, which are supposed to have occurred
in 81 B.C., Emperor Wu is not criticized, but the measures that were
instituted by his ministers and with his approval are castigated mercilessly.
In his eulogy (HS 6: 38b, 39a), Pan Ku summarizes Emperor
Wu's achievements, and they are very impressive. It is not surprising
that Emperor Wu became perhaps the most famous of Chinese emperors.
Possibly because of the violent reaction against any criticism of this
popular emperor, Pan Ku was cautious in expressing his opinions; his
eulogy of Emperor Wu is a masterpiece of tact. His criticism of this
Emperor is to be found in his eulogies upon Emperors Wen and Chao
(4: 21a-22a; 7: 10b). Like Louis XIV of France, Emperor Wu left his
country impoverished and exhausted. After the Emperor's death, Ho
Kuang fortunately adapted the government's policy to the situation and
allowed the empire to recuperate. The apogee of Chinese power during
the Former Han period did not occur until the reign of Emperor Hsüan.

The Emperor's favorite women and their relatives

Perhaps the most interesting features of Emperor Wu's government
are connected with the women of his harem. As a child, Emperor Wu
was married to the girl who became his Empress née Ch'en, and he was

made Heir-apparent through the influence wielded by this Empress's
mother. This Empress had his sole favor and was highly honored. But
she had no son, even though she spent millions of cash on practitioners
of various sorts. In a court where power depended upon who it was that
had the Emperor's ear, intrigues against the influence of the Empress's
mother naturally arose. A sister or half-sister of Emperor Wu, the
Princess of P'ing-yang, gathered some ten girls of good families, and,
when Emperor Wu visited her, she introduced them to him. He did not
care for any of these girls, but liked an attractive singer and dancer,
Wei Tzu-fu, the daughter of a slave in the Princess's household. This
girl attended upon the Emperor while adjusting his clothes and he favored
her. The Princess then sent her to the imperial harem. For more than
a year after, she was not summoned, but at last she managed to see the
Emperor, excite his pity, and revive her former relation with him. When
the Empress heard of it, she was very jealous and fearful. She tried to
have the new favorite's brother killed; when that fact became known,
Emperor Wu became furious with his Empress. She had tried to obtain
sons by magical practises; her daughter was now charged with using
witchcraft and black magic upon the Emperor. Some three hundred
persons, including the daughter, were executed; the Empress née Ch'en
was dismissed and sent to live in a separate palace. The fear of witchcraft
and black magic, which defaced Emperor Wu's reign, leading to
the death of his first Heir-apparent, the Empress née Wei, and ten-thousands
of others, and which became epidemic several times in later
reigns, thus began its influence early in Emperor Wu's reign.

Emperor Wu began the practise of entrusting power to the relatives of
his favorite women, which practise in the end brought about the downfall
of the dynasty. Wei Tzu-fu bore Emperor Wu three daughters and
finally a son, whereupon she was made Empress. Her younger half-brother,
Wei Ch'ing, was made a General; when he was successful against
the Huns, he was made General-in-chief. Her sister's illegitimate son,
Ho Ch'ü-ping, distinguished himself even more as a general. Ho
Ch'ü-ping's half-brother, Ho Kuang, became the Emperor's intimate
attendant and the actual ruler of the country after the Emperor's death.
One sister of Tzu-fu was married to the Chief of the Stud, Kung-sun
Ho, who was likewise made a general; another sister's lover, Ch'en
Chang, who came of a noble family, was highly honored. Thus the
imperial favor for one woman called into being the clique which was
influential through much of the reign and after the Emperor's death.

He seems however to have later realized the danger of female influence
in the government; before he appointed the future Emperor Chao as his
Heir-apparent, Emperor Wu thoughtfully saw to it that the young boy's

mother died, in order to avoid female influence during a long regency.
Then he appointed his three most intimate attendants to control the
government during the minority. Ho Kuang proved loyal and capable,
so that this arrangement preserved the dynasty, but later emperors were
too humane to follow Emperor Wu's example.

The Emperor's superstitious practises

Emperor Wu devoted much time to the cultivation of relations with
supernatural beings. He extended and enlarged the imperial sacrifices,
introducing a new god, the Supreme One (T'ai-yi), who was ranked above
the Five Lords on High (Shang-ti [q.v. in Glossary] or Wu-ti). He
established two important new imperial sacrifices, the feng sacrifice to
Heaven and the shan sacrifice to Earth, and recreated the Ming-t'ang
as a place of sacrifice and audience. He also made various attempts to
get immortals to come to him. These attempts invariably ended in
failure, for the Emperor was too keen to be easily fooled. Yet he could
not down the feeling that some of the magicians' practises might not
have been entire frauds.

Luan Ta

His outstanding attempt to attract immortals was made through Luan
Ta. Emperor Wu executed one magician, and later a queen who wanted
to curry favor sent to Emperor Wu Luan Ta, a clever slave in the palace
of a vassal kingdom located in the present eastern Shantung. Luan Ta
made great promises, saying that gold could be made, the break in the
dykes of the Yellow River could be mended, the medicine that brings
immortality could be obtained, and immortals could be caused to come.
He said that he had frequently seen immortals, but they despised him
because of his low rank, and even despised the King his former master.
If the Emperor wanted to make them come, he must give great honors
to his messenger, make him his relative, and treat him as his equal.
Emperor Wu was quite ready to try the experiment; he loaded honors
upon Luan Ta, ennobling him, giving him a large estate, a palace, a
thousand slaves, the Emperor's eldest daughter to wife, the equivalent
of a hundred thousand catties of gold, emblems of ranks higher than
those held by any of the ministers, and treated him as an equal, even
coming to visit him at his house. Luan Ta was invited to the best homes
and everyone marvelled at his success. When Emperor Wu had thus
done everything that had been asked of him, Luan Ta was still unable
to produce any immortals; even continual sacrifices all night did not
bring any materializations. He finally left his dangerous honors and
departed for the east to seek teachers. He was however watched, and,

when he failed to visit any supposed teachers, he was cruelly executed for
having deceived the Emperor. Thus Emperor Wu shared the superstitious
beliefs of the time and was willing to experiment with them, but
was not uncritically credulous. About half of the "Treatise on the
Suburban and Other Sacrifices" (HS ch. 25) is devoted to Emperor Wu's
religious practises.

The civil service examination system

During this period, the examination system flourished in the form
which it took in Han times. At intervals the Emperor issued a call for
recommendations. Thereupon the commanderies and kingdoms (later
also the high court officials) each recommended for the imperial service
one or more (depending upon the number requested) of those persons
whom they thought suitable. All those recommended were not of the
same type; in 135, Emperor Wu asked each commandery and kingdom
to recommend one person of filial piety and one incorrupt person. Later
emperors varied somewhat the qualities requested; the two above mentioned
remained the usual ones. The terms, Filially Pious, Incorrupt,
Capable and Good, etc., which were originally merely names of the
qualities desired, soon became virtual titles denoting those persons who
had been thus recommended.

When these Capable and Good persons arrived at the court, they were
set a written examination. From the questions set by Emperor Wen,
which are quoted in 56: 1b-3a, 6: 4b-5b, and 58: 1b-2b, we see that they
really amounted to an invitation for general advice concerning the government,
to be couched in literary terms. Some of the outstanding replies
are also quoted; cf. those of Tung Chung-shu (56: 3a-19a, trans. in
Mit. d. Sem. f. Or. Spr., 1922, pp. 1-50) and of Kung-sun Hung (58:
2b-4a). These examination papers were graded by the Grand Master
of Ceremonies (58: 4a), after which they were again read by the Emperor,
who sometimes changed a name from the bottom to the top of
the list. Thereupon those who were approved were given minor positions
in the bureaucracy. Examinations were also given yearly to the
students at the Imperial University, and those who passed might be
given government employment.

The Emperor's gradual adherence to and advancement of Confucianism

The reign of Emperor Wu marks an important step in the progressive
victory of Confucianism over its rivals. According to Pan Ku's account
of the rise of Confucian influence (HS ch. 88, taken from SC ch. 121),
although Emperor Wen had at times elevated Confucians, he was more

interested in the rectification of penological terms (i.e., in the Taoist
and legalist school of circumstances and names). Emperor Ching had
not appointed any Confucian scholars as such to office. At the beginning
of Emperor Wu's reign, in 141 B.C., it was decreed that all those
adhering to the Legalist philosophy should be dismissed from government
posts. The memorial of Lieutenant Chancellor Wei Wan
to that effect, which was enacted by Emperor Wu, specifically requests
that all persons who had become expert in the philosophies of Shen
Pu-hai, Shang Yang, Han Fei, Su Ch'in, and Chang Yi should be dismissed
(6: 1b). The first three of these philosophers belonged to the
Legalist school; the latter two, to the Diplomatist (Tsung-heng) School.
The intention of this edict was however, as Pan Ku says (6: 39a), to
eliminate non-Confucians from the government service. Previous to
this time there had been Erudits at the imperial court for the various
non-Confucian philosophies; indeed, in the time of Emperor Wen,
possibly the only imperial Confucian Erudit was Chia Yi (36: 32b).
Upon the illness of the Grand Empress Dowager née Tou in 136, special
Erudits were appointed for each of the Five Classics, and it seems that
henceforth there were only Confucian Erudits at the imperial court;
at least we do not hear of any others. There had been and continued to
be Erudits at some kingly courts who specialized in the various Confucian
classics, and some vassal kings, particularly Liu An, King of Huai-an,
continued to support non-Confucians.

At the time that the edict banning Legalists was enacted, Emperor
Wu was under the influence of a strongly Confucian clique, headed by
an uncle and a cousin, T'ien Fen and Tou Ying. They would undoubtedly
have liked also to dismiss Taoists, but did not dare to do so
because of the influence wielded by Emperor Wu's paternal grandmother,
the Grand Empress Dowager née Tou, who was an ardent
Taoist. Other Taoists continued to hold positions at the court; Chi
Yen had been an Outrider to Emperor Wu while the latter was Heir-apparent,
and, through his frank criticism, continued to inspire the
Emperor with respect and even fear (50: 9a). Szu-ma T'an was likewise
a convinced Taoist. A few members of the Taoist school thus continued
in the government service. The Mohist school seems to have exercised
little if any influence, for it is not referred to as having any adherents,
although it is mentioned by Szu-ma T'an in his survey and comparison
of the six philosophical schools (SC, 130: 7-14; HS 62: 4b-8a; trans. in
L. C. Porter, Aids to the Study of Chinese Philosophy, pp. 51-53). The
eventual victory of Confucianism was achieved through the operation
of the Imperial University and the examination system, which latter
could easily exclude those holding a disapproved philosophy.

Emperor Wu did not at first have an altogether happy experience
with Confucianism. His personal adherence to it remained mostly
nominal, except for its interpretation that the emperor should be an
autocrat, and he did not openly espouse any other philosophy. His
decree against non-Confucian philosophies seems to have been enacted
in a burst of youthful enthusiasm. He sometimes encouraged the advancement
of Confucians and never openly encouraged non-Confucian
philosophies, yet he actually put many legalist practises into effect.

The Confucian clique was temporarily strong at Court under the
leadership of Tou Ying. Emperor Wu had soon dismissed the incompetent
Wei Wan and appointed Tou Ying as his Lieutenant Chancellor.
Tou Ying was widely known for his strong character, his pride, his ability,
and his strong Confucian leanings. He brought into the important court
positions a group of ardent Confucians and proceeded to enact Confucian
ideals into laws, establishing regulations for mourning ceremonies,
proposing to establish a Ming-t'ang, etc. To combat the anti-Confucian
clique at the court, the Confucians revived the ideal that rulers should
teach their people to live moral lives. The marquises were considered
to have states; consequently Tou Ying enacted that they should all go
to their states to guide their people. But they had almost all established
themselves at the imperial capital, Ch'ang-an, where civilization and
luxury were centered, and did not want to leave this comfortable place.
In 179, Emperor Wen had futilely ordered them to go to their states;
in 143, Emperor Ching had rescinded that order. Most of the imperial
relatives were marquises and many of the marquises had married imperial
princesses; hence, when they were ordered to leave the capital, they
took their cause to the Grand Empress Dowager née Tou. In order to
check her influence, the Confucian clique petitioned the Emperor to
order that public business should not be brought to the attention of an
Empress Dowager. When she heard of this move, the Grand Empress
Dowager was furious. Tou Ying and his clique were dismissed; the
Grandee Secretary, who had presented the memorial, was executed.
Thereafter Tou Ying was powerless.

After this misadventure, Emperor Wu gradually took over in person
the direction of the government. Subsequent to the death of the
Grand Empress Dowager née Tou in 135, T'ien Fen became Lieutenant
Chancellor. He degraded those who held non-Confucian techings,
especially Taoists and those who stressed penological terms, and advanced
several hundred Confucians.

Under Emperor Wu the literary and historical treasures of China,
particularly the Classics, were especially studied and expounded by the
Confucians and a definite canon was formed. Confucius was himself a

teacher and had stressed scholarship. Emperor Wu was a highly educated
man and was greatly interested in literature. His poems and
edicts show genuine literary ability. He was consequently attracted to
Confucianism because of its literary and historical scholarship. He was
the first ruler to select for his highest official a man who was primarily an
oustanding scholar.

This person was Kung-sun Hung1, who was an authority upon the
interpretation of the Spring and Autumn. In 141, Kung-sun Hung1 had
been recommended to the throne for government service and had been
made an envoy to the Huns. On his return from his mission, his report
did not please the Emperor, who became angry and dismissed him on
account of illness. Ten years later, after the death of the Grand Empress
Dowager née Tou, Kung-sun Hung1 was again recommended to the
imperial court, because of his fame as a scholar. Emperor Wu was struck
by the literary quality and nature of Kung-sun Hung1's written answers
to the questions that the Emperor had put to those who were recommended,
and summoned him to an audience. The Emperor found that
Kung-sun Hung1 was not a stiff-necked Confucian, sure that he was right,
but a man who, when asked about his ability in office, replied meekly that
he could learn. So Kung-sun Hung1 was made an Erudit and sent to
inspect the present Yünnan, which Emperor Wu was planning to conquer.
His report again disagreed with Emperor Wu's plans, but Kung-sun
Hung1 had learned to be tactful, and the Emperor kept him at court, for it
was not wise to dismiss a scholar who had the respect of educated people.
At meetings for discussing important matters, Kung-sun Hung1, in putting
forward his ideas, tactfully said that he was merely presenting
his views so that the sovereign could have a variety of opinions
from which to choose. That pleased Emperor Wu, who was glad to
prove his open-mindedness by having at court someone who disagreed
with him. This sort of conduct was however not approved by the
stricter Confucians; Tung Chung-shu called Kung-sun Hung1 a flatterer.
Kung-sun Hung1 proved to be admirable in personal conduct, able in
disputation, capable in legal matters, and an ornament to scholarship,
so he was advanced in office and in 124 was made Lieutenant Chancellor.
He died three years later. The appointment of Kung-sun Hung1 does
not therefore mean more than a very moderate attachment to Confucianism
on the part of Emperor Wu.

All the previous Lieutenant Chancellors had been marquises; Kung-sun
Hung1 was only a commoner, so Emperor Wu enfeoffed him as a
marquis. Thereafter it became the practise for the emperor to ennoble
all Lieutenant Chancellors as marquises on the day of their appointment
to this office, if they were not already full marquises.

The founding of the Imperial University

Kung-sun Hung1 used his office to entrench Confucianism in the
government service. At his request (Tung Chung-shu had first made
this suggestion), Emperor Wu established the Imperial University
(q.v. in Glossary), which was destined to advance Confucianism more
than any other single institution.

As early as the Ch'in dynasty, the imperial court had maintained
Erudits, who were men prepared to give expert advice concerning
historical and learned matters. Emperor Wu ordered that fifty Disciples
should be established for these Erudits. They were exempted
from taxes and military service. In addition, officials ranking at two
thousand piculs were to send suitable persons to the capital along with
the officials who brought the yearly accounts from the commanderies
and kingdoms. These persons were sent to the Grand Master of Ceremonies,
who in turn sent them to study for a year with the Erudits or
their Disciples at the Imperial University. Thereupon the students
were examined. Those who showed themselves expert in one or more of
the Confucian disciplines (classics) were given the title of Literary Scholar
or Authority upon Ancient Matters, and might be promoted to positions
ranking at one or two hundred piculs or more or be given minor positions
in the offices of the Prefects of the Capital, the Grand Messenger, or of
the Commandery Administrators, etc. Less capable persons might be
made Gentlemen-of-the-Palace, in which capacity the Emperor might
become acquainted with them and appoint them to office. If there was
a person of an Unusual Degree of Abundant Talent, his name was reported
to the throne and he was given that title. From this time on,
says Szu-ma Ch'ien, most of the minor officials in the offices of the
ministers and grandees were Literary Scholars. Confucian learning
thus became the means whereby most of the lower positions in the
bureaucracy were filled, and it gradually permeated the government.

For the remainder of his reign, Emperor Wu showed no more than a
mild interest in Confucianism, except in matters of religious ceremonies
and literature. In 110 B.C., during the controversy over the ceremonies
for the sacrifices feng and shan, Emperor Wu broke with the Confucians,
dismissed fifty-odd, and formulated the ceremonies himself (cf. Mh III,
498; HS 25 A: 35b; 58: 12a, b, 13a). Legalism had come to stand for the
arbitrary authority of the government, as against the Confucian principle
that the ruler governs autocratically in accordance with moral principles
and for the benefit of the people. Emperor Wu was irked by restraint,
and deliberately weakened the power of his ministers and nobles, employing
commoners as his agents. In order to secure funds for his ambitious

military expeditions, he adopted the suggestion of Sang Hung-yang that
he should arbitrarily take the more profitable industries from the despised
merchants and make these industries government monopolies. Sang
Hung-yang thereupon established government monopolies in salt, iron,
and fermented liquors and had the government speculate in goods, buying
where prices were low and selling where prices were high. Such monopolies
had been characteristic of the Ch'in government and had been urged
by Legalist thinkers. The cruel exactingness of Emperor Wu's laws was
also modeled upon Ch'in Legalist practices. As Emperor Wu's military
plans succeeded more and more, he seems to have likened himself to
the earlier great conquerer, the First Emperor of the Ch'in dynasty,
and he followed that Emperor's footsteps by making many and extensive
tours about his empire. In his interest in magical practises, supernatural
beings, and immortality (which was typically Taoist), Emperor
Wu likewise imitated the First Emperor. In building great palaces
and other edifices—many of which were discontinued by later emperors
under Confucian influence, for the sake of economy—Emperor Wu also
followed the example of the First Emperor. There was thus in Emperor
Wu's government an extremely strong element of the very Legalist
influence which he had ordered excluded.

The reign of Emperor Wu hence marks both the entrenchment of
Confucianism and also the actual reintroduction of many Legalist practises
into the imperial government. It was perhaps the most brilliant
reign in the period. In no other reign was there so much activity, yet
much that Emperor Wu did had to be undone in order that the dynasty
might retain popular approval. Because of his military conquests,
Emperor Wu's actions came later to have upon the Chinese an influence
disproportionate to his deserts.

THE BOOK OF THE [FORMER] HAN [DYNASTY]

[Chapter] VI
THE SIXTH [IMPERIAL ANNALS]

The Annals of [Emperor Hsiao]-Wu

Emperor Hsiao-wu was a son of Emperor Ching,
neither the eldest nor the youngest. His mother
was entitled the Beauty [née] Wang. When he was
in his fourth year [of age], he was made King of

Chiao-tung; in his seventh year, he was made Imperial
Heir-apparent and his mother was made Empress.
In his sixteenth year, [which was] the third
year of the latter [part of Emperor Ching's reign],
in the first month, Emperor Ching died. On the
[same day], chia-tzu, the Heir-apparent took the
imperial throne.[10] He honored the Empress Dowager
née Tou with the title, Grand Empress Dowager,
and the Empress [née Wang] with the title, Empress
Dowager. In the third month, he enfeoffed both
the younger brothers of the Empress Dowager by
the same mother, T'ien Fen and [T'ien] Sheng, as
Marquises.

In the [period] Chien-yüan,[12] the first year, in

the winter, the tenth month, an imperial edict [ordered]
the Lieutenant Chancellor, the [Grandee]
Secretary, the marquises, [officials ranking at] fully
two thousand piculs and at two thousand piculs,
and Chancellors of the nobles to recommend persons
who were capable and good, sincere and upright,
[able to] speak frankly and admonish unflinch-
ingly.[18]

The Lieutenant Chancellor, [Wei] Wan, memorialized,
"Of those capable and good [persons] who were
recommended, some have applied themselves to
[and are conversant with] the sayings of Shen [Pu-hai],
of Shang [Yang], of Han Fei, of Su Ch'in, and

of Chang Yi. [Such persons] cause confusion in
the government of the State. I beg that they all
be dismissed". The memorial was approved.

In the spring, the second month, an amnesty was
granted to the empire and the common people were
granted one step in noble rank. Those who were
in their eightieth year were exempted from two poll-taxes
[for members of their households] and those
in their ninetieth year were [also] exempted [from
the tax for] military purposes.[22]

Three-shu cash were put into circulation.[23]

In the summer, the fourth month, on the [day]

chi-szu, an imperial edict said, "[According to] the
teaching established by ancient [rulers], in the districts
and hamlets, [honor was given to people] in
accordance with their age, [and] in the court, [honor
was given] in accordance with noble rank. Nothing
is as good as virtue for supporting society and guiding
the people. Hence the way of the ancients was
to give precedence to those who were aged and to
treat carefully those who were advanced in years in
the districts and hamlets.[27]

"When now the world's filial and obedient sons
and grandsons wish to put forth all their efforts in
serving their parents and grandparents, [from] outside
[their households] they are harassed by [the
requirements for] the public services and within
[their homes] they lack [the necessary] property
and wealth—for these reasons their filial intentions
are enfeebled. We pity them greatly. For those
of the [common] people who are in their ninetieth
year and over, there is already a law that they should
receive gruel.[28] For them, their sons or grandsons
should be exempted [from public service] in order
that [these sons and grandsons] may be free to lead
their wives and concubines in person, in order to
perform their service in caring for and serving
[their parents or grandparents]."

In the fifth month, an imperial edict said, "The

[Yellow] River and the sea fertilize ten thousand li
[of land].'[31] Let it be ordered that the sacrificial
offices should renew the sacrifices to the mountains
and streams and for the annual services let additions
be made to the rites with minute care."[32]

An amnesty was granted to the wives and children
of those [persons] from Wu, Ch'u, and [the others of]
the Seven States who had been condemned and [had

been made to serve at] the government offices.[34]

In the autumn, the seventh month, an imperial
edict said, "The guards for transport and post
[service] and for escorting away and bringing
[people] to [the capital number] twenty thousand
men. Let them be reduced by ten thousand men,[37]
and let the [imperial] pastures and their horses be
abolished, in order that [these regions] may be used
to grant to the poor people.[38]

The establishment of a Ming-t'ang was discussed,
and a messenger was sent with a comfortable chariot
with its wheels [wrapped in] rushes and with packages
of silk to which were added [jade] circlets, to invite
his excellency Shen [P'ei] of Lu [to come to court].[39]

In the second year, in the winter, the tenth month,
the Grandee Secretary, Chao Wan, was sentenced
for begging [the throne] that it should be forbidden
to memorialize [government] matters to the Grand
Empress Dowager. Both he and the Chief of the
Gentlemen-at-the-Palace, Wang Tsang, were imprisoned
and committed suicide. The Lieutenant
Chancellor, [Tou] Ying, and the Grand Commandant,
[T'ien] Fen, were dismissed.[43]

In the spring, the second month, on the [day]

ping-hsü, the first day of the month, there was an
eclipse of the sun.[48] In the summer, the fourth
month, on the [day] mou-shen, there was [a star][50]
which was as if the sun appeared at night.

[The Emperor] first established the Mou Tomb

and the town of [Mou-ling].[53]

In the third year, in the spring, the water of the

[Yellow] River overflowed in P'ing-yüan [Commandery]
and there was a great famine, [so that]
people ate each other.

[The Emperor] granted to those who moved to
Mou-ling two hundred thousand cash to each household
and two hundred mou of land, and for the first
time the Pien Gate Bridge was built.

In the autumn, the seventh month, there was a

comet in the north-west.[58] The King of Chi-ch'uan,
[Liu] Ming, was sentenced for killing his Grand
Tutor and Palace Tutor. He was dismissed and
exiled to Fang-ling.[60]

[The state of] Min-yüeh besieged Tung-ou; [the
king of] Tung-ou sent information that he was in
straits. [The Emperor] sent Palace Grandee Chuang
Tsu with a credential [to order] the mobilization
of troops from K'uai-chi [Commandery]. He went
by sea and rescued [the King of Tung-ou]. Before
[Chuang Tsu] arrived, [the forces] of Min-yüeh fled,
[so the imperial] troops returned.[63] In the ninth
month, on the [day] ping-tzu, the last day of the
month, there was an eclipse of the sun.

In the fourth year, in the summer, there was a
wind as red as blood. In the sixth month, there was
a drought. In the autumn, the ninth month, a
comet appeared in the northeast.[69]

In the fifth year, in the spring, [the Emperor]
abolished the three-shu cash and put in circulation
the half-tael cash.[73]

[Five] Erudits for the Five Classics were established.[74]

In the summer, the fourth month, the Baronetess
of P'ing-yüan, [Tsang Erh], died. In the fifth
month, there was a great [plague of] locusts. In the
autumn, the eighth month, the King of Kuang-ch'uan,
[Liu] Yüeh, and the King of Ch'ing-ho,
[Liu Fang]-sheng, both died.

In the sixth year, in the spring, the second month,
on [the day] yi-wei, there was a visitation [of fire] in
the Temple of [Emperor] Kao [in the commandery
of] Liao-tung.[83] In the summer, the fourth month,
on [the day] jen-tzu, there was a fire in the side-halls
at the [funerary] park of [Emperor] Kao,[85] and
Emperor [Wu wore] plain [mourning] garments to
the fifth day. In the fifth month, on [the day]
ting-hai, the Grand Empress Dowager [née Tou]
died. In the autumn, the eighth month, a comet
appeared in the eastern quarter; it was long, extending
through the entire sky.[91]

The King of Min-yüeh, [Tsou] Ying, attacked
Nan-yüeh. [The Emperor] sent the [Chief] Grand
Messenger, Wang Huia, with troops, to go out of Yü-chang
[Commandery] and the Grand Chief of
Agriculture,[92] Han An-kuo, to go out of K'uai-chi
[Commandery] to attack him. Before they arrived,
the people of [Min]-yüeh killed [Tsou] Ying and
surrendered, [so] the troops returned [home].

In the [period] Yüan-kuang,[94] the first year, in
the winter, the eleventh month, for the first time
[the Emperor] ordered that the commanderies and
kingdoms should each recommend one Filially Pious
and one Incorrupt [person to the Imperial court].[97]

The Commandant of the Palace Guard [at Wei-yang
Palace], Li Kuang3, was made the General of
Resolute Cavalry and [sent to] encamp in Yün-chung
[Commandery]; the Commandant of the
Palace Guard [at Ch'ang-lo Palace][99] , Ch'eng
Pu-shih, was made General of Chariots and Cavalry
and [sent to] encamp in Yen-men [Commandery].
In the sixth month [after, these troops] were
dismissed.

In the summer, the fourth month, an amnesty

[was granted to] the empire and one step in noble
rank was granted to the eldest sons of the common
people. There were restored [to registration among
members of the imperial house] those [members of]
the imperial house [who belonged to] the Seven
States and had previously been cut off from
membership.[103]

In the fifth month, [the Emperor] issued an imperial

edict to the Capable and Good which said,
"We have heard that when, formerly in [the time of]
T'ang [Yao] and Yü [Shun, the rulers merely]
portrayed [the mutilating punishments by] likenesses
[of those punishments in the criminals' clothing],[107]
the people did not commit [crime], and, wherever
the sun and moon shone, `none failed to be led by
and to follow them.'[108] [Kings] Ch'eng and K'ang
of the Chou [dynasty] established [mutilating]
punishments but did not employ them and the virtue
[of these Kings] reached [even] to birds and
beasts.[109] `Their culture extended to the four seas;
from beyond the sea, the Su-shen, the Po-fa, the
Ch'ü-sou, and the Ti-ch'iang came to submit [to
them].'[113] The stars and zodiacal constellations did
not [produce] comets and the sun and moon were
not eclipsed; the mountains and hills did not crumble
and the streams and the valleys were not stopped
up [by unnatural occurrences]. Unicorns and
phoenixes were in their suburbs and marshes; the
[Yellow] and Lo Rivers produced their diagram
and book [respectively].[114] Ah! What [did they]
do that [they] attained to this [perfection]?

"Now that We have secured [the opportunity to]
uphold the [imperial] ancestral temples, [We have]
risen early in order to seek [for the springs of their
perfection] and have gone to bed late in order to
think about them. It is like fording a deep river
without knowing where to cross it. How fine, how
extraordinary [was their virtue]! What can [We]
do that [We] may glorify the vast achievements and
beautiful virtue of the late emperors? [How can We]

be in the same class with Yao and Shun of early [times]
and be the equals of the three [great] kings of later
[times]? [Owing to] Our lack of intelligence, [We]
have been unable to make Our virtue [felt at] great
distances—this is what you, sirs and grandees, have
seen and heard.

"You, Capable and Good [persons], know clearly
the essence of state affairs under ancient and
modern [true] kings; when you have received this
document and have examined these interrogations,
do you all answer them in writing and set [your
replies] down on the tablets. We Ourselves will
read them." Thereupon Tung Chung-shu, Kung-sun
Hung1, and others distinguished themselves.[118]

In the autumn, the seventh month, on [the day]

kuei-wei, there was an eclipse of the sun.

In the second year, in the winter, the tenth month,
[the Emperor] traveled and favored Yung [with a
visit, where] he sacrificed at the altars to the Five
[Lords on High].

In the spring, an imperial edict made request
of the ministers as follows: "We have fitted out a
daughter [of the imperial house] as a mate to the
Shan-yü, and have shown to him the utmost generosity
in presents of gold, silk, and ornamental
embroidery. The Shan-yü [has however] treated
[Our] commands with increasing disrespect—he has
invaded and pillaged [Our borders] without cease.
The border regions have suffered [great] injury
from [him]. We greatly pity these [people at the
borders]. If now [We] wish to raise troops and
attack him, how would that be?" The Grand
Messenger, Wang Huia, gave advice that it would be
proper to attack [the Huns].[127]

In the summer, the sixth month, the Grandee

Secretary, Han An-kuo, was made General of the
Protecting Army, the Commandant of the Palace
Guard, Li Kuang3, was made General of Resolute
Cavalry, the Grand Coachman, Kung-sun Ho, was
made General of Light Chariots, the Grand Messenger,
Wang Huia, was made General in Charge of
Encampments, and the Grand Palace Grandee, Li
Hsi, was made General of Skilled Soldiers.
[Altogether] they led a troop of three hundred
thousand [soldiers] and encamped in a ravine at
Ma-yi. They lured the Shan-yü to come, intending
to attack him by surprise. When the Shan-yü
entered the Barrier, he became aware of [the
ambush] and fled [out of the Barrier]. In the sixth
month [after], the army was disbanded. General
Wang Huia was sentenced for having been the first to
plan [this campaign but] not having advanced [at
the right moment]. He was sent to prison and died.

In the autumn, the ninth month, [the Emperor]

ordered that the common people should be [allowed
to assemble] for universal drinking during five days.

In the third year, in the spring, the [Yellow] River

shifted [its course] and went southeastwards from
Tun-ch'iu, [but still] flowed into the P'o Sea.[134]

In the summer, the fifth month, there were enfeoffed
as marquises [by succession[137] ] five persons
who were descendants of the distinguished officials
of the Eminent Founder, [Emperor Kao].

The Yellow River broke its dikes at P'u-yang and
flooded sixteen commanderies.[138] [The Emperor]

mobilized a hundred thousand soldiers to mend the
breach in the dikes of the [Yellow] River.

The Lung-yüan Residence was built.[140]

In the fourth year, in the winter, the Marquis of
Wei-ch'i, Tou Ying, who had committed a crime,
was publicly executed[144] and in the spring, the third
month, on [the day] yi-mao, the Lieutenant Chancel-
lor, [T'ien] Fen, died.

In the summer, the fourth month, there was a fall

of frost which killed plants.[149] In the fifth month,
there was an earthquake and an amnesty was granted
to the empire.

In the fifth year, in the spring, the first month,

the King of Ho-chien, [Liu] Tê5a, died.

In the summer, [men] from Pa and Shu [Commanderies]

were mobilized to repair the roads to the
southern barbarians[156] and ten thousand soldiers
were also mobilized to strengthen the narrow and
difficult [places] in Yen-men [Commandery].

In the autumn, the seventh month, a great wind

pulled up trees and, on [the day] yi-szu, the Empress
née Ch'en was dismissed. The heads of those who
were arrested on account of witchcraft and black
magic were all impaled in the market-place.[159] In
the eighth month, there [was a plague of] grubs.[160]

[The Emperor] summoned those of the officials
and common people who understood the needs of
that age and were well-versed in the methods
of the ancient Sages; the prefectures where they
sojourned [on the road] were to provide[164] their food,
and it was ordered that they should [come to the
capital] along with the [officers who yearly brought
to the imperial court the commandery] accounts.

In the sixth year, in the winter, for the first time
commercial conveyances [were required to pay]
poll-taxes (suan).[168] In the spring the canal for
water transport was dug, connecting with the Wei
[River].[172]

The Huns entered Shang-ku [Commandery] and
killed and kidnapped officials and common people.
[The Emperor] sent the General of Chariots and
Cavalry, Wei Ch'ing, out of Shang-ku [Commandery],
the Cavalry General, Kung-sun Ao, out
of Tai [Commandery], the General of Light Chariots,
Kung-sun Ho, out of Yün-chung [Commandery],
and the General of Resolute Cavalry,
Li Kuang3, out of Yen-men [Commandery].[174] [General
Wei] Ch'ing reached Lung-ch'eng and took
seven hundred heads and prisoners.[175]

[Generals Li] Kuang and [Kung-sun] Ao lost
their armies, but returned. An imperial edict said,
"The barbarians are devoid of the sense of proper relationships
[between suzerain and vassal], which [has
been the case] for a long time down to the present.
Recently the Huns have several times pillaged the
border regions, hence [We] have sent [against them]
generals leading armies. Anciently, [rulers] trained
their soldiers and arranged their cohorts, [but now]
because [the generals] encountered the caitiff [Huns]
just when these were invading [the borders, and
because the Chinese] generals and their officers had
just newly met, [so that] superiors and their subordinates
had not yet become adjusted [to each other],
the General in Tai Commandery, [Kung-sun] Ao,
and the General in Yen-men Commandery, [Li]
Kuang, showed themselves unworthy of their
charges. Their Colonels moreover turned their
backs upon their duty and acted senselessly in
deserting the army and fleeing, [so that] the lower
officers violated the prohibitions.

"[In accordance with] the laws governing the use
of troops, failure in being diligent or in instructing
[the troops] is the fault of a general or a leader;
[whereas] when instructions and orders have been
proclaimed clearly, not to be able to use all his

power [in obeying those instructions and orders]
is the crime of an officer or a soldier. [These]
generals have already been given into the charge of
the Commandant of Justice, who is to apply the law
and execute them. But [if We] also apply this law
to the soldiers, [so that] both [generals and troops]
are punished—this would not be [in accordance with]
the will of a benevolent or a sage person. We pity
the crowd of common [soldiers], when they have
sunk into [this] disastrous [situation], and wish to
wipe away their disgrace[181] , change their conduct,
and once more act respectfully according to their
rightful duty,[182] [but who] have no way to do so.
Let the soldiers of the armies from Yen-men and Tai
Commanderies who did not obey the law be
pardoned."

In the summer, there was a great drought and

[a plague of] locusts.[184] In the sixth month, [the
Emperor] traveled and favored Yung [with a visit].

In the autumn, the Huns plundered at the borders.

[The Emperor] sent General Han An-kuo to encamp
in Yü-yang [Commandery].

In [the period] Yüan-so,[187] the first year, in the

winter, the eleventh month, an imperial edict said,
"The functions of ministers and grandees are to
unite ways of government, to unify general principles
and specific cases [in the administration of law and
justice],[192] to spread [the imperial] culture and
influence, and to beautify [the people's] usages and
customs. Verily, [taking] benevolence as the root
and correct social relationships as the leading principle,
recompensing the virtuous and giving office
to capable [persons], encouraging the good and
punishing the violent, were the means whereby the
Five Lords and the Three Kings became glorious.

"We have risen early and retired late [in order]
felicitously to give the gentlemen of the world [the
opportunity of] attaining this path [of governmental
power]. Hence [We] have cared for the aged and
venerable and exempted the filially pious and those
who are respectful [to their elders]; We have selected
[for official positions] eminent and distinguished
[persons] to expound literary and scholarly [matters;
We have] examined into and taken part in governmental
affairs, seeking to make the minds of the
common people progress; and [We] have instructed
in grave [terms] those who have charge of [state]
affairs to elevate the Incorrupt and promote the
Filially Pious, hoping that [such actions] might
become a custom [and thereby] transmit and glorify
[Our] sage [imperial] succession.

"Verily, `Even in a town of ten houses there must
be [someone as] conscientious and [as] sincere [as
myself]' and `When walking in a party of three,
there [must] be [one] there [who can be] my
teacher.'[195] [But] today sometimes even in a whole
commandery not one person is recommended [for
imperial attention]. This [situation arises because
Our] transforming influence does not penetrate [the
bureaucracy] to the bottom, so that superior men

who have piled up their [meritorious] actions are
blocked from being reported to the emperor. [The
officials ranking at] two thousand piculs [down to]
the offices and chiefs [of prefectures] rule and control
human relationships. [If they do not search out
and promote capable persons], wherewith will they
be able to assist Us in illuminating that which is
hidden and dark, in exhorting the great multitude,
in encouraging the crowd of commoners, and in
making [people] honor the instructions [of the elders
in] the districts and villages?

"Moreover it was the way of the ancients that `he
who promotes the capable will receive high rewards'[199]
and he who keeps the capable in obscurity
will receive public execution. Let it be that you,
together with [the officials ranking at] fully two
thousand piculs, the officials [in charge of] the rites,
and the Erudits, should discuss [what should be]
the punishment for not promoting [capable persons]."

The high officials memorialized [the results of
their] discussions as follows: "Anciently, when the
nobles presented gentlemen [to the sovereign], if
once [the persons who were recommended proved]
suitable, [the person who presented them] was said
to have had a love of virtue; if a second [time the
persons who were recommended proved] suitable,
[the person who presented them] was said to esteem
the capable; if the third [time the persons who were
recommended proved] suitable, [the person who
presented them] was said to have [performed] a
distinguished deed, and there were given to him
[some of] the nine distinctions.[200] The first time

[a noble] did not present a gentleman to the sover-
eign, he was degraded in his [noble] rank; the second
time, his territory was diminished; and[203] the third
time, he was completely deprived of [noble] rank
and territory.

"Verily `he who leagues himself with his inferiors
and deceives his superiors should die, and he who
attaches himself to his superior and deceives his
inferiors should be punished; he who takes part in a
country's government but is of no benefit to the
common people should be' expelled, `he who occupies
the highest position and is unable to advance those

who are capable should be' made to resign—`this
[way of government] is the means of encouraging
the good and abasing the evil.'[205]

"Now the imperial edict glorifies the sage succession
of the deceased emperors and orders [the
officials ranking at] two thousand piculs to promote
filially pious and incorrupt [persons], whereby to

influence the great multitude, to alter their customs
and change their usages. Those who do not promote
filially pious [persons, thus] not upholding
[that] edict, should be sentenced for being disrespectful;
those who do not seek for incorrupt
persons are not able to perform their duties and
should be dismissed." The memorial was approved.

In the twelfth month, the King of Chiang-tu,

[Liu] Fei1, died. In the spring, the third month, on
the [day] chia-tzu, the Empress née Wei was established
[as Empress].

An imperial edict said, "We have heard that if
Heaven and Earth do not mutate, they cannot
accomplish their bestowing and transforming [influence],
and if the yin and yang do not mutate,
things will not be abundant and flourishing. The
Book of Changes says, `They carried through their
[necessary] mutations, [thereby] causing people not
to be wearied.'[210] The ode says, `[After] nine
mutations, the series is renewed, [hence] he knows
how to select among saying.'[211] We esteem T'ang
[Yao] and Yü [Shun] and rejoice at the Yin and

Chou [dynasties; We] hold to the old, mirroring the
new by it.

"Let an amnesty [be granted to] the empire in
order that the common people may be given [the
opportunity to make] a new beginning. [As to]
those [who are charged with] having absconded,
owing [debts to the government], together with
those who have lawsuits [dating] from before the
third year in the latter [part of the reign of Emperor]

Hsiao-ching,[215] [let] it be ordered that all [such
cases] be not admitted to a hearing at law."

In the autumn, the Huns entered Liao-hsi [Commandery]
and killed its Grand Administrator.
They entered Yü-yang and Yen-men [Commanderies]
and defeated a Chief Commandant,[218] killing
or kidnapping more than three thousand persons.
[The Emperor] sent General Wei Ch'ing out of Yen-men
[Commandery] and General Li Hsi out of Tai
[Commandery]. They took several thousand heads
and captives.

[Among] the eastern barbarians, the Prince of the
Wei-[mo], Nan-lü, and others, [numbering] two
hundred and eighty thousand persons, surrendered,
and [his territory] was made into Ts'and-hai
Commandery.[219]

The King of Lu, [Liu] Yü2b, and the King of
Ch'ang-sha, [Liu] Fa, both died.

In the second year, in the winter, [the Emperor]
granted to the King of Huai-nan, [Liu An], and the
King of Tzu-ch'uan, [Liu Chien], stools and canes
[with permission] not to come to court.[224]

In the spring, the first month, an imperial edict

said, "The King of Liang, [Liu Hsiang1b], and the
King of Ch'eng-yang, [Liu Yen5a], love dearly those
who are born of their own [fathers]. They wish to
divide their estates with their younger brothers.
Let [their wishes] be granted. When vassal kings
beg [to be permitted] to give [territory from their]
estates to their sons or younger brothers, We will
Ourselves examine [the proposed division] and see
to it that there are proper rankings and positions."
Thereupon the tributary kingdoms were first divided
and consequently sons and younger brothers [of
vassal kings] were all made marquises.[228]

The Huns entered Shang-ku and Yü-yang [Commanderies],
killing and kidnapping more than a
thousand officials and common people. [The Emperor]
sent Generals Wei Ch'ing and Li Hsi out of
Yün-chung [Commandery]. They went to Kao-ch'üeh
and then west to Fu-li,[229] taking several
thousand heads and prisoners. [Wei Ch'ing] seized
the territory south of the [Yellow] River, so that the
commanderies of So-fang and Wu-yüan were established.[232]

In the third month, on [the day] yi-hai,
the last day of the month, there was an eclipse
of the sun. In the summer, a hundred thousand
common people were levied to move into So-fang
[Commandery]. Moreover braves and stalwarts
from the commanderies and kingdoms, together
with those whose property was three million [cash]
or over were moved to Mou-ling.[235]

In the autumn, the King of Yen, [Liu] Ting-kuo,
who had committed crimes, killed himself.[237]

In the third year, in the spring, the commandery
of Ts'ang-hai was abolished.

In the third month, an imperial edict said, "Verily
punishments are the means of preventing evils;
to receive those who exalt culture[242] is the means
whereby love [for the people] is manifested. Because
of the people's failure to accord with [the
correct] teaching and culture, We felicitate and give
[Our] gentlemen and Grandees [the opportunity of]
renewing this undertaking daily.[244] Be attentive
and be not negligent. Let an amnesty [be granted
to] the empire."

In the summer, the Huns entered Tai [Commandery]

and killed its Grand Administrator.
They entered Yen-men [Commandery] and killed
and kidnapped more than a thousand people.[248]

In the sixth month, on [the day] keng-wu, the

Empress Dowager [née Wang] died.

In the autumn, the southwestern barbarians

were dismissed [from being vassals of the empire].[251]
The city wall to the city of So-fang was built and
[the Emperor] ordered that the common people
should be [allowed to assemble] for universal
drinking during five days.

In the fourth year, in the winter, [the Emperor]

traveled and favored Kan-ch'üan [Palace with a
visit]. In the summer the Huns entered Tai, Ting-hsiang,
and Shang Commanderies, killing and kidnapping
several thousand persons.

In the fifth year, in the spring, there was a great

drought.[257] The General-in-chief,[258] Wei Ch'ing,
leading six generals and more than a hundred thousand
troops, went out of Kao-ch'üeh in So-fang
[Commandery], and took fifteen thousand heads
and captives.

In the summer, the sixth month, an imperial
edict said,[265] "Verily, [We] have heard that one
should lead the people by the rules of proper conduct
and influence them by music. [But] now the
rules of proper conduct have fallen into ruin and
[the standards of proper] music have crumbled.
We are very much saddened [thereby]. Hence [We]
have diligently sought to obtain the gentlemen who
are renowned in [the various] quarters of the empire,
and have had them all recommended to the various
courts.

"Let it be ordered that the officials for the rites
should encourage study, discourse on rights and
duties, broaden scholarship,[266] present [to the
court] lost [documents], and promote the rules of
proper conduct, in order that they may lead the
world [to do likewise]. Let the Grand Master of
Ceremonies discuss the giving of Disciples to the
Erudits, for the promoting of cultural influence in
the districts and villages, in order to encourage
those who are capable and able."

The Lieutenant Chancellor, [Kung-sun] Hung1,
begged [the throne] that for the Erudits there should
be established a definite number of Disciples.
Scholars [thereupon] became increasingly greater
[in number].[267]

In the autumn, the Huns entered Tai [Commandery]
and killed its Chief Commandant.

In the sixth year, in the spring, the second month,
the General-in-chief, Wei Ch'ing, leading six generals
with more than a hundred thousand horsemen, went
out of Ting-hsiang [Commandery].[273] They cut off
more than three thousand heads, returned, and
rested their soldiers and horses in Ting-hsiang,
Yün-chung, and Yen-men [Commanderies]. An
amnesty [was granted to] the empire.

In the summer, the fourth month, Wei Ch'ing

again led [out] six generals, crossed the [Gobi]
desert, [and achieved] a great victory and many
captures [of heads or captives]. The army of the
General of the Van, Chao Hsin4, was defeated and
surrendered to the Huns. The General of the Right,
Su Chien, lost his army, escaped by himself alone,
and returned. He ransomed [his life] and became
a commoner.[277]

In the sixth month, an imperial edict said, "We

have heard that the Five Lords did not [each] repeat
the same rites [as those used by the preceding Lord]
and that the three dynasties were different in their
laws;[279] the ways by which they proceeded were different,
yet in establishing virtue they were one and
the same. Indeed when Confucius replied to Duke
Ting [that good government] consisted in attracting
the distant,[280] to Duke Ai that it consisted in selecting
one's officials [correctly],[282] and to Duke
Ching [of Ch'i] that it consisted in economical use
[of the state's wealth,[284] it was] not [that their] aims
were different, [but that] their necessities [required]
different means.

"Now the Middle Kingdom[286] has one government,
but its northern borders are not yet at peace.
We very much lament it. Recently, when the
General-in-chief [Wei Ch'ing] was traveling about
So-fang [Commandery], he attacked the Huns, cut
off heads and captured [prisoners to] the number of
eighteen thousand, and those who had been disqualified
[from receiving office],[287] together with
those who had committed crimes, all received
liberal rewards by being pardoned or by having their
punishment lessened.

"Now that the General-in-chief, [Wei Ch'ing],
has frequently repeated his victories and captures,
having cut off heads and taken [prisoners to] the
number of nineteen thousand, those who have received
[noble] ranks or rewards and wish to transfer
[them to others] or sell [them] have no means of
transferring or bestowing [their titles upon
others].[288] Let [this matter] be discussed and an

ordinance be made." The high officials memori-
alized [the Emperor] begging the establishment of
an office for rewarding military merits, and thereby
granting favors to military gentlemen.

In [the period] Yüan-shou,[291] the first year, in the

winter, the tenth month, [the Emperor] travelled
and favored Yung [by a visit, where he] sacrificed
at the altars to the Five [Lords on High] and a white
unicorn was captured. The "White Unicorn" song
was composed.[295]

In the eleventh month the King of Huai-nan, [Liu]
An, and the King of Heng2b-shan, [Liu]·Tz'u4a, who
had plotted rebellion, were executed. Several ten-thousands
of their associates died with them.[300] In
the twelfth month there was a great fall of snow and
[many[302] ] common people froze to death.

In the summer, the fourth month, an amnesty
was granted to the empire and on the [day] ting-mao,
[Liu Chü] was established as Imperial Heir-apparent.[305]
There were granted to [officials ranking
at] fully two thousand piculs, the noble rank of
Senior Chief of the Multitude,[306] and to those of
the common people who would be the successors of
their fathers, one step [in noble rank].

An imperial edict said, "We have heard that
Kao-yao, in reply to Yü, said, `[Good government
lies] in knowing men. If [the ruler] knows men,
he is wise. Even Lord [Yao] found this [knowledge]
difficult.'[307] Verily the prince is the heart

and the common people are like his members or
body. When the members or body are injured, then
the heart is pained and distressed.

"Recently [the kings of] Huai-nan and Heng-shan
have cultivated literature and scholarship, [in so
doing] diffusing goods and presents; both states are
contiguous in territory. [Their rulers] were versed
in[310] perverse teachings, hence they have given rise

to rebellions and assassinations. This [fact] is due
to Our lack of virtue. The ode says, `My sorrowing
heart is deeply pained, when I think of the oppression
in the country.'[312] [We] have already [granted an]
amnesty to the empire, and have washed away and
removed [these evils from Our people, thus] giving
them [the opportunity of] beginning anew.

"We felicitate the Filially Pious, the Respectful
of their Elders, and the [Diligent] Cultivators of the
Soil, and [We] are sorrowed at the aged and those
of eighty or over, orphans, widows, widowers, and
childless [persons]. Some are lacking in clothes or
food; [We] greatly pity and are solicitous for them.
Let Internuncios be sent to travel about the empire,
express [Our] regards, ask [them what sufferings
they have], bring [Our] grants [to them], and say,

" `The Emperor has sent [me], an Internuncio, to
make grants: to each person [who is] a Filially
Pious among the Thrice Venerable of the prefectures,
five pieces of plain silk; to each person who is a
Respectful to his Elders among the Thrice Venerable
of districts and to each [Diligent] Cultivator of the
Soil, three pieces of plain silk; to each of those who
are in their ninetieth [year] or over, together with
each widower, widow, orphan, and childless [person],

two pieces of plain silk and three catties of silk floss;
to each person in his eightieth [year] or over, three
piculs of grain.' If anyone has suffered injustice
and has [thereby] lost his position, the [imperial]
messenger shall report it. In the prefectures and
districts, [the messenger] shall visit and make grants,
and not gather and assemble [the people before making
grants]."[316]

In the fifth month, on the [day] yi-szu, the last
day of the month, there was an eclipse of the sun.
The Huns entered Shang-ku [Commandery] and
killed several hundred persons.

In the second year, in the winter, the tenth month,
the Emperor traveled and favored Yung [by a visit,
where he] sacrificed at the altars to the Five [Lords
on High].

In the spring, the third month, on the [day]
mou-yin, the Lieutenant Chancellor, [Kung-sun]
Hung1, died.

[The Emperor] sent the General of Agile Cavalry,
Ho Ch'ü-ping, out of Lung-hsi [Commandery]. He
reached Kao-lan and cut off more than eight thousand
heads.

In the summer, a horse was born in the midst of
the Yü-wu River and the [kingdom of] Nan-yüeh
presented [to the Emperor] a trained elephant and
a bird that could talk.[323]

Generals [Ho] Ch'ü-ping and Kung-sun Ao went
out of Po-ti [Commandery for] more than two
thousand li, went past Chü-yen, and cut off heads
[and captured] prisoners [to the number of] more
than thirty thousand. The Huns entered Yen-men
[Commandery] and killed and kidnapped several
hundred persons. [The Emperor] sent the Commandant
of the Palace Guard, Chang Ch'ien, and
the Chief of the Gentlemen-at-the-Palace, Li Kuang3,
both out of Yu-po-p'ing [Commandery. Li]
Kuang3 killed more than three thousand Huns,
[but] lost his army of four thousand men completely,
escaping alone by himself, and returned.[328] Kung-sun
Ao and Chang Ch'ien moreover both [arrived at
their separate rendevous] after the fixed time and
should have been beheaded. [They were allowed to]
ransom [themselves and] become commoners.

The King of Chiang-tu, [Liu] Chien4c, who had
committed crimes, killed himself.[329] The King of

Chiao-tung, [Liu] Chi4, died.

In the autumn, the Hun King of Kun-hsieh killed
the King of Hsiu-t'u, united and led [the dead
King's] troop [with his own], altogether more than
forty thousand persons, came, and surrendered.[333]
Five [Chief Commandants of] Dependent States
were established to give habitations to these [surrendered
persons].[334] Out of their territory there
were [later] made the commanderies of Wu-wei and
Chiu-ch'üan.

In the third year, in the spring, there was a comet
in the eastern quarter [of the sky].[337] In the
summer, the fifth month, an amnesty [was granted
to] the empire and [the Emperor] established [Liu]
Ch'ing4a, the younger son of King K'ang of Chiao-tung,
[Liu Chi4], as King of Liu-an,[340] and enfeoffed
[Hsiao] Ch'ing, a great-grandson of the former
Chancellor of State, Hsiao Ho, as a marquis.

In the autumn, the Huns entered Yu-po-p'ing
and Ting-hsiang [Commanderies], killing and kid-
napping more than a thousand persons. [The
Emperor] sent Internuncios to exhort those commanderies
which suffered from floods to plant winter
wheat.[345] They recommended [to the Emperor]
those officials and common people who were able to
lend to the poor people, and their names were
reported.[346] The garrison soldiers [at the frontier
of] Lung-hsi, Po-ti, and Shang Commanderies were
reduced by half.[347] Officials who were reprobated
were sent to dig the K'ung-ming Pond.[348]

In the fourth year, in the winter, the high officials
said that altogether 725,000 poor people from east of
the [Han-ku] Pass had been moved to Lung-hsi
[Commandery], Po-ti [Commandery], Hsi-ho [Commandery],
Shang Commandery, and K'uai-chi [Commandery],[353]
and if the imperial government were
to clothe and feed them and assist them in their
occupations, the [imperial] revenues would be
inadequate [for such expenditures, hence] they
begged [the throne] to collect silver and tin and make
[of them] white-metal and also leathern money in
order to have enough [revenue] for these expenses.[354]
For the first time poll-taxes (suan)
were levied upon [merchants' and artisans'] property
[in terms of] cash.[356]

In the spring, there was a comet in the northeast;

in the summer a long comet appeared in the northwest.[360]
The General-in-chief, Wei Ch'ing, leading
four generals,[362] went out of Ting-hsiang [Commandery]
and General [Ho] Ch'ü-ping went out of
Tai [Commandery]. Each led fifty thousand cavalry;
several hundred thousands of foot-soldiers
followed after these armies. [Wei] Ch'ing reached
[a place] north of the [Gobi] Desert, surrounded the
Shan-yü, [but did not capture him], and cut off
nineteen thousand heads. He reached the T'ienyen
Mountains and returned. [Ho] Ch'ü-ping
fought a battle with the [Hun] Worthy King of the
East and cut off heads and captured prisoners [to
the number of] more than seventy thousand. He
[performed the sacrifice] feng[366] [on] Lang-chü-hsü
Mountain and then returned. In the two armies
several ten-thousands of men died.[367] The General
of the Van, [Li] Kuang3, and the General of the
Right,[368] [Chao] Yi-chi, were both late at their rendezvous;
[Li] Kuang3 committed suicide; [Chao]
Yi-chi ransomed himself from death.

In the fifth year, in the spring, the third month,
on the [day] chia-wu, the Lieutenant Chancellor,
Li Ts'ai, who had committed a crime, killed
himself.[373]

In the empire, horses were scarce, [and so the
price of] stallions was standardized at 200,000 [cash]
apiece.[374] The half-tael cash were abolished and
the five-shu cash were put in circulation. Cunning
and troublesome officials and common people of the
empire were transported to the boundaries.[375]

In the sixth year, in the winter, the tenth month,
[the Emperor] made grants: to the Lieutenant Chancellor,
[Chuang Ch'ing-ti], and those [ranking] lower
[than he], down to the officials [ranking at] two
thousand piculs, a hundred [catties of] gold;[380] to
those [ranking at] a thousand piculs and those
[ranking] lower, down to [the retainers] who follow
the [official][381] chariots, silk; to the [subject] barbarians,
brocade; to each [person] proportionately
[to his rank and position].

It rained rain and there was no ice.[382]

In the summer, the fourth month, on the [day]

yi-szu, in the [imperial ancestral] temple, there were
set up [as kings] the Imperial Sons, [Liu] Hung1
as King of Ch'i, [Liu] Tan4a as King of Yen, and
[Liu] Hsüa as King of Kuang-ling. For the first
time [the Emperor] issued admonitory decrees.[386]

In the sixth month, an imperial edict said, "Recently
[some] high officials [have said that] because
the currency is light and there is much illegal [coinage],
agriculture has been injured and unimportant
[activities, such as manufacturing and merchandizing],
are numerous.[390] [We] have also [tried to]
close the road [whereby people have been able] to
take concurrently [the advantages of more than one
class]. [We] have hence changed the currency in
order to restrain [such practices.[391] We] have
examined into the various past [i.e. Han] and ancient
[i.e. Chou] regulations that are appropriate for the
present time. Since the abolition [of these light
cash], there has been a full year[394] and [some]
months, yet the common people in the mountains
and marshes have not yet taken cognizance [of
Our order].

"Verily, when [the principles of] benevolence are
carried out [by the ruler, the people] will follow
goodness; when [the principles of] righteousness are
established, then [the people's] customs will be
changed. Is it, probably, that those [high officials]
who have received [and are in charge of carrying out
Our] decree have not been perspicacious in the [way]
whereby they have been leading [the people]? Or
is it that the ways by which the people are made
content are [still] not all of the same sort, so that
violent and outrageous[395] [lower] officials have taken
advantage of their power to oppress and squeeze the
multitude of people? How is it that their vexations
are so numerous?

"Now [We] send the Erudit [Ch'u] Ta and others,
six persons [in all], to tour about and inspect the

empire in separate [groups], to visit and ask about
widowers, widows, destitute, sick, and those who
have no means of securing an occupation, to lend and
give [aid] to them,[399] to choose[400] Thrice Venerable,
Filially Pious, and Respectful to their Elders to be
the teachers of the people, and to recommend superior
men of outstanding conduct and invite them to
come to the place where [We] are.[401] We honor
capable persons and are happy to know them personally
in order to broaden and extend their influence
[by giving them official positions]. If [any] gentlemen
should be [given] special summons, [the issuing
of such summons] will be the duty of [Our] messengers.
[Let them] carefully seek for [capable people]
who live in retirement and have no [official] positions,
together with those who have lost their positions
through injustice. As to tricky and cunning
[officials] who do injury or those [in whose territory]
there are waste and uncultivated [fields] or those who
[exercise] a tyrannical administration, let them be
pointed out and [let the facts] be memorialized [to
the court]. If in the commanderies or kingdoms
there is anything that is for the advantage [of the
people, let it] be reported to the Lieutenant Chancellor
[or Grandee] Secretary in order that they may
inform [Us of it]."

In the autumn, the ninth month, the Commander-
in-chief and General of Agile Cavalry, [Ho] Ch'ü-ping,
died.

In [the period] Yüan-ting,[405] the first year, in the

summer, the fifth month, an amnesty [was granted]
to the empire and [there was granted permission for]
universal drinking during five days. A three legged
cauldron was obtained at the Fen River.[409]

The King of Chi-tung, [Liu] P'eng-li, who had
committed crimes, was dismissed and exiled to
Shang-yung.[413]

In the second year, in the winter, the eleventh
month, the Grandee Secretary, Chang T'ang, who
had committed a crime, killed himself, and in the
twelfth month, the Lieutenant Chanceller, [Chuang]
Ch'ing-ti, was sent to prison and died.[418]

In the spring, the Po-liang Terrace was built.

In the third month, there was a great fall of
snow.[421] In the summer, there was high water, and
east of [Han-ku] Pass, those who died of starvation
were counted by the thousands.[422]

In the autumn, the ninth month, an imperial edict
said, "A benevolent [person] does not treat [people
who come from] distant places differently [from
the way he treats his neighbors]; a righteous [person]
does not shun what is difficult. At present, since in
the capital [districts] there has not been a prosperous
harvest, [We] have shared with the common people
the abundance of [Our] mountains, forests, ponds,
and marshes.

"Now that the great floods have moved to Chiang-nan
and [the distress] will become [more] urgent as
the severities of winter approach, We fear that
[people] will be hungry and cold and not able to
survive. In Chiang-nan, the land is plowed by fire

and hoed by water.[425] Just now [We] have sent
millet down [the Yangtze River] from Pa and Shu
[Commanderies] and had it brought to Chiang-ling.
[We] send the Erudit Chung and others to tour about
and inspect [the empire] in separate [groups], to
inform and announce in all places to which they
come that no one will be allowed to be in serious
distress. Let all those officials or common people
who succor or save common people or relieve their
difficulties be reported [to the court] in order that
[We] may be informed [about them]."

In the third year, in the winter, the Han-ku [Pass]

Barrier was moved to Hsin-an,[429] and the former
[Han-ku] Pass [Prefecture] was made the prefecture
of Hung-nung.

In the eleventh month, [the Emperor] ordered

that those common people who inform about [incorrect
reports concerning the value of movable] property
[for purposes of taxation] would be given half
of [the confiscated property].[433]

In the first month, on the [day] mou-tzu, there was

a fire in the Park of the Yang Tomb. In the summer,
the fourth month, there was a fall of hail.[435]
There was a famine in more than ten of the com-
manderies and kingdoms east of [Han-ku] Pass, and
people ate each other.

The King of Ch'ang-shan, [Liu] Shun, died. His
son, [Liu] P'o5b, was enfeoffed in succession [to his
father, but] he had committed a crime, was dismissed
[from his kingdom and noble rank], and was exiled
to Fang-ling.[439]

In the fourth year, in the winter, the tenth month,
[the Emperor] traveled and favored Yung [by a
visit, where he] sacrificed at the altars to the Five
[Lords on High]. He granted to the common people
one step in rank and to the women of [every] hundred
households an ox and wine. He traveled eastwards
from Hsia-yang and favored Fen-yin [with a
visit]. In the eleventh month, on the [day] chia-tzu,
he established the Sacrificial Hall to Sovereign Earth
on the Shui [Mound] at Fen-yin.[444] When the rites
were completed, [the Emperor] travelled and favored
Jung-yang [with a visit]. He returned and went
to Lo-yang.

An imperial edict said,[445] "[We] have sacrificed to
the Earth in Chi Province; [We] have viewed and
made the sacrifice from a distance to the [Yellow]
and Lo Rivers; [We] have visited and inspected Yü
Province, where [We] looked about for [members]
of the Chou [dynastic] house, [but its direct line of
descent] has been ended and [the ancestors of the
line] have not been sacrificed to. [We] enquired
and questioned aged people and have found an indirect
descendant,[446] [Chi] Chia. Let [Chi] Chia be

enfeoffed as the Baronet Baron Descendant of the
Chou [Dynasty],[449] in order to uphold the [ancestral]
sacrifices of the Chou [dynastic house]."

In the spring, the second month, the King of

Chung-shan, [Liu] Sheng4, died.

In the summer, the magician Luan Ta was enfeoffed

as the Marquis of Lo-t'ung, with the rank of
a First [Class] General. In the sixth month, a
precious three-legged cauldron was obtained at the
side of the Sacrificial Hall to Sovereign Earth.[455]
In the autumn, a horse was born in the midst of the
Wu-wa River.[457] The songs concerning the "Precious
Three-legged Cauldron" and concerning the
"Heavenly Horse" were composed.[459]

The sons of King Hsien of Ch'ang-shan, [Liu
Shun], were set up [as kings: Liu P'ing as King of
Chen-ting and Liu] Shang1a as King of Szu-shui.[460]

In the fifth year, in the winter, the tenth month,
[the Emperor] traveled and favored Yung [by a
visit, where he] sacrificed at the altars to the Five
[Lords on High]. He thereupon crossed Lung
[Mountain], climbed K'ung-t'ung [Mountain], went
westwards to the Chia-lai River,[465] and returned [to
the capital].

In the eleventh month, the [day] hsin-szu, the
first day of the month, in the morning, was the winter
solstice;[468] [the Emperor had previously] established
the place for sacrifice to the Supreme [One] at Kan-ch'üan
[Palace, and on this morning] the Son of
Heaven in person made the suburban sacrifice and
presented himself [to the Supreme One]. He made
the morning sacrifice to the Sun and the evening
sacrifice to the Moon.[471]

An imperial edict said, "With Our insignificant
person [We] have been entrusted [with a position]
above that of kings and marquises, [but Our] virtue
has not yet been able to tranquillize the common
people. Some of the common people [have suffered
from] hunger and cold, hence [We] have toured
about and have sacrificed to Sovereign Earth in order
to pray for a prosperous year. At the Shui Mound
in Chi Province there thereupon appeared an inscribed
three-legged cauldron, [which We] secured
and offered[472] [to the spirits] in the [imperial ancestral]
temple; and from the Wu-wa River there came
a horse. When We rule [the empire, We] tremble
and are circumspect,[473] fearing that [we] are incapable
[of performing Our] duty, and thinking of
glorifying Heaven and Earth. Within [Ourself We]
ponder concerning the renewing of Ourself. The
Ode says,

"[We have] Ourselves inspected the borders and
frontiers and have made sacrifices at the farthest
places [that We have reached. When We] made the
sacrifice at a distance, presented [Ourself] to the

Supreme One, and arranged sacrifices to the heavenly
bodies, on the night of [the day] hsin-mao, there
were twelve shinings, like flames of light.[480] The
Book of Changes says, `[Be prepared on] the third
day before [the day] chia [i.e., the day hsin] and the
third day after [the day] chia [i.e., the day ting]'.[481]
We have been very much concerned that for years
the harvests have not all been abundant. [We] have
regulated Ourself and have fasted and purified [Ourself],[483]
and, on the [day] ting-yu [We] gave thanks
by a suburban sacrifice [for the] favors [granted by
the gods]."

In the summer, the fourth month, Lü Chiab, the

Chancellor to the King of Nan-yüeh, rebelled and
killed the Han [dynasty's] envoys together with his
King, [Chao Hsing], and the Queen Dowager [née
Chiu].[487] An amnesty was granted to the empire.
On [the day] ting-ch'ou, the last day of the month,
there was an eclipse of the sun. In the autumn,
toads and frogs fought together.[490] [The Emperor]
sent the General Who Calms the Waves, Lu Po-tê,
to go out of Kuei-yang [Commandery] down the
Nieh River and the General of Towered Warships,
Yang P'u, to go out of Yü-chang [Commandery]
down the Ch'eng River. The [former] Marquis [in
the kingdom of] Yüeh, [who became the Chinese
Marquis] Who Returns to His [Proper] Fealty, Yen,
was made General of Vessels With Dagger-axes [and
sent] to go out of Ling-ling [Commandery] down the
Li River, and a certain person, [Tsu Kuang-ming],[494]
was made the General Who Can Descend the Torrents,
[and sent] to go down [from] Ts'ang-wu [Commandery].
All led criminals. From south of the
Yangtze and Huai [Rivers there were to be] warships
with towers and a hundred thousand men. A [man
of] Yüeh [who became] the Marquis Who Gallops
to His Proper Fealty, Yi2, [was to] lead separately
criminals from Pa and Shu and to mobilize the troops
of Yeh-lang [and come] down the Tsang-k'o River.
All were to meet at P'an-yü.[496]

In the ninth month,[498] those marquises were sentenced
who had offered [to the Emperor], for the
sacrificial [offering of] the eighth month fermented
wine in the [imperial] ancestral temples, [amounts
of] real gold not according to the law. [Nobĺe]
titles were taken away from a hundred and six
persons,[500] and the Lieutenant Chancellor Chao
Chou was sent to prison, where he died.

The Marquis of Lo-t'ung, Luan Ta, was sentenced

for lying and deceiving [the Emperor] and was cut
in two at the waist.[503]

A group of a hundred thousand Western Ch'iang
revolted and communicated by an envoy with the
Huns. They attacked An-ku[504] and besieged Fu-han.
The Huns entered Wu-yüan [Commandery]
and killed its Grand Administrator.

In the sixth year, in the winter, the tenth month,

[the Emperor] mobilized the cavalry of Lung-hsi,
T'ien-shui, and An-tung [Commanderies], together
with a hundred thousand soldiers of the Palace
Military Commander and Ho-nan and Ho-nei [Commanderies.
The Emperor also] sent General Li Hsi
and the Chief of the Gentlemen-at-the-Palace, Hsü
Tzu-wei,[507] to chastize the Western Ch'iang. They
were tranquillized.

[The Emperor] traveled eastwards. When he was
about to favor Kou-shih [with a visit][510] and had
reached Tung District of Tso-yi, it was reported that
[the capital of] Nan-yüeh had been captured. He
[therefore] made [the place where he then was] the
prefecture of Wen-hsi. In the spring, when he
reached Hsin-chung District of Chi5, he received the
head of Lü Chiab, and [therefore] made [that place]
the prefecture of Huo-chia.[514] The troops of the
Marquis Who Gallops to His Proper Fealty, Yi2, had
not yet arrived when [Nan-yüeh] had been subjugated;
the Emperor immediately ordered him to
march against the southwestern barbarians. He
tranquillized them. Thereupon [the Emperor] fixed
[the administration of] the territory of [Nan]-yüeh
and made of it the commanderies of Nan-hai,
Ts'ang-wu, Yü-lin, Ho-p'u, Chiao-chih, Chiu-chen,
Jih-nan, Chu-yai, and Tan-erh; he [also] fixed [the
administration of the territory occupied by] the
southwestern barbarians and made of it the commanderies
of Wu-tu, Tsang-k'o, Yüeh-sui, Shen-li,
and Wen-shan.

In the autumn, the King of Tung-yüeh, [Tsou]
Yü-shan, rebelled and attacked and killed the Han
[dynasty's] generals and officials. [The Emperor]
sent the General Who Traverses the Seas, Han Yüeh,
and the Palace Military Commander, Wang Wen-shu,
to go out of K'uai-chi [Commandery], and the
General of Towered Warships, Yang P'u, out of
Yü-chang [Commandery] to attack [Tung-yüeh].

[The Emperor] also sent the General of Fou-chü

[Well], Kung-sun Ho, out of Chiu-yüan and the
General of the Hun River, Chao P'o-nu, out of
Ling-chü. Both [of them marched] more than two
thousand li without meeting any caitiff [Huns], and
so returned. Thereupon [the Emperor] divided [off
pieces from] the territory of Wu-wei and Chiu-ch'üan
[Commanderies], established the commanderies
of Chang-yi and Tun-huang,[519] and moved
common people [into these places] to fill them.

In [the period] Yüan-feng,[520] the first year, in

the winter, the tenth month, an imperial edict said,
"[The states of] Nan-yüeh and Tung-ou have both
suffered for their crimes, [but We] have not been
quite [able to] bring the western savages and the
northern barbarians together [with Ourself] in peace.
We are going to travel and inspect the borders and
frontiers, to dismiss[523] [temporarily] the troops and
have the cohorts retreat. In person [We] shall hold
the military credentials and establish the twelve
regimental generals. We Ourself shall lead the
army."

[The Emperor] traveled from Yün-yang, went
northwards, passed through Shang Commandery,
Hsi-ho [Commandery], and Wu-yüan [Commandery],
went outside the Great Wall, went northwards,
and mounted the Shan-yü's Terrace. He reached
So-fang [Commandery] and visited Po-ho. Leading
one hundred eighty thousand cavalry, his flags
and pennons traversed more than a thousand li and
his majesty terrified the Huns. He sent an envoy
to inform the Shan-yü, saying, "The head of the
King of Nan-yüeh has already been hung upon the
Northern Portal of the Han [palace]. If the Shan-yü
is able to fight a battle, the Son of Heaven, leading
[his troops] in person, is waiting at the boundary;
if [the Shan-yü] is unable [to fight the Chinese],
let him hasten to come and submit [to the Chinese
Emperor] as his subject. Why should [the Shan-yü]
uselessly flee and hide north of the [Gobi] desert,
in a cold and bitter region?" The Huns were
breathless [with fear].[527]

[The Emperor] returned and sacrificed to the
Yellow Lord upon Mount Ch'iao, then returned to
Kan-ch'üan [Palace].

[Some people of] Tung-yüeh killed their king,
[Tsou] Yü-shan, and surrendered. An imperial
edict said, "Tung-yüeh is an inaccessible and difficult
[region]. It has been vacillating [in its allegiance]
and would be a trouble in later reigns. Let
its people be moved into [the region] between the

Yangtze and Huai Rivers and thereupon let its land
be emptied."

In the spring, the first month, [the Emperor]

traveled and favored Kou-shih [with a visit].[532] An
imperial edict said, "We have made offerings at
Mount Hua, have proceeded to the central [sacred]
peak, [Mount Sung-kao], and have secured a variegated
one-horned deer.[533] [We] have seen the stone
to the mother of the Hsia [dynasty] sovereign,
[Ch'i],[534] and the next day in person [We] climbed
[Mount] Sung-kao.[536] While the Secretaries Who
Accompany the [Imperial] Chariot were beside the
temple, the officials and troops all heard three shouts
of `Long Life.'[539] [Whenever We have] ascended
[a sacred mountain or performed] rites [of sacrifice,
there has been] no [deity who has] failed to respond.
Let it be ordered that the sacrificial officials shall
add to [the official] sacrifices at [Mount] T'ai-shih
and [let there be] a prohibition, that its plants and
trees be not cut. [Let] three hundred households
at the foot of the mountain be made an estate for
upholding [its sacrifices] and let its name be called
Sung-kao; [let these people] provide only for the
sacrifices and be exempted so that they shall not
contribute anything else."

[The Emperor] traveled, and then went eastwards,
[where he] passed along and inspected the sea-coast.

In the summer, the fourth month, on the [day] kuei-mao,
the Emperor returned, and ascended and [performed
the sacrifice] feng upon Mount T'ai.[543] [The
Emperor] descended [the mountain] and seated him-
self in the Ming-t'ang.[546] His imperial edict said,
"With Our insignificant person We have received the
most exalted [post. We have been] most circumspect,[549]
and have pondered that [Our] virtue is
slight and that [We] are not perfectly conversant
with the rules of proper conduct and music. [We]
have hence engaged in making sacrifices to the eight
gods[550] and so have been met with favors and gifts
from Heaven and Earth. Phenomena and signs
have appeared and have been manifested and light
[sounds] have been heard, just as if [words were
spoken].[552] [We] were terrified by these prodigies,
and wished to stop [where We were, but] did not
dare [to do so]. Thereupon [We] ascended and
[offered the sacrifice] feng upon Mount T'ai and
went to [Mount] Liang-fu; thereafter [We] ascended
and [offered the sacrifice] shan at [Mount] Su-jan.

"[We] will renew Ourself and felicitate [Our]
gentlemen and grandees by giving them [the opportunity
of making] a new beginning. Let the tenth
month [of the present year begin] the first year [of
the period] Yüan-feng.[553] [At the places where We]
have gone and which [We] have inspected, [namely],
Po6, Feng-kao, Yi-ch'iu, Li-ch'eng, and Liang-fu,

there have already been remitted the tax on the
cultivated fields of the common people and the
capitation taxes and debts [to the government] which
were in arrears; [We] additionally [grant] two bolts
of silk to each of those who are in their seventieth
year or over and to orphans and widows. [Let these]
four prefectures not [be required] to pay this year's
poll-tax (suan).[556] [We] grant to the common people
of the empire one step in noble rank and to the
women in [each] hundred households an ox and
wine."

[The Emperor] traveled from T'ai-shan [Commandery]
and again went eastwards, where he went
along the seashore to Chieh-shih. From Liao-hsi
[Commandery] he passed along the northern boundary
to Chiu-yüan, [then] returned to Kan-ch'üan
[Palace].[557]

In the autumn, a comet appeared in the [constellation]

Tung-ching and again appeared in the
[constellation] San-t'ai,[560] and the King of Ch'i,
[Liu] Hung1, died.

In the second year, in the winter,[561] the tenth

month, [the Emperor] traveled, and favored Yung
[with a visit, where he] sacrificed at the altars to
the Five [Lords on High]. In the spring, he favored
Kou-shih [with a visit], and thereupon went to Tung-lai
[Commandery].[569] In the summer, the fourth
month, he returned and sacrificed at [Mount] T'ai.

He went to Hu-tzu and visited the breach [in the
dikes of the Yellow] River. He commanded those
courtiers who had followed [him], from the [rank of]
general on down, all to bear brush to stop up [the
breach] in the dike of the [Yellow] River. He made
the "Song of Hu-tzu."[570] An amnesty was granted
to those who had been exiled [to toil at those places]
by which [the Emperor] had passed. Four piculs
of grain were granted to each orphan, childless [person],
and person advanced in years. [The Emperor]
returned [to the capital]. He had the T'ung-t'ien
Terrace built in the Kan-ch'üan [Palace] and the
Fei-lien Lodge [in the city of] Ch'ang-an.

The King of Chao-hsien, [Wei Yu-ch'ü], attacked
and killed the Chief Commandant [of the Eastern
Section in] Liao-tung [Commandery, Shê Ho];[572] thereupon [the Emperor] solicited [all the] criminals
in the empire [sentenced to] capital [punishment to
go and] attack Chao-hsien.

In the sixth month, an imperial edict said, "In an

inner chamber of Kan-ch'üan Palace, there has
sprung up a fungus of immortality with nine stalks
and interconnected leaves.[576] The Lords on High[577]
visit widely and do not disdain the inferior rooms;
they have granted Us an eminent favor. Let an
amnesty be granted to the empire. [Let] an ox and
wine be granted to [every] hundred households in
the Yün-yang capital."[578] The "Song of the Fungus
of Immortality Room" was made.[579]

In the autumn, a Ming-t'ang was built at the foot

of Mount T'ai.[582]

[The Emperor] sent the General of Towered Warships,

Yang P'u, and the General of the Left, Hsün
Chih, leading the criminals who had responded to
[the Emperor's] solicitation, to attack Chao-hsien.
[The Emperor] also sent General Kuo Chang and a
General of the Gentlemen-of-the-Household, Wei
Kuang, to mobilize the troops of Pa and Shu [Commanderies]
and tranquillize those of the southwestern
barbarians who had not yet submitted. [Upon its
conquest, this region] was made into the commandery
of Yi-chou.[585]

In the third year, in the spring, competitive games
were held and [people] from all [places] within three
hundred li [came] to look at them.[589]

In the summer, [the people of] of Chao-hsien
beheaded their King, [Wei] Yu-ch'ü, and surrendered.
Of his territory there were made the commanderies
of Lo-lang, Lin-t'un, Hsüan-t'u, and
Chen-p'an. The General of Towered Warships, Yang
P'u, was sentenced for having lost many [of his
troops in battle] and by desertion, was dismissed,
and became a commoner;[593] the General of the Left,
Hsün Chih, was sentenced for having [illegally]
striven for distinction and was publicly executed.

In the autumn, the seventh month, the King of

Chiao-hsi, [Liu] Tuan, died.

The Ti [barbarians] of Wu-tu [Commandery] rebelled;
they were divided [and a part of them] were
transported to Chiu-ch'üan Commandery.

In the fourth year, in the winter, the tenth month,

[the Emperor] favored Yung [with a visit, where he]
sacrificed at the altars to the Five [Lords on High].
He passed through the Hui-chung Road and then
went north out of Hsiao Pass, passing by [Mount]
Tu-lu and the Ming Marsh. From Tai [Commandery]
he then returned [to the capital] and [on
the way] favored Ho-tung [Commandery with a
visit].[599]

In the spring, the third month, he sacrificed to

Sovereign Earth. His imperial edict said, "When
We sacrificed in person to Sovereign Earth, the
Spirit of Earth in one night manifested three flames
of light, which rested upon the altar for sacrifice.
When [We] favored the palace at Chung-tu [with a
visit], above the [main] hall there appeared a light.
Let an amnesty be granted [to those] in Fen-yin,
Hsia-yang, and Chung-tu [who have committed]
crimes [deserving] capital [punishment] and less. [We]
grant to [the foregoing] three prefectures, together
with the [prefecture of] Yang-shih6, that they shall
not [be required] to pay this year's land or capitation
taxes."

In the summer there was a great drought, and
many common people died of the heat.[605] In the
autumn, it was considered that the Huns were weak
and might therefore [be induced] to submit [to the
Chinese Emperor] as subjects, hence [the Emperor]
sent envoys to persuade them [to do so]. After the
envoy of the Shan-yü arrived, he died in the [Chinese]
capital.[607] [Hence] the Huns raided the
borders, and [the Emperor] sent the General Who
Destroys the Huns, Kuo Ch'ang, to encamp in So-fang
[Commandery].[608]

In the fifth year, in the winter, [the Emperor]
traveled southwards, making a tour of inspection,[611]
and reached Sheng-t'ang. He made the sacrifice
from a distance to Yü Shun at [Mount] Chiu-yi[613]
and ascended Mount T'ien-chu in Ch'ien2 [Prefecture].
From Hsün-yang he traveled on the [Yangtze]
River, in person shot an alligator in the river,[614]
and captured it. When the vessels [on which the
Emperor had traversed] a thousand li[618] neared
Ts'ung-yang, he disembarked. The "Songs of
Sheeng-t'ang" and "of Ts'ung-yang" were made.[619]
Thereupon he went northwards to Lang-yeh [Commandery],
where he reached the sea. Wherever he
went, he performed ceremonials and sacrifices to the
famous mountains and large streams. In the spring,
the third month, he turned back [towards the capital
and, on the way,] reached Mount T'ai, where he
added [the sacrifice] feng to [the imperial sacrifices].[622]
On [the day] chia-tzu, he sacrificed to the
Eminent Founder, [Emperor Kao], in the Ming-t'ang,
making him the coadjutor of the Lords on
High.[625] Thereupon he held a court for the vassal
kings and marquises, [at which] he received the
accounts from the commanderies and kingdoms.

In the summer, the fourth month, an imperial
edict said, "We have traveled over and inspected
Ching and Yang [Provinces], have communed with
the [spiritual] beings of the Yangtze and Huai [River
regions, and] have met with the emanations of the
Great Sea, in order that [We] might unite [these
spiritual beings for worship] at Mount T'ai, [with
the result that in heaven above [favorable] phenomena
appeared. [We] have added to and renewed
[the sacrifices] feng and shan. Let an amnesty [be
granted to] the empire. [Let] those prefectures
which [We] have favored [by a visit] not [be
required] to pay this year's land or capitation taxes.
[We] grant silk to the widowers, widows, orphans,
and childless, and grain to the poor."

[The Emperor] returned [to the capital] and
favored Kan-ch'üan [Palace with a visit, where he
performed] the suburban sacrifice at the altar to the
Supreme [One].

The Commander-in-chief and General-in-chief,
[Wei] Ch'ing, died.

For the first time Inspectors and the regional divisions

of the thirteen provinces were established.

[Because] the famous civil and military subjects
[of the dynasty] had nearly all passed away, an
imperial edict said, "Verily, if any unusual distinction
is to be achieved, it must wait for an unusual
person [to accomplish it]. Hence [just as] a horse
may bolt and kick, but may yet travel a thousand li,
[so] a gentleman may have got into difficulties by

going contrary to the customs, but may yet achieve
distinction and fame. Now [what is accomplished
by] a horse who might upset the carriage or by a
gentleman who is self-willed and wild depends moreover
entirely upon how they are guided. Let it be
ordered that the provinces and commanderies shall
investigate [among their] officials and common people
whether there are any [persons of] Unusual
Degree of Accomplished Talent who might be made
generals or chancellors or sent [as envoys] to distant
countries."[632]

In the sixth year, in the winter, [the Emperor]

favored Hui-chung [Palace with a visit]. In the
spring, Mount Shou Palace was built. In the third
month, [the Emperor] traveled and favored Ho-tung
[Commandery with a visit, where he] sacrificed to
Sovereign Earth. His imperial edict said, "When
We performed the rites to Mount Shou, the fields
at its foot produced precious things which metamorphosed,
some [of which] became actual gold; when
[We] sacrificed to Sovereign Earth, there were three
flames of supernatural light. Let there be [granted]
an amnesty [to those in] Fen-yin [whose crimes are
those deserving] capital [punishment] and below.
[Let there] be granted one bolt of linen or of silk to
each poor person in the empire."

The K'un-ming [tribe] in Yi-chou [Commandery]

revolted. [The Emperor] pardoned the fugitives in
the imperial capital and ordered them to go with the
army. He sent the General Who Destroys the Huns,
Kuo Ch'ang, to lead them and attack [the K'un-ming
tribesmen].

In the summer, the common people of the imperial
capital watched some competitive games at P'ing-lo
Lodge in Shang-lin [Park]. In the autumn there
was a great drought and [a plague of] locusts.[642]

In [the period] T'ai-ch'u,[644] the first year, in the
winter, the tenth month, [the Emperor] traveled and
favored Mount T'ai [with a visit]. In the eleventh
month, on the [day] chia-tzu, the first day of the
month, in the morning, which was the winter solstice,[647]
[the Emperor] sacrificed to the Lords on
High in the Ming-t'ang.

On the [day] yi-yu, there was a visitation [of fire]
in the Po-liang Terrace.[650]

In the twelfth month, [the Emperor performed the
sacrifice] shan at [Mount] Kao-li and sacrificed to
Sovereign Earth. He went east to the P'o Sea,
[where he performed] the sacrifice from a distance
[to the immortals on the island] P'eng-lai.[652] In the
spring, he returned [to the capital] and received in
Kan-ch'üan [Palace] the [yearly] accounts [from the
commanderies and kingdoms].

In the second month, Chien-chang Palace was
built.[656]

In the summer, the fifth month, [the Emperor]
corrected the calendar and took the first month as
the beginning of the year;[660] [among] the colors, he
took yellow [as the ruling color], and [among] the
numbers, he used five.[661] He fixed official titles and
harmonized the sounds of the musical pipes.[662]

[The Emperor] sent the General of Yin-yü, Kung-sun
Ao, to build Shou-hsiang-ch'eng outside of the

barriers.[665] In the autumn, the eighth month, [the
Emperor] traveled and favored An-ting [Commandery
with a visit].

[The Emperor] sent the General of Sutrishna (Erh-shih),
Li Kuang-li, to mobilize the reprobated common
people of the empire, to go west and make an
expedition against Ferghana (Ta-yüan).[667] Locusts
flew from the eastern quarter and reached Tun-huang

[Commandery].[669]

In the second year, in the spring, the first month,
on the [day] mou-shen, the Lieutenant Chancellor,
[Shih] Ch'ing, died.[673]

In the third month, [the Emperor] traveled and
favored Ho-tung [Commandery with a visit, where
he] sacrificed to Sovereign Earth. He ordered that
[everyone in] the empire should [be permitted to
assemble] for universal drinking during five days, and
on the day for the lou [sacrifice], the five sacrifices
should be made to the Gates and Doors just as at the
la [sacrifice].[675]

In the summer, the fourth month, an imperial
edict said, "We have held services at Mount Chieh
and sacrificed to Sovereign Earth; at both [places]
there were lights [which appeared] in response. Let
an amnesty be granted to Fen-yin and An-yi, to
those [who have committed crimes deserving] death
[sentences] and less."

In the fifth month, the horses of the officials and

the common people were enregistered in order to
supply horses for the [military] chariots and cavalry,[680]
and in the autumn, [there was a plague of]
locusts.

[The Emperor] sent the General of [Mount] Chün-chi,
Chao P'o-nu, with twenty thousand cavalry, to
go out of So-fang [Commandery] and attack the

Huns. He did not return.[683]

In the winter, the twelfth month, the Grandee

Secretary, Yi K'uan, died.[686]

In the third year, in the spring, the first month,
[the Emperor] traveled eastwards and went along
and inspected the sea-coast.[691] In the summer, the
fourth month, he returned, and [on the way] renewed
[the sacrifice] feng on Mount T'ai and [the sacrifice]
shan on [Mount] Shih-lü.

He sent the Superintendent of the Imperial Household,
Hsü Tzu-wei, to build several forts outside the
Barrier of Wu-yüan [Commandery] northwestwards
to [Mount] Lu-ch'ü,[693] the Scouting and Attacking
General, Han Yüeh, with troops, to garrison them,
and the Chief Commandant of Strong Crossbowmen,

Lu Po-tê, to build Chü-yen. In the autumn,[695] the
Huns entered Ting-hsiang and Yün-chung [Commanderies],
killing or kidnapping several thousand
persons. They went to and ruined the various fortifications
[maintained by] Communes [that had been
built by the Superintendent of] the Imperial Household.[696]
They also entered Chang-yi and Chiu-ch'üan
[Commanderies] and killed a Chief Commandant.

In the fourth year, in the spring, there arrived the
General of Sutrishna (Erh-shih), [Li] Kuang-li, who
had had the head of the King of Ferghana (Ta-yüan)
cut off, and had secured the horses that sweat
blood.[701] The "Song of the Heavenly Horses from
the Extreme West" was made.[703]

In the autumn, Ming-kuang Palace was built.

In the winter, [the Emperor] traveled and favored

Hui-chung [Palace with a visit]. He moved the
Chief Commandant of Hung-nung [Commandery] to
control Wu Pass; those going out and in [the Pass]
were to be taxed in order to provide supplies for the
officials and soldiers of the Pass.

In the [period] T'ien-han,[708] the first year, in the

spring, the first month, [the Emperor] traveled and
favored Kan-ch'üan [Palace with a visit, where he]
performed the suburban sacrifice at the altar to the
Supreme [One]. In the third month, [the Emperor]
traveled and favored Ho-tung [Commandery with a
visit, where he] sacrificed to Sovereign Earth.[712]

The Huns returned the Chinese envoys and sent a
messenger to bring tribute.[713] In the summer, the
fifth month, an amnesty was granted to the world.

In the autumn, the city gates were closed and

there was a great search.[718] Reprobated persons
and exiles were sent to encamp [as guards] in Wu-yüan
[Commandery].

In the second year, in the spring, [the Emperor]
traveled and favored Tung-hai [Commandery with
a visit]. He returned and favored Hui-chung
[Palace with a visit].

In the summer, the fifth month, the General of
Sutrishna (Erh-shih), [Li Kuang-li], with thirty
thousand horsemen, went out of Chiu-ch'üan [Commandery]
and fought [a battle] with the [Hun]
Worthy King of the West at the T'ien Mountains,
[in which he] cut off heads and took prisoners [to
the number of] more than ten thousand. [The
Emperor] also sent the General of Yin-yü, [Kung-sun
Ao],[726] to go out of Hsi-ho [Commandery]. The
Chief Commandant of Cavalry, Li Ling, leading five
thousand foot-soldiers, went out of Chü-yen, went
north, and fought [battles] with the Shan-yü, cutting
off heads and [taking] captives [to the number of]
more than ten thousand. [Li] Ling's troops were
defeated and [he] surrendered to the Huns.

In the autumn, those shamans who made sacrifices

on the roads were stopped and prohibited.[729] There
was a great search.

Six states, [including the state of] Ch'ü-li, sent
messengers bringing tribute.[730]

In T'ai-shan and Lang-yeh [Commanderies], crowds
of robbers, [led by] Hsü P'o and others, obstructed
the mountain [passes] and attacked cities, [so that]
the roads and highways were blocked.[733] [The Emperor]
sent Special Commissioners, Pao Shen-chih
and others, clad in embroidered clothes and bearing
axes, in separate parties, to pursue and arrest [the
wrong-doers]. Inspectors, Commandery Administrators,
and lower [officials] all suffered execution.[735]
In the winter, the eleventh month, an imperial edict
to the Chief Commandants of the Passes said, "At
present many of the braves and stalwarts [of the
capital commanderies] have relationships [with people]
at a distance and attach themselves to the groups
of bandits in the east. Be careful in investigating
those who come and go [through the passes]."

In the third year, in the spring, the second month,
the Grandee Secretary, Wang Ch'ing, who had committed
crimes, killed himself.

For the first time there was created a [government]
monopoly of [brewing] fermented drink and selling
it.[742]

In the third month, [the Emperor] traveled and

favored Mount T'ai [with a visit, where] he renewed
[the sacrifice] feng and sacrificed in the Ming-t'ang.
Thereupon he received the [yearly] accounts [from
the commanderies and kingdoms]. He returned and
favored the northern regions[744] [of the empire with a
visit, where he] sacrificed to Mount Ch'ang and
buried black jade.[745] In the summer,[746] the fourth
month, an amnesty was granted to the empire and
[the places through which the Emperor] had passed
in his travels [were allowed] not to pay the land tax.

In the autumn, the Huns entered Yen-men [Commandery].

Its Grand Administrator was sentenced
for cowardice and timidity and was publicly executed.[751]

In the fourth year,[754] in the spring, the first
month, the court for the vassal kings was held in
Kan-ch'üan Palace.

[The Emperor] mobilized the seven classes of reprobated
persons[757] in the empire together with resolute
and courageous gentlemen, and sent the General
of Sutrishna (Erh-shih), Li Kuang-li, leading sixty
thousand cavalry and seventy thousand foot-soldiers,
to go out of So-fang [Commandery]; the General of
Yin-yü, Kung-sun Ao, [leading] ten thousand
cavalry and thirty thousand foot-soldiers, to go out
of Yen-men [Commandery]; and the Scouting and
Attacking General, Han Yüeh, [leading] thirty
thousand foot-soldiers, to go out of Wu-yüan [Commandery].
The Chief Commander of Strong Crossbowmen,
Lu Po-tê, [leading] more than ten thousand
foot-soldiers, effected a junction with the [General
of] Sutrishna (Erh-shih). [Li] Kuang-li fought
battles with the Shan-yü on the Yü-wu River for
[several] successive days. [Kung-sun] Ao fought
a battle with the Worthy King of the East, [but]

was unsuccessful. All led [their troops] back.

In the summer, the fourth month, [the Emperor]

established his Imperial Son, [Liu] Po6, as King of
Ch'ang-yi.[761]

In the autumn, the ninth month, [the Emperor]

ordered that [those who had committed] capital
crimes [could] diminish their death [sentences by]
one degree by paying[763] five hundred thousand cash
as a ransom.

In [the period] T'ai-shih,[765] the first year, in the

spring, the first month, the General of Yin-yü,
[Kung-sun] Ao, who had committed crimes, was
cut in two at the waist.[770]

Braves and stalwarts from among the officials and
common people of the commanderies and kingdoms
were moved to Mou-ling and Yün-yang.[771] In the

summer, the sixth month, an amnesty [was granted]
to the empire.

In the second year, in the spring, the first month,
[the Emperor] traveled and favored Hui-chung
[Palace with a visit]. In the third month, an
imperial edict said, "The high officials have discussed
and said that when formerly We made the suburban
sacrifice [in which We] presented [Ourself] to the
Lords on High and went westwards and ascended
[Mount] Lung-shou, [We] captured a white unicorn
and used it as an offering in the [imperial] ancestral
temple, the Wu-wa River produced a heavenly
horse, and actual gold was discovered on Mount
T'ai,[779] [hence] it is proper that [We] should change
[some] former appellations. Now [We] change
[the shape for ingots of] actual gold to have that of
unicorns' feet and fine horses' hoofs, in order to
accord with these auspicious presages, and use them
to distribute among the vassal kings as grants to
them."[780]

In the autumn, there was a drought. In the
ninth month, those who had committed capital
crimes were solicited [each] to pay five hundred
thousand cash as ransom in order to diminish their
death [sentence by] one degree.[785]

The Grandee Secretary, Tu Chou, died.

In the third year, in the spring, the first month,

[the Emperor] traveled and favored Kan-ch'üan
Palace [with a visit, where he] banqueted his guests
from foreign countries. In the second month, he
ordered that [everyone] in the empire should [be
permitted to assemble] for universal drinking during
five days. He traveled and favored Tung-hai
[commandery with a visit, where he] secured [some]
red wild geese. The "Red Wild Goose Song" was
made.[791] He favored Lang-yeh [Commandery with
a visit, where he] paid rites to the Sun at Mount
Ch'eng and ascended [Mount] Chih-fou. When
he floated upon the ocean [in a boat], the mountains
called out, "Long life [to the Emperor]." In the
winter he granted five thousand cash to the households
by which he had passed, and to widowers,
widows, orphans, and childless, one bolt of silk per
person.

In the fourth year, in the spring, the third month,

[the Emperor] traveled and favored Mount T'ai
[with a visit]. On the [day] jen-wu, he sacrificed
in the Ming-t'ang to the Eminent Founder, [Emperor
Kao], as the coadjutor of the Lords on High. Thereupon
he received the [yearly] accounts [from the
commanderies and kingdoms]. On [the day] kuei-wei,
he sacrificed in the Ming-t'ang to Emperor
Hsiao-ching. On [the day] chia-shen, he renewed
[the sacrifice] feng. On [the day] ping-hsü, [he
performed the sacrifice] shan at [Mount] Shih-lü.
In the summer, the fourth month, he favored Pu-chi
[with a visit] and when he sacrificed at Chiao-men
Palace to the supernatural persons [of P'eng-lai],
it was as if there were [some of these immortals]
who made obeisance towards the [Emperor's]
throne.[803] The "Chiao-men Song" was made. In
the summer, the fifth month, [the Emperor] returned
and favored Chien-chang Palace [with a visit, where
he] held a great feast and [granted] an amnesty to
the empire.

In the autumn, the seventh month, in [the kingdom
of] Chao, there were snakes who [came from]
outside of the outer wall, entered the city, and fought
in droves with the snakes inside the city at the foot
of the temple to [Emperor] Hsiao-wen, [so that]
the snakes inside the city died.[807] In the winter,
the tenth month, on [the day] chia-yin, the last day
of the month, there was an eclipse of the sun.

In the twelfth month, [the Emperor] traveled and

favored Yung [with a visit, where he] sacrificed at
the altars to the Five [Lords on High. Then he]
went west to An-ting and Po-ti [Commanderies].

In [the period] Cheng-ho,[813] the first year, in the

spring, the first month, [the Emperor] returned. He
traveled and favored Chien-chang Palace [with a
visit].

In the third month, the King of Chao, [Liu]

P'eng-tsu, died.[817]

In the winter, the eleventh month, [the Emperor]

sent out the cavalrymen of the three capital commanderies
to make a grand search in Shang-lin
[Park]. He had the city gates of Ch'ang-an closed
for the search to the eleventh day, and then they
were opened.[820] The witchcraft and black magic
[case] arose.[823]

In the second year, in the spring, the first month,
the Lieutenant Chancellor, [Kung-sun] Ho, was
sent to prison and died, and in the summer, the
fourth month, a great wind blew away houses and
broke trees, [then] in the intercalary month, the
Princess of Chu-yi and the Princess of Yang-shih5
were both sentenced for witchcraft and black magic
and died.

In the summer, [the Emperor] traveled and favored
Kan-ch'üan [Palace with a visit], and in the
autumn, the seventh month, the Marquis of An[831] -tao,
Han Yüeh, the [Special] Commissioner [Clad in
Embroidered Garments], Chiang Ch'ung, and others
dug up black magic [charms] in the Palace of the
Heir-apparent. On [the day] jen-wu, the Heir-apparent,
[Liu Chü], and the Empress [née Wei]
plotted and beheaded [Chiang] Ch'ung. By means
of credentials, they mobilized troops and fought a
great battle with the Lieutenant Chancellor, Liu
Ch'u-li, in Ch'ang-an, [in which] the dead
[numbered] several tens of thousands. On [the
day] keng-yin, the Heir-apparent fled and the
Empress [née Wei] committed suicide. For the
first time troops garrisoning the city gates were
established. The [imperial] credentials were changed
[in that] yellow pennons were added.[835] The
Grandee Secretary, Pao Sheng-chih, and the Director
of Justice [to the Lieutenant Chancellor],
T'ien Jen, were sentenced for negligence in allowing
[the Heir-apparent] to escape. [Pao] Sheng-chih
committed suicide and [T'ien] Jen was cut in two
at the waist. In the eighth month, on [the day]
hsin-hai, the Heir-apparent committed suicide at
Hu2, and on [the day] kuei-hai, there was an earthquake.[839]

In the ninth month, [the Emperor] established

[Liu] Yen3a, the son of King Ching-su of Chao,
[Liu P'eng-tsu], as King of P'ing-kan.[841]

The Huns entered Shang-ku and Wu-yüan [Commanderies],
killing and kidnapping officials and
common people.

In the third year, in the spring, the first month,

[the Emperor] traveled and favored Yung [with a
visit]. He went to An-ting and Po-ti [Commanderies].

The Huns entered Wu-yüan and Chiu-ch'üan
[Commanderies] and killed two Chief Commandants.
In the third month, [the Emperor] sent the General

of Sutrishna (Erh-shih), [Li] Kuang-li, leading
seventy thousand men, out of Wu-yüan [Commandery];
the Grandee Secretary, Shang-ch'iu Ch'eng,
with twenty thousand men, out of Hsi-ho [Commandery];
and the Marquis of Chung-ho, Ma T'ung,
with forty thousand cavalry, out of Chiu-ch'üan
[Commandery. Shang-ch'iu] Ch'eng reached the
Chün-chi Mountains and fought [a battle] with the
caitiff [Huns], cutting off many heads. [Ma]
T'ung reached the T'ien Mountains. The caitiff
[Huns] led away [their troops]; thereupon he
[brought about] the surrender of Turfan (Chü-shih).[849]
Both [of these generals] led their troops
[safely] back [to China, but Li] Kuang-li was defeated
and surrendered to the Huns.[850]

In the summer, the fifth month, an amnesty [was
granted to] the empire and in the sixth month, the
Lieutenant Chancellor, [Liu] Ch'u-li, was sent to
prison and was [executed by being] cut in two at the
waist; his wife's head was exposed in public.[853]
In the autumn, [there was a plague of] locusts.
In the ninth month, the rebels Kung-sun Yung and
Hu Ch'ien were discovered and both suffered for
their crimes.

In the fourth year, in the spring, the first month,
[the Emperor] traveled, favored Tung-lai [Commandery
with a visit], and went to [the shore of]
the ocean. In the second month, on [the day]
ting-yu, two meteorites fell at Yung and the noise
was heard four hundred li [distant].[860] In the
third month, the Emperor plowed [the sacred field]
at Chü-ting. He returned and favored Mount T'ai
[with a visit, where he] renewed [the sacrifice]
feng. On [the day] keng-yin, he sacrificed in the
Ming-t'ang. On [the day] kuei-szu, [he performed
the sacrifice] shan at [Mount] Shih-lü. In the
summer, the sixth month, he returned and favored
Kan-ch'üan [Palace with a visit]. In the autumn,
the eight month, on [the day] hsin-yu, the last day
of the month, there was an eclipse of the sun.

In [the year period] Hou-yüan,[869] the first year,

in the spring, the first month, [the Emperor]
traveled and favored Kan-ch'üan [Palace, where] he
performed the suburban sacrifice at the altar to the
Supreme [One]. Thereupon he favored An-ting
[Commandery with a visit].

The King of Ch'ang-yi, [Liu] Po6, died.

In the second month, an imperial edict said,
"When We presented [Ourself] in the suburban
sacrifice to the Lords on High, [We had previously]
traveled along the northern border and had seen a
flock of cranes stop and settle. Because [We] did
not spread any nets [for them, We] did not capture
any as an offering.[876] When we made offerings at
the altar to the Supreme [One], both [supernatural]
lights and signs appeared. Let an amnesty [be
granted] to the empire."

In the summer, the sixth month, the Grandee
Secretary, Shang-ch'iu Ch'eng, who had committed
crimes, killed himself.[878]

The Palace Attendant Supervisor, Ma Ho-lo,[879]
with his younger brother, the Marquis of Chung-ho,
[Ma] T'ung, planned to rebel. The Palace Attendant
and Chief Commandant of Auxiliary
Cavalry, Chin Mi-ti, the Chief Commandant Custodian
of Imperial Equipages, Ho Kuang, and the
Chief Commandant of Cavalry, Shang-kuan Chieh,

executed them.[881] In the autumn, the seventh
month, there was an earthquake, and at many
[places] gushing springs appeared.

In the second year, in the spring, the first month,

[the Emperor held] court for the vassal kings in
Kan-ch'üan Palace and made grants to the imperial
house. In the second month, [the Emperor] favored
Wu-tso Palace at Chou-chih.[889]

On [the day] yi-ch'ou, he established his Imperial

Son [Liu] Fu-ling as the Imperial Heir-apparent and,
on [the day] ting-mao, the Emperor died in Wu-tso
Palace. [His body] was encoffined in the Front
Hall of Wei-yang Palace. In the third month, on
[the day] chia-shen, he was buried in the Mou
Tomb.

In eulogy we say: The Han [dynasty] inherited
the evils of the many Kings; the Eminent Founder,
[Emperor Kao], established order [out of] confusion
and turned [things] aright.[893] The attention of
[Emperors] Wen and Ching was [directed to]
nurturing the common people, [but] in the matters
of investigating ancient [practices] and of respecting
literature they still had many defects. When [Emperor]
Hsiao-wu first came to the throne, he
abolished and dismissed [the study of] the many
[non-Confucian] schools [of philosophy] in a surpassing
manner, [thus] making known and rendering
illustrious the six [Confucian] classics.[894] Thereupon
he [had all the officials] within the [four]
seas "search for [intelligent persons who could accord

with the times]"[895] and recommend those who were
talented and excellent; [then] he gave them [the
opportunity to] distinguish themselves. He founded
the [Imperial] University, renewed the suburban
[and other] sacrifices, corrected the commencement
[of the year], fixed the calculation of the calendar,
harmonized the [musical] notes and musical tubes,
composed songs and music, established [the sacrifices]
feng and shan, worshipped the various divinities,
and gave [a noble appointment] by succession
to the posterity of the Chou [dynasty]. His commands
and his ordinances, his writings and literary
compositions are splendid and may be transmitted
[to posterity, so that] his descendants are able to
follow his grand achievements and possess the fame
of the three [great] dynasties.[898]

If Emperor Wu, with his superior ability and his
great plans, had not departed from the modesty and
economy of [Emperors] Wen and Ching, and if, by
means of [these principles], he had helped the common
people, in what respects could [any of] those
[heroes who are] praised in the Book of Odes or the
Book of History have surpassed him?[899]

APPENDIX I

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF YEAR-PERIODS

Before Han times, there were no named year-periods. For the reigns
of Emperors Kao, Hsiao-hui, and the Empress of the Kao-tsu, there were
also no named year-periods. In the reigns of Emperors Wen and Ching,
we find merely more than one beginning of the count of years, no named
year-periods. Emperor Wen began the count of years twice, the second
time seemingly under the influence of Hsin-yüan P'ing, with the notion
that his reign would be thereby lengthened (cf. 4: 16a & HFHD I,
260, n. 1). Emperor Ching began the count of years thrice. Named
year-periods are first found in the reign of Emperor Wu. This conclusion
must be inferred from the scant information given us; namely, a record of
an imperial order by Emperor Wu ordering that a new beginning should
be made in the count of years, and a memorial requesting the establishment
of the first named year-period.

In SC 28: 55 (= Mh III, 474), there is the following statement,
"In the third year after [114 B.C.], a high official said that it was proper
for the first years to be called by some manifestation of heavenly favor,
and it was not proper [for them to be called merely] by the numbers
First, Second, [etc.]. The first first year (yüan) should be called Chien
(inaugurate); the second first year should be called Kuang (splendor),
because of the long comet; the third first year should be called Shou
(animal), because the animal with [only] one horn was obtained for
the suburban sacrifice."

From the above statement, Wu Jen-chieh (1137-1199) in his Liang-Han
K'an-wu Pu-yi 2: 2a, b, deduces that, in the first part of his reign,
Emperor Wu merely continued the practise of his predecessors in
beginning anew the count of years in his reign, without giving any special
name to these periods.

Emperor Wu was only fifteen and a half years of age when he came
to the throne; by 114 B.C. (the twenty-seventh year of his reign), he
had already begun the count of years at least thrice and was destined
to reign an equally long period in the future. These periods had previously
been called merely by numbers, the First, the Second, and the
Third first years. To only three periods could the words ch'ien, chung,
and hou be (retrospectively) applied, as was the case in the reign of
Emperor Ching; since it was not known how many times Emperor Wu
would change the count of years, when it seemed likely in 114 B.C.

that he would want to begin the count of years again, the suggestion
was made that these periods be named in accordance with some outstanding
supernatural event that had happened in the period. The
official who made this suggestion also suggested names for three year-periods;
when names were actually given, it was decided to start a new
period every six years, so the period Yüan-so was interpolated, which
seems not to have previously been counted. The precious tripod, after
which the fifth period was named, was probably not found until the fourth
year of that period (113 B.C.; cf. 6: 19b & n. 17.9), hence that year-period
must also have been retrospectively named.

The named year-periods then originated in 114 or 113 B.C., when
Emperor Wu had begun the count of years in his reign at least three
times already and was thinking of beginning the count again. At least
the first five names were retrospectively given to periods which previously
had no name, only numbers, and, in the case of one period, seem not to
have previously been counted. The first year-period for which we have
an imperial edict ordaining its name is that of 110 B.C. (cf. 6: 26a).
This one was not named until the sixth month in that calendar year,
and the naming of Emperor Wu's last year period seems to have been
delayed until after his death (cf. n. 38.1). The practise of naming year-periods
continued to the end of the Ch'ing dynasty with only one important
change; beginning with the Ming dynasty, the name of the year-period
was not altered except at the accession of a new emperor. (Cf.
also Chavannes, "Le Traité sur les sacrifices fong et chan," in Jour.
Peking Or. Soc'y, 1890, III, no. 1, p. 56, n. 1; Mh I, c, n. 1; HS 6: 1b;
SC 28: 55; Nien-erh Shih Cha-chi 2: 11b.)

APPENDIX II

PUNISHMENTS BY ALTERING THE CLOTHING

In HS 6: 4b, Emperor Wu reveals his acceptance of the belief that
anciently, in the times of Yao and Shun, punishments were only symbolic,
merely requiring criminals to wear certain articles of clothing.
This myth was ancient in his day; the actual practise in early historic
times seems to have been to mutilate a criminal in such a way as to
indicate his crime by the type of mutilation. This myth took different
forms, which are here presented.

Hsün-tzu (ca. 320-235 B.C.) ch. XVIII (cf. Dubs' trans., p. 193;
also quoted in HS 23: 21a) writes, "The ordinary sophists of the age
say, `In the well-governed ancient times, there were no mutilating
punishments, but instead [symbolic] punishments [were used], portraying
[the crime in the criminal's clothing. Instead of] tatooing [the criminal's
face], there was wearing a [black] turban; [instead of amputating the nose,
there was wearing] a grass cord about the neck [worn in mourning, cf.
Li-chi, XVIII, ii, 6; Couvreur, II, 134]; [instead of] castration, [there
was wearing] a grey apron [or cutting off the apron]; [instead of] amputating
the feet, [there was wearing] hemp sandals; [instead of] execution,
[there was wearing] ochre red garments without any borders—in the
ancient well-governed times [punishments] were like the foregoing.'
This was not so." (In the above passage, for [OMITTED], read [OMITTED]; before
[OMITTED], insert [OMITTED]; for [OMITTED], read [OMITTED]; for [OMITTED], read [OMITTED]; for [OMITTED], read [OMITTED]; for [OMITTED], read
[OMITTED]; for [OMITTED], read [OMITTED]; and for [OMITTED], read [OMITTED].)

In a note to Hsün-tzu 12:5a, Yang Liang (fl. 818) quotes the Shen-tzu
(lost; Shen Tao was a contemporary of Hsün-tzu, living in the first
part of the third cent. B.C.) as saying, "In his punishments, the possessor
of Yü, [Shun], used designs on the feet to take the place of tatooing; he
used a grass cord to take the place of amputating the nose; he used hemp
sandals instead of amputating the feet; and he used a grey apron instead
of castration. These were the punishments [used by] the possessor of
Yü."

In a note to HS 6: 4b, Wang Hsien-ch'ien remarks that this saying
arose from a passage in the Book of History II, i, 11 (Legge, I, p. 38),
which says that Shun [OMITTED]. Ibid. II, iv, i, 8 (Legge, I, 86) says that
Kao-yao [OMITTED]. From either of these passages the belief in
punishments portraying the crime could have arisen, but neither passage
bears that meaning when strictly interpreted. Legge translates the
first, "He gave delineations of the statutory punishments," and the
second, "Kao-yao is . . . employing the represented punishments with

entire intelligence," quoting in proof of his interpretation for the latter
passage, the interpretative quotation of this passage in the SC (Mh I,
159). Hsün-tzu seems accordingly to have been correct in denying the
exactness of Shen Tao's interpretation of the Book of History. The
present Bamboo Books date a revival of the symbolic punishments in the
reigns of Kings Ch'eng and K'ang; cf. n. 5.1.

In spite of Hsün-tzu's denial, this belief nevertheless continued to
flourish and grow. Emperor Wen mentions it (cf. HS 23: 13a). The
Shang-shu Ta-ch'uan (compiled in the ii cent. B.C. from material previously
reworked; lost; fragments recovered from quotations) 1 B: 8 reads,
"T'ang [Yao] and Yü [Shun] [had symbolic] punishments portraying [the
crime in the criminal's clothing], and then the people did not presume
to commit [crime]. The multitude of the people utilized [these] punishments
and the people progressed, [assisting] each other to advance.
The punishments of T'ang [Yao] and Yü [Shun] were: for a serious
punishment, ochre red clothes without any border; for medium punishment,
many-colored shoes; for a light punishment, a black turban, while
[the criminal was made to] dwell in his department and hamlet, and
the people shamed him."

The Hsiao-ching Wei Yüan-sheng Ch'i (prob. end of i cent. B.C.; lost;
recovered from quotations) B: 7a, b, reads, "The three Sovereigns
[Fu-hsi, Shen-nung, the Yellow Lord] had no writing; the five Lords
[(Shao-hao, Chuan-hsü, K'u, Yao, Shun) used punishments] portraying
the likenesses [of mutilating punishments]; the three Kings [(Yü, T'ang,
Wen and Wu) used] mutilating punishments. Of those [who were
punished by] portraying the likenesses [of mutilating punishments, those
who had committed] great crimes [had to wear] black painting on red
ochre clothes and many-colored sandals; [those who had committed]
medium crimes [had to wear] red ochre clothes and many-colored sandals;
[those who had committed] light crimes [had to wear] many-colored
sandals."

Ying Shao, in a note to HS 6: 4b, writes, "These two Lords, [Yao
and Shun], portrayed [crimes on the criminals'] clothing and headwear,
changing their ornaments and clothing, and then the people did not dare
to commit [crime]."

The Po-hu T'ung (i or iii cent.) in the Pao-ching T'ang Ts'ung-shu ed.,
(this passage is omitted in most other editions, but is also quoted by Yen
Shih-ku in a note to HS 6: 4b), 4 A: 6b, says, "For those who [were
punished by] the Five Lords by portraying the likenesses [of their
punishments], their clothing showed likenesses to the five [mutilating]
punishments. Those who had committed [crimes deserving punishment

by] tatooing [were compelled to ]cover [their heads] with turbans; those
who had committed [crimes deserving] the amputation of the nose [had to]
use red ochre to apply to their clothes. Those who had committed
[crimes deserving] amputation of the knee-cap [had to] use ink to cover
their knee-caps, which in a symbolic [way] portrayed [the mutilating
punishment]. Those who had committed [crimes deserving] castration
[had to] wear variegated straw sandals. Those who had committed
[crimes deserving] capital punishment [had to wear] ordinary clothes
without a collar."

Emperor Wu's edict was thus merely repeating and giving imperial
sanction to a belief accepted by many scholars in his time. Emperor
Yüan also accepted this belief; cf. 9: 8a. Pan Ku agrees with Hsün-tzu;
cf. HS 23: 21a-23b for his discussion of this matter.

APPENDIX III

THE EIGHTH MONTH FERMENTED LIQUOR OFFERING

This offering was the means by which the Han emperors took tribute
from the nobles of the empire. Nobles were exempt from taxes, but they
were required to make an offering proportionate to the size of their
estates in order to assist in defraying the expenses of the sacrifices to
the imperial ancestors at the time of the offering of the specially fermented
liquor in the eighth calendar month. Failure to offer the required
amount was punished by dismissal from noble rank or degradation.
When Emperor Wu was engaged in military conquests, his nobility took
no part in them; the Emperor became enraged, took advantage of the
fact that most of the nobles were lax in paying the full amount, and
dismissed half of his nobility, as will be recounted.

The eighth month fermented `wine' has already been described; cf. 5:
n. 1.6.[1] Since grapes were not introduced until Chang Ch'ien brought
them from Bactria, this `wine' was probably made of grain. Concern-the
offering, Ju Shun writes, in a note to HS 6: 22a, "The comment in
the Han-chiu-yi [by Wei Hung, fl. dur. 25-57] says, `The vassal kings
[and marquises offered] real gold yearly [at the sacrifice of] the eighth
month liquor in the Han [dynastic ancestral] temples according to [the
number of] households [in their kingdoms or estates]. The Emperor
attended [the ceremony] and received the offered gold. If the gold was
insufficient and not in accordance with [its required weight in terms of]
catties and taels, or if its color was bad, prefectures were taken away
from the kings' [territory] or marquises were dismissed from their
estates.' "

Liu Chao (fl. dur. 502-520), in a note to HHS, Tr. 4: 4a, quotes the
Han-yi (by Ting Fu, fl. 251), "The code [concerning] the gold [to be
offered at the sacrifice of] the eighth month liquor was added by Emperor
Wen. On the morning of [the first day of] the first month, the
liquor is made; in the eighth month it is ready. It is called the eighth-month
liquor [OMITTED]. Thereupon [the Emperor] gathers the nobles to assist
at the sacrifice and to pay their tribute of gold. The `Ordinances
Concerning Money and Textiles' in the Han Code [lost] says, `When the
Emperor abstains and practises a retreat and in person leads his subjects
in presenting the sacrifices in the [imperial] ancestral temples, it is
proper that his subjects should [offer] a percentage of their income.
[The Emperor] requests each of the vassal [kings] and the marquises to

tax themselves according to the number of common people [in their
territories] and to offer four taels of gold for each thousand persons
[in their territories], and for remainders which are not a full thousand
persons, [but], are of five hundred persons, also to [pay] four taels. All
shall meet [for the offering of] the eighth month liquor. The Privy
Treasurer receives [their offerings]; the Grand Herald also [receives them].
Those who receive the income of estates in [the commanderies of] Chiu-chen,
Chiao-chih, or Jih-nan shall each use [as an offering] twenty
rhinoceros horns more than nine inches long and one fine tortoise-shell
carapace; [those who receive the income of estates in] Yü-lin [Commandery]
shall each use [as an offering twenty] elephant tusks more than
three feet long and kingfisher feathers. These are considered equal with
and take the place of the gold.'

"The Han-chiu-yi says, `When the emperor mounts his chariot [to go
to offer] the eighth month liquor in the eighth month, on the same evening,
an ox is killed and covered with a deep red [cloth]. The Emperor, later
in the evening, looks at the victim. He uses a metal mirror [for collecting
dew] to take water from the moon and uses a metal mirror [for reflecting
the rays of the sun] to take fire from the sun, [thus] making
sacramental water and fire. He bares his left arm and uses the water
to asperse the right shoulder of the ox. In his hand he holds a knife
whose handle terminates in a bell and uses it to cut off the ox's tail and
offers it. Then he immediately changes his clothes and linen fillet and
waits upon [his spiritual] superiors. [When the ox is] ready, [the emperor]
thereupon offers it.' "

Emperor Wu's reason for making a wholesale purge of his aristocracy
in 112 B.C. may be found in HS 24 B: 18b, "The Chancellor of Ch'i,
Pu Shih, memorialized to the Emperor that he and his sons wished to
[go and] die [in the expedition against] Nan-yüeh. The Son of Heaven
issued an edict recompensing and promoting him and granting him the
rank of Kuan-nei Marquis, forty catties of actual gold, and a thousand
mou of fields. [This edict] was published [throughout] the empire, but
no [one in] the empire responded [by volunteering as Pu Shih had done.
Among] the marquises, [who were numbered] by the hundreds, no one
sought to go with the armies. When [the time came for] drinking the
eighth month liquor, the Privy Treasurer inspected [their offerings of]
gold, and marquises were sentenced on account of [the deficiency] in
the gold [offered to pay the expenses at the sacrifice of] the eighth month
liquor; more than a hundred persons lost their marquisates." (Cf. Mh
III, 594 f for the parallel passage in the SC.) HS 17: 3b states that the
Lieutenant Chancellor, Chao Chou, was sent to prison and committed

suicide, because he knew that the marquises had not been paying the
full amount as their offerings at the sacrifice of the eighth month liquor.
Evidently Emperor Wu became angry at his nobles when they all
selfishly refused to volunteer for military service at a time when volunteers
were lacking, and cashiered a large proportion of them on the
technicality of not having paid their full quota of tribute.

HS 6: 22a notes the dismissal of 106 nobles. The tables of marquises
(ch. 15-18) however record only the dismissal at this time of 29 marquises
who had been appointed for their or their ancestors' merits, 4 who
had been appointed because of imperial favor, and 65 who were members
of the imperial house, a total of 98 dismissals. After this purge there
remained 26 marquises who had been appointed for their or their ancestors'
merits, 4 who had been appointed because of imperial favor,
and 68 who were members of the imperial house, a total of 98 marquises.
Evidently these tables do not record all the marquises. (Cf. also 8:
n. 12.1. Some of the dismissals may have been of Kuan-nei marquises,
who ranked lower than full marquises. Their estates were small, frequently
of only 300 households, so that they might not all be required
to pay tribute. There is no record of the Kuan-nei marquises. The
HS "Tables" were not compiled by Pan Ku, but after his death by
Pan Chao and Ma Hsü; cf. HHS, Mem. 74: 3b.) If the recordings in
these tables are representative of the total number, there were dismissed
71% of the noble families not of the imperial house enfeoffed as
marquises by Kao-tsu, 71% of those enfeoffed by other rulers preceding
Emperor Wu, 18% of those enfeoffed by Emperor Wu, and 49% of the
marquises who were members of the imperial house, i.e., 50% of the total
number of marquises. After this purge, the nobility was composed
chiefly of members of the imperial house. In 62 B.C., atonement was
made for this wholesale dismissal by exempting the families of many of
these dismissed nobles and granting them each 20 catties of actual gold.
(Cf. 8: 12a, 15b, n. 12.1)

APPENDIX IV

THE COMPETITIVE GAMES

The competitive games (chio-ti [OMITTED] [or [OMITTED]] [OMITTED]) seem first to have been
mentioned in SC 87: 36 (= D. Bodde, China's First Unifier, p. 46),
which says, "At this time [208 B.C.], the Second Emperor was at the
Kan-ch'üan [Palace (then near Shang-lin Park, not at Yün-yang; cf.
Glossary)], and was just then holding a spectacle of competitive games
and theatricals." These games are also mentioned in HS 6: 27b, and
later. The nature of these games seems to have varied.

HS 23: 5b says, "After the Spring and Autumn [period], . . . somewhat
was added to the rites in military reviews, and they became games and
amusements and were used for boasting and showing off; the Ch'in [dynasty]
changed their name to chio-ti." Thus the name (and probably
the practise) originated in the Ch'in state and in the Ch'in period. Ying
Shao explains these games as follows: "Those who chio, contest in skill;
those who ti, butt each other." Wen Ying adds, "In my opinion, the
[Ch'in dynasty] named this amusement chio-ti [because] in pairs they
opposed and contested (chio) with each other in strength. They
contested in skill and talents, in archery and in driving, hence they
named it chio-ti. It was probably an amusement [which consisted in
contests of] miscellaneous skills, of the sort as when [the people] of the
Yü [River] in Pa [Commandery] play fishes and dragons stretching
themselves out. The Han [dynasty] later changed the name [of these
games] to P'ing-lo-kuan [OMITTED] (the Spectacle of Peaceful Amusement)."

The Yü River performances were thus originally distinct from the competitive
games, but may later have been combined with them, although
even Wen Ying does not explicitly say that this combination was actually
made. In a note to HS 22: 35a, where, at the time of a general reduction
in the number of palace musicians, K'ung Kuang and Ho Wu ask to
have thirty-six drummers from the Yü River in Pa Commandery dismissed,
Yen Shih-ku comments, "When the Eminent Founder, [Emperor
Kao], was first made King of Han, he obtained the people of the
Yü [River] in Pa [Commandery]. Both were strong and active and
good at fighting. With them he conquered the three [kingdoms that
had been made out of the state of] Ch'in and annihilated [the state of]
Ch'u. Hence he preserved the military games [of the peoples who
had assisted him]. The games of the Yü [River] in Pa [Commandery]
had their beginning [at the imperial court] because of this [circumstance]."

The History of the Chin Dynasty 22: 11a, b, Treatise 12 ad
finem says, "When the Eminent Founder, [Emperor Kao], of the Han
[dynasty] was about [to go] from Pa and Han to conquer the three
[kingdoms made out of the state of] Ch'in, [Mr.] Fan from Lang-chung
thereupon led the levies [from Pa]. With them he followed the Emperor
and acted as his van-guard. When Ch'in-chung had been subdued,
[Emperor Kao] enfeoffed [Mr. Fan] as Marquis of Lang-chung and
exempted his seven clans of levies. [According to] their customs,
they liked dancing. The Eminent Founder rejoiced at their fierceness
and ardor, and several times watched their military dances. Later he
had his musicians familiarize themselves with them. In Lang-chung
Prefecture there is a Yü River. Because this river was [by] their dwelling-place,
[this performance] was called the dance of the Yü [River]
in Pa [Commandery]." The "fishes and dragons" were eight hundred
feet long, according to Chang Heng's (A.D. 78-139) "Hsi-ching Fu"
(cf. Wen-hsüan, 2: 32a); this amusement probably consisted in some
sort of dragon parade (cf. Tz'u-yüan sub [OMITTED]; Tz'u-hai sub [OMITTED]
[OMITTED]). Yen Shih-ku says that ti means to oppose and not to butt.
Lang-chung [OMITTED] was a prefecture of Pa Commandery, located, according
to the Ta-Ch'ing Yi-t'ung Chih 390: 2a, in the west of the Ch'ing
dynasty's place by the same name; cf. HS 28 Aiii: 96a.

There are other references to these games. Chia Yi (200-168 B.C.)
in his Hsin-shu (in the Han-Wei Ts'ung-shu) ch. 4, "The Huns," p. 4b,
writes, "The Emperor should thereupon feast the Huns with a great
chio-ti." Thus in the time of Emperor Wen, these chio-ti were probably
held. T'ai-p'ing Yü-lan, 755: 5b, quotes the Han-Wu Ku-shih (prob.
by Wang Chien, ca. 452-489), "The chio-ti games which were held in
the court of Wei-yang [Palace], originated [in the time of] the Six States
[475-207 B.C.]; when [the state of] Ch'in united and seized [the other
states in] the empire, it added and enlarged these [games]. Although
when the Han [dynasty] arose, [these games] were abolished, yet they
were not entirely ended; at the time of Emperor [Wu], he again chose
and used them. He joined [with them] the amusements of the barbarians
at the four [boundaries] and introduced marvellous illusions, so that it
was as if spirits or gods chio-ti, and had them butt each other with the
strength of their horns." Jen Fang (460-508), in his Shu-yi-chi A: 2a,
says "[In the period] of the Ch'in and Han [dynasties], it was said that
Mr. Ch'ih-yu's ears and his hair on his temples were like a double-edged
sword and a three-pointed lance, and that on his head were horns (chio)
and that he fought with Hsien-yüan [the Yellow Lord]. When he used
his horns to butt people (chio-ti [OMITTED]), people were not able to withstand

him. Now in Chi Province [present Hopei and Shansi] there is an amusement
called Ch'ih-yu's Games. In it the common people wear horns
on their heads and butt each other, two [against] two, or three [against]
three. When the Han [dynasty] established the chio-ti games, it was
probably after this style." (Cf. C. W. Bishop, "Ritual Bullfight,"
Smithsonian Inst. Report, 1926, p. 453.) These games are mentioned
in Wen-hsüan 2: 30b (von Zach, p. 5, col. 1), but no further explanation
is given. It is noteworthy that when the Wei dynasty attempted to
reestablish these games, no one at court could be found who understood
the meaning of the words in the four songs danced at these games
(cf. the continuation of the passage from the History of the Chin
Dynasty quoted above).

These competitive games thus originated out of military exercises
and included chariot-racing, archery contests, and similar events of a
military nature. They were connected with the region of the Shang-lin
Park in both Ch'in and early Han times, where there possibly was an
arena for such performances. Their name indicates that with these
military contests there were also performances in the nature of a ritual
bullfight connected with Ch'ih-yu (q.v. in Glossary). Wang Hsien-ch'ien
thinks that they were a sort of wrestling. With the foregoing two elements
there were probably also combined the religious dances from the
Yü River in the present Szechuan, which latter were performed by some
of Emperor Kao's soldiers and encouraged by emperors as an entertainment.
Emperor Yüan abolished these games in 44 B.C. (HS 9:
6a). Their precise nature seems to have been already forgotten in
ancient times. (These games are also discussed by Wang Kuo-wei, in
his Sung-Yüan Hsi-ch'ü Shih, p. 5, 6.)

APPENDIX V

THE BLOOD-SWEATING HORSES OF FERGHANA

The sending, by Emperor Wu, of an expedition to secure these horses
has been one of the romances of history. Their nature has been much
discussed. HS 96 A: 37a, b = de Groot, Die Westlande Chinas, p. 110
says, concerning Ferghana (Ta-yüan), "Its horses sweat blood, and it
is said that their forbears were foaled from heavenly horses. Chang
Ch'ien first told Emperor Wu about them. The Emperor sent an envoy,
[Ch'ê Ling], bearing [the equivalent of] a thousand [catties of] gold, together
with a golden horse, in order to ask for the fine horses of Ferghana,
[but] the King of Ferghana thought that China was not contiguous
[with his own land] and was distant, so that a great army could not
reach him. He loved his precious horses and [so] was unwilling to give
[them to the Chinese]. The Chinese envoy said something improper, so
[the people of] Ferghana attacked and killed the Chinese envoy and took
his valuables. Thereupon [in Oct., 104 B.C. (6: 31b)], the Son of Heaven
sent the General of Sutrishna (Erh-shih) [which city was where these
horses were located], Li Kuang-li, to punish Ferghana, leading, in his
former and later [expeditions], more than a hundred thousand men.
In the fourth consecutive year [of the campaign], the people of Ferghana
beheaded their King, Wu-ku, and presented [to the Chinese] three
thousand head of horses. The Chinese troops accordingly returned.
A discussion is in the `Memoir of Chang Ch'ien [and Li Kuang-li; 61:
6, 8-14]." (The fundamental account is to be found in SC 123: 32-42 =
de Groot, ibid., 35-45. An account of these expeditions will be found
in the Glossary, sub Li Kuang-li.)

As to the name, "heavenly horses," SC 123: 24 = HS 61: 6a = de
Groot, ibid., p. 28 contains a significant statement: "Previously [before
the Wu-sun had sent Emperor Wu some of their horses as tribute], the
Son of Heaven had the Book of History and the Book of Changes [text
doubtful] opened [in divination, and the diviner] had said, `Supernatural
horses will presently come from the northwest.' When [Emperor Wu]
secured the horses from the Wu-sun, he liked [for them] the name, `heavenly
horses.' But when he secured the Ferghanan horses that sweat blood,
which are even hardier [than the Wu-sun horses], he changed the name of
the Wu-sun horses and called them `the horses from the western extremity
[of the empire' and] called the Ferghanan horses, `the heavenly
horses.' " Thus the statement that these horses from Ferghana were

"foaled from heavenly horses" probably arose from a fancy of Emperor
Wu's. (The name is from Shan-hai-ching 3: 9b.)

Li Kuang-li made two expeditions to secure these horses. The first
expedition was unsuccessful, because of inadequate preparation. The
company returned more than a year later, with only one or two-tenths
of its members. Li Kuang-li was then sent out again, and was successful
in getting the nobles of Ferghana to kill their King and offer the Chinese
their horses, of which Li Kuang-li selected several tens of the best and
more than three thousand ordinary stallions and mares. He returned in
the spring of 101 B.C., bringing back successfully only a thousand horses.
In the present account I shall endeavor merely to present the evidence
concerning the nature of these horses and of their blood-sweating.

To begin with, we consider the early evidence concerning them. The
first poem to the heavenly horses in HS 22: 26a, b, begins,

"A gift from the Supreme One—the heavenly horses have been sent
down.

They are dampened by a red sweat—their foam flows red."

HS 22: 26b credits this poem to the horse secured from the Wu-wa
River in 113 B.C. (The reference however gives an incorrect date, so
that this attribution is doubtful; from the true nature of the "red sweat,"
it is however possible that the Wu-wa horse also contracted this disease.)
Only in the second poem is unambiguous reference made to the Ferghana
horses. In that poem, the only detail regarding the characteristics
of the horses is the line:

"He had a double spine, [protruding like] a tiger's."

The implication is that these horses were very spirited. (Cf. Mh III,
620 for a translation of these poems.) HHS, Mem. 32: 13a (by Fan
Yeh, 389-445) quotes a letter of Emperor Chang, dated in 78 A.D.,
in which he orders sent to two sons of Emperor Kuang-wu, "a pair of
Ferghanan horses, whose blood comes out through small holes above
their front shoulder-blades. You have formerly heard, in the song of
Emperor Wu, that the heavenly horses were `dampened by a red sweat,'
and now you yourselves may see that it was true."

Ying Shao (ca. 140-206), in a note to HS 6: 32b, says, "In Ferghana
from ancient times there has been a race of heavenly horses. [They are
able to] tread upon stones, and they sweat blood. Their sweat comes
out from their front shoulder-blades like blood. They are called [horses
able to travel] a thousand li in one day." Since in ancient times horses
were not shod, except with straw or leather, and since horses bred upon
the plains would wear out their hoofs in long journeys (which was the
reason the Chinese armies needed such large supplies of horses), mountain-bred

horses with firmer hoofs who could travel farther without needing
rest for their feet to recuperate would be a great economy to the imperial
purse and would give a decided advantage to the Chinese cavalry.

Some mythology has grown up about these blood-sweating horses.
Hsü Sung (1781-1848; this passage is quoted by Shen Ch'in-han in a
note to HS 96 A: 37a) notes that the Yi-wen Lei-chü (by Ou-yang Hsün,
557-641) quotes the Shen-yi Ching (attributed to Tung-fang So, but
probably composed some time in 265-618) as saying, "In the southwest,
in Ferghana and Yüan-ch'iu, there are fine horses. They are twenty
feet tall. Their manes reach to their knees; their tails sweep the ground;
and their hoofs are like a thick wrist. They can travel a thousand li
by the setting of the sun. When the sun is at its height, they sweat
blood." (The present text of the Shen-yi Ching, p. 14b, 15a, is however
significantly different, "In the great wilderness of the southwest there
are horses, [etc.]. . . . Their whiskers reach their knees, [etc.]. . . .
They can grasp the sun and travel a thousand li; when they reach the
sun, they are wounded and sweat blood. [The person] who rides [in
a carriage drawn by them] must bind his head with floss in order to avoid
becoming ill with the wind, [but] the people of that country do not bind
[their heads]." From the construction of the book, the first words of
the present passage cannot have originally been "In the southwest, in
Ferghana," but must have been, "In the great wilderness of the southwest.")

The true nature of this blood-sweating may be determined. Shen
Ch'in-han (1775-1832) remarks caustically, "The stronger and sturdier
horses of the present Ili constantly have small sores in front of their shoulder-blades
and on their back, which [sores] exude blood. They are said
to have been hurt by an emanation [OMITTED]. [These sores] are necessarily
on the front of their shoulder-blades, because they are worked very hard.
The earlier commentators did not [use] their eyes to investigate [this
matter], hence did not understand its details."

Langdon Warner (in The Long Old Road in China, p. 124, 125) tells
of securing near Tun-huang, Kansu, four Chinese Turkestan ponies
which bled from various sores after a day's work and was told that all
the western ponies did that and that it never for a moment slowed them
down. He adds, "No traveler who had once used these sturdy, patient
little beasts could fail to associate them with this curious disease, probably
the result of some parasitic insect." Mr. C. W. Bishop suggested
to me that this was the same phenomenon as that shown by the "blood-sweating"
horses brought from Ferghana.

Dr. Benjamin Schwartz, Assistant Chief of the Zoological Division,

U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, suggests in a letter that this disease "is
produced by a nematode now known as Parafiliaria multipapillosa and
formerly known as Filiaria haemorrhagica. These parasites occur under
the skin of horses and other equines and produce in various parts of the
skin small hemorrhages. The lesions consist of hemispherical elevations
about the size of a pea. In about two hours after the elevations are
formed, an opening appears at the summit of the elevation; from this
opening there exudes blood which mats the hair surrounding the lesion.
The lesions occur on the shoulder, on the back, and in other locations."
Perhaps the famous "blood-sweating" Nesaean horses, mentioned by
Greek writers as having bred in the upland pastures of Media (northeast
of Ecbatana; cf. Herodotus III, 106; Strabo XI, 13, 7; 14, 9; Pliny, Hist.
Nat. VI, 25 (29), 44) for the use of the Great Kings of Persia, with which
these Ferghanan horses have sometimes been identified, had these same
parasites.

Mr. Bishop has studied the evidence offered by Han sculptures concerning
the difference between the type of Chinese horse before and
after the introduction of this breed from central Asia. He says that
before this time, Chinese horses were small, with large heads, coarse
extremities, a ewe neck, and an inclination to paunchiness. This breed
is still to be met with in out of the way places in China, Japan, and Korea.
The type represented in the latter part of the Han dynasty is stocky,
with a well-developed barrel, thick neck, short legs, and well-shaped
head. It is also shown on a gold medal struck by Eucratides, a Graeco-Bactrian
king of the second century A.D., and in the famous bas-reliefs
of T'ang T'ai-tsung's chargers. It was apparently the same breed which
the central Asian explorer, Vambery, found among certain tribes of
Turkomans, and which he describes as being distinguished less for size
and speed than for strength and endurance. [Cf. C. W. Bishop, "The
Horses of T'ang T'ai-tsung," in Museum Journal, pub. by University
Museum, University of Pennsylvania, Sept.-Dec. 1918, pp. 244-272,
which contains excellent illustrations; also W. P. Yetts, "The Horse:
A Factor in Early Chinese History," Eurasia Septentrionalis Antiqua 9:
(1934) 231 ff.] It is thus possible to determine both the nature of the
horses secured by Emperor Wu and the reason for the curious epithet,
"blood-sweating." (Cf. J. J. M. de Groot, Die Westlande Chinas, pp.
35-45; for the western Asiatic source of these horses, cf. W. W. Tarn,
Hellenistic Military and Naval Developments, pp. 78-83, 156-9.)

APPENDIX VI

ECLIPSES IN THE REIGN OF EMPEROR WU

i. In Chien-yüan II (the second year of the period Chien-yüan), ii
(the second month), on the day ping-hsü, the first day of the month,
an eclipse of the sun is listed (HS 6: 2b, 27 Cb: 14a; Han-chi 10: 1b)
The "Treatise," ch. 27, adds, "It was 14 degrees in [the constellation]
K'uei." Hoang, Concordance des chronologies néoméniques chinois et
européenne, equates this date with the julian Mar. 21, 139 B.C. But
there was no eclipse on that date.

In the five years between the last preceding correctly recorded eclipse
in 143 B.C. and the next one in 138 B.C., there were 12 eclipses, of which
only one was visible in China.[1] That one occurred on July 8, 141 B.C.,
which date was, according to Hoang, Emperor Ching, Hou III, v, the last
day, yi-ch'ou. The day after yi-ch'ou is ping-yin, which was the first
day of the sixth month; Hoang's calendar might have been one day in
error; and someone, reading a partly illegible list of eclipses which
omitted the year-periods, might have misread "three" as "two," "six"
as "two," and misread or corrected "ping-yin" [OMITTED] to "ping-hsü" [OMITTED], thus
achieving this listing, so that it quite possibly represents a genuine
observation.

The three principal stars of K'uei were then in 344°, 343° and 347°
R.A.; Oppolzer calculates the longitude of the sun at the eclipse of 141
B.C. as 101° = 103° R.A. The heavenly location of the eclipse does
not thus represent any observation.

ii. On Chien-yüan III, ix, ping-tzu, the last day of the month, a second
solar eclipse is recorded (6: 3b; Han-chi 10: 5a). Hoang equates this
date with Nov. 1, 138 B.C., for which Oppolzer calculates his solar eclipse
no. 2545. It must have been quite conspicuous in Ch'ang-an; Oppolzer
charts the path of centrality as passing through the present Urga, Mongolia,
and Korea.

HS 27 Cb: 14a also records the eclipse and adds, "It was 2 degrees in
Wei3." The principal star of Wei3, μ Scr, was then in 219° R.A.; Oppolzer
calculates the sun as in 215° long. = 213° R.A.

iii. On Chien-yüan V, i, chi-szu, the first day of the month, a third
eclipse is recorded (HS 27 Cb: 14a; Han-chi 10: 8b). The "Annals,"
ch. 6, do not list this eclipse. Hoang equates this date with Feb. 16,
136 B.C., but there was no eclipse on that date.

In the four years between the previous eclipse in 138 B.C. and the
next correctly recorded one in 134 B.C., there were nine solar eclipses,
of which two were visible in China.[2] Oppolzer charts the moon's umbra
in the eclipse of Apr. 15, 136 as passing through northern Siberia; calculation
by the method in Neugebauer, Astronomische Chronologie, shows
that in Ch'ang-an this eclipse was invisible, in the present Peiping it
reached a magnitude of 0.07 at 3:26 p.m., local time, and at the present
Ning-hsia, the ancient So-fang, it reached a magnitude of 0.15 at 2:44
p.m., local time. Calculation also shows that the eclipse of Apr. 4, 135
was invisible in Ch'ang-an, but reached a magnitude of 0.08 at 6:32
a.m., on Apr. 5, in the present Peiping.

Apr. 15, 136 was, according to Hoang, Chien-yüan V, iii, the last day,
ting-mao. Ting-mao is the second day before chi-szu. Since Hoang's
calendar may be two days in error, and since "three" in Chinese may
easily be misread as "first," the eclipse we are considering happened on
Apr. 15, 136 with a very high degree of probability. It seems to have
been reported from outside the capital. Yet at the longitude of Ch'ang-an,
the southern limit of visibility for this eclipse was 35° N, only a short
distance north of Ch'ang-an, according to Neugebauer's elements, so
that the eclipse might easily have been reported from somewhere in
central Shensi. Since moreover absolute exactness cannot be claimed for
even the best astronomical computations concerning events two thousand
years ago, it is furthermore possible that this eclipse was actually visible
in Ch'ang-an.

iv. In Yüan-kuang I, ii, on the last day of the month, ping-ch'en,
a fourth eclipse is recorded (HS 27 Cb: 14a; Han-chi 11: 4b). The "Annals"
does not record it. Hoang equates this date with Mar. 25, 134.
But there was no eclipse on that day.

In the four years between the last correctly recorded eclipse in 138
B.C. and the next one in 134, only two eclipses were visible in China,
the first of which seems definitely to be the one denoted by the preceding
recording. The other eclipse visible in China, occurring on Apr. 4, 135,
22h.48m.GCT, and visible in China on the morning of Apr. 5, was on
Chien-yüan VI, iii, the last day, jen-hsü, according to Hoang. Jen-hsü
[OMITTED] may easily be misread as ping-ch'en [OMITTED] and "three" may equally
easily be mistaken as "two." Year-periods were not inaugurated until

114 or 113 B.C., so that the mistake of one year is equally intelligible.
The original record probably read the year "six," which was misread
"seven" before it was inserted into the list in the "Treatise," ch. 27.
Hence Apr. 5, 135 B.C. was probably the actual date of this eclipse.

Since the list in the "Treatise" seems to be that of the court astronomers
in Ch'ang-an, it is peculiar that this and the preceding eclipses must
have been entered into that list without having been visible in Ch'ang-an.
The previous eclipse may have actually been visible in the capital; the
southern limit of visibility for the present eclipse, according to Neugebauer's
method, was about 40° N in the longitude of Ch'ang-an; it was
visible at sunrise at T'ai-yüan.

v. In Yüan-kuang I, vii, a day before the last day of the month,
kuei-wei, a fifth eclipse is recorded (6: 5b; 27 Cb: 14a; Han-chi 11: 4b).
The "Treatise" adds, "It was eight degrees in Yi4."

Hoang equates this date with Aug. 19, 134 B.C., for which day Oppolzer
calculates his solar eclipse no. 2555. He calculates the sun in
long. 142° = 143° R.A. Of the stars in Yi4, α Hydrae was then in 136°
R.A., α and γ Crateris in 139° and 145° R.A. There is thus a fair
approximation.

This eclipse must have been quite prominent; Oppolzer charts the
path of totality as passing through the modern Irkutsk and southern
Manchuria.

vi. In Yüan-so II, a sixth eclipse of the sun is recorded. HS 6: 10b
dates it iii, the last day, yi-hai. HS 27: Cb: 14a dates it ii, the last day,
yi-szu, and adds, "It was 3 degrees in Wei4," Han-chi 12: 3a dates it ii;
the last day, yi-hai. Hoang equates the date in the "Annals" with
May 6, 127, and that in the "Treatise" with Apr. 6, 127. He gives no
yi-hai day in the second month, so that the Han-chi's date is impossible.

Oppolzer calculates his solar eclipse no. 2570 for Apr. 6, 127, and
nothing for the other date, so that the recording in the "Treatise" is
correct. It is interesting that the Han-chi gives a dating partly like the
incorrect one in the "Annals" and partly like the correct one in the
"Treatise." Probably in the second century, when the Han-chi was
composed, the text of the "Annals" contained the reading now in the
Han-chi (possibly Pan Ku originally had an incorrect record before him),
and later someone, who knew that such a date was impossible, corrected
the text by changing the month, for the emendation of the month is the
easiest one and gives a seemingly correct result.

This eclipse was visible in the Mediterranean world, especially in
Babylonia. Oppolzer and Ginzel both calculate that the path of totality
passed through northern Sinkiang and just east of Lake Baikal. They

calculate the sun in long. 12° = 14° R.A. The principal star of Wei4,
35 Arietis, was then in 11° R.A.

In the period of 7 years between the preceding eclipse and this one, no
eclipses were visible in China.[3]

vii. In Yüan-so VI, xi, kuei-ch'ou, the last day of the month, a seventh
eclipse is listed (27 Cb: 14a; Han-chi 12: 9a). The "Annals" do not list
it; the Han-chi puts it at the end of the year, on the day kuei-yu. Hoang
gives no kuei-ch'ou day in the eleventh month of that year, but does give
a kuei-yu day as the 19th day of the month, Dec. 14, 124 B.C., at the
beginning, not the end of the year.

In the 5 years from the preceding to the next correctly recorded eclipse
in 122 B.C., there were 11 eclipses, of which 2 were visible in China.[4]
Calculation of the eclipse of Feb. 3, 124 B.C. shows that it was invisible
in Ch'ang-an and the present Peiping, but it reached a magnitude of 0.05
at 2:10 p.m. local time in the ancient So-fang, the present Ning-hsia,
which had recently been conquered. Such a small eclipse in so remote a
spot would hardly have been noticed. The eclipse of Jan. 23, 123 B.C.
was visible in Ch'ang-an and places south and east. It occurred in Yüan-so
VI, xii, the last day, kuei-ch'ou.

The record plainly points to the eclipse of Jan. 23, 123 B.C.; the error
in dating, reading xii as xi, is quite natural.

viii. In Yüan-shou I, v, yi-szu, the last day of the month, an eighth
eclipse is recorded (6: 14a; 27 Cb: 14a; Han-chi 12: 13). The "Treatise"
adds, "It was 6 degrees in [the constellation] Liu. According to the
calculations of Ching Fang [77-37 B.C.] in his Yi-chuan, when, as at
this time, the sun is eclipsed from its right side, his rule says that the
prince will lose a minister."

Hoang equates this date with July 9, 122 B.C. for which Oppolzer
calculates his solar eclipse no. 2582. He charts the path of this annular-total
eclipse as passing through central Shensi, just north of Ch'ang-an.
He calculates the sun as in long. 102° = 103° R.A.; the principal star of
Liu, δ Hydrae, was then in 101° R.A.

ix. In Yüan-ting V, iv, the last day, ting-ch'ou, a ninth eclipse of the
sun is listed (6: 21a; 27 Cb: 14b). The Han-chi does not list this eclipse.

The "Treatise" adds, "It was 23 degrees in [the constellation]
Tung-ching."

Hoang equates this date with June 18, 112 B.C., for which Oppolzer
calculates his solar eclipse no. 2606. He charts the moon's umbra as
passing through Suiyüan and Jehol, and calculates the sun's longitude as
83° = 82° R.A. The principal star of Tung-ch'ing, ν Gemini, was then
in 66° R.A.

In the ten years since the preceding eclipse and down to this eclipse,
there were 23 solar eclipses, of which only one was visible in China.[5]
This eclipse occurred on Aug. 19, 115 B.C. It reached a magnitude of
only 0.28 at 11:21 a.m. local time in Ch'ang-an, so might naturally have
been missed.

x. In Yüan-feng IV, vi, the first day, chi-yu, a tenth eclipse is listed
(27 Cb: 14b). This eclipse is not found in the "Annals" or in the Han-chi.
Hoang equates the date with June 24, 107 B.C., but there was no eclipse
on that date. Chu Wen-hsin, in his Li-tai Jih-shih K'ao, p. 30, suggests
the eclipse of Sept. 19, 107 B.C.

In the six years from the preceding eclipse to the next correctly listed
one in 96 B.C., there were 37 solar eclipses, of which five were visible in
China.[6] These were the eclipses on (1) Apr. 6, 108 B.C., Yüan-feng III,
iii, last day, yi-yu, which reached a magnitude of 0.32 at 3:29 p.m. at
Ch'ang-an; (2) Sept. 19, 107, Yüan-feng, IV, viii, last day, ping-tzu, which
was invisible in Ch'ang-an but reached a magnitude of 0.34 at the present
Peiping at sunrise; (3) July 19, 104 B.C., T'ai-ch'u I, vii, first day,
keng-yin; (4) Dec. 3, 103 B.C., T'ai-ch'u II, xi, first day, jen-tzu, which
reached a magnitude of 0.12 at 1:42 p.m. at Ch'ang-an; and (5) May
17, 101 B.C., T'ai-ch'u IV, iii, the day before the last, jen-yin, which
reached a magnitude of 0.45 at 4:20 p.m. at Ch'ang-an.

Of these eclipses, the one of Apr. 6, 108 is the most plausible one, for
chi[OMITTED]-yu may easily be mistaken for yi[OMITTED]-yu. If Hoang gauged incorrectly
the number of days in a month, yi-yu might have been the first day of the
fourth month. The eclipse of July 19, 104 was on the right day of the
month; chi-ch'ou [OMITTED] (which may easily be misread for chi-yu [OMITTED]) is the

day before keng-yin; but the year-period, year, and month present difficulties.[7]
The day of the eclipse of Sept. 19, 107, ping-tzu, presents
insuperable difficulties, and the eclipse was invisible in the capital, which
seems to be the locality indicated for the list in the "Treatise." In all
probability Apr. 6, 108 B.C. was the actual date of this eclipse.

It is interesting that from the beginning of Emperor Ching's reign in
154 B.C. down to the eclipse of June 18, 112 B.C., every eclipse that could
reasonably be expected to be recorded was actually listed, while here
within six years at least four eclipses seem to have been missed. Why
should this failure have occurred just before the calendar was rectified?

xi. In T'ai-shih I, i, yi-szu, the last day of the month, an eleventh
eclipse is recorded (HS 27 Cb: 14b; Han-chi 15: 1a). The "Annals" do
not list this eclipse.

According to the correction of Hoang's calendar in Chavannes, Documents
chinois, p. 71 (cf. n. 35.6), this date was Feb. 22, 96 B.C. Oppolzer
calculates his solar eclipse no. 2644 for Feb. 23, 96 B.C. and charts it as
visible in China. This mistake of one day may well have been that of
Hoang's calculations.

Chavannes found, on a tablet discovered by Stein in a Han watch-tower
in the desert, a record giving the cyclical day for the first day of the
twelfth month in T'ai-shih I, which shows that the intercalary month was
added at the end of T'ai-shih I, not in T'ien-han IV, as Hoang has it.
This change discovered by Chavannes gives a date correct within one
day for this eclipse. Neither Hoang, in his Catalogue des éclipses de soleil
et de lune nor Chu Wen-hsin, in his Li-tai Jih-shih K'ao, seems to have
noticed this necessary correction in Hoang's calendar. Hoang concludes
that no eclipse corresponds to this listing! This unexpected tallying
shows the essential correctness both of Han recordings and (within a limit
of about three days) of Hoang's calendar.

xii. In T'ai-shih IV, x, chia-yin, the last day, a twelfth eclipse is listed
(HS 6: 36b; 27 Cb: 14b; Han-chi 15: 3a). The "Treatise" adds, "It
was 19 degrees in [the constellation] Tou."

Hoang equates this day with Dec. 12, 93 B.C., for which Oppolzer
calculates his solar eclipse no. 2652 and charts the moon's umbra as
passing through Suiyüan and Chahar. He calculates the sun's longitude

as 258° = 257° R.A. The principal star of Tou, φ Sagitarii, was then
in 249° R.A. This eclipse was also visible in Athens, Memphis, and
Babylon.

Hoang lists this day, however, as the first day of the eleventh month, so
that one day probably needs to be added to some preceding month.

In the three years since the preceding eclipse, there were 7 solar
eclipses, none of which was visible in China.[8]

xiii. In Cheng-ho IV, viii, hsin-yu, the last day, a thirteenth eclipse is
listed (HS 6: 38a; 27 Cb: 14b; Han-chi 15: 11a. The Han-chi reads,
"the seventh month.") The "Treatise" adds, "It was partial, like a
hook, 2 degrees in [the constellation] K'ang. In the late afternoon [3-5
p.m.], the lower part of the sun was eclipsed from the northwest. In the
late afternoon, the eclipse was [also] over."

Hoang equates this date with Sept. 29, 89 B.C., for which Oppolzer
calculates his solar eclipse no. 2661. Calculation shows that this eclipse
reached a magnitude of 0.85 at 3:41 p.m., local time at Ch'ang-an; that
it commenced at 2:21 p.m. and ended at 4.53 p.m. The sun's longitude
was 183° = 183° R.A.; the principal star of K'ang, κ Virginis, was then
in 186° R.A. There was thus a close checking (except in longitude)
between the recording and calculation.

In the four years since the preceding eclipse, there were 8 solar eclipses,
of which only one, that of Oct. 11, 90 B.C. was visible in China.[9] Calculation
shows that this one reached a magnitude of 0.17 at sunrise in
Ch'ang-an.