University of Virginia Library

The literary quality of this chapter

The "Memoir of Wang Mang" is a literary masterpiece, in which the
author largely succeeds in giving the reader the impression that Wang
Mang left upon his contemporaries. Upon first reading it, Wang Mang
appears at the outset as an unusually able and upright person, ambitious
perhaps, but of uncommon high-mindedness. He outdoes his age in
scrupulous morality, and his few off-color deeds, such as his purchase of a
slave-girl and the supplanting of Shun-yü Chang, appear as quite excusable
in such an unusual person. Even the execution of his son, Huo,
appears as sheer uprightness, not ruthlessness. His handling of the
crisis at the death of Emperor Ai is magnificent, and the clever way he
afterwards disposed of those who might thwart him brings applause.
His steady humility and princely generosity fill one with admiration, just
as they did the public of his time. As clever intrigues, one after another,
bring success and he is praised, rewarded, and raised to heights never
before known in Chinese history, a casual reader may well feel approval
of this hero, although the approval may not be so whole-hearted when
one remembers his ruthless crushing of his oldest son, of the Wei clan,
and their associates, and the cruel way he secured settlers for the new
Hsi-hai Commandery. (It is not until one has read through the whole
account to the end and recognizes Wang Mang's character in its full
depth of ruthless self-centeredness and shrewd deception, that these early
events take on a sinister, not a benignant aspect. This masterly effect is
achieved by the simple expedient of relating facts objectively and leaving
their interpretation for the most part to the reader. [Exceptions to this
entire objectivity are confined to adjectives and phrases, the condemnatory
nature of which are deliberately hightened in the translation, in
order to indicate the author's inner attitude. Cf. 99 A: 1b, 4b, 6b, 8b.]
It is not, for example, until Wang Mang's last legitimate son has died
that we are informed of the four children he begat in his three years of
retirement at his estate, just as his public did not know of this fact until
that time. Then we realize that he was no high-minded monogamist, but
an iron-willed hypocrite, ready to conceal anything from the public.)

As portent follows portent with ever increasing impressiveness, and as
rebellions are crushed, we are filled with admiration for this able statesman,
and realize that his public approved of his taking the throne. When
he attains the height of his power and ascends the throne with seeming
reluctance, we feel that he has secured his just deserts. He appears as

the conscientious Confucian, bent on obedience to the examples of the
ancient sage-kings, determined to perfect his state in all particulars.

Then, as unwise and oppressive measures follow one after another, as
he crushes ruthlessly his old followers, Chen Feng and his party, we
realize the tremendous force for evil that he incarnated, and we begin
to guess something of the tortures in store for the country. When the
people are driven to banditry, when his own grandson and his son plot
against his life, and when finally even his three highest officials plot to
abduct him, we feel that he is getting only his just deserts. When however
the collapse comes, and Wang Mang appears as a tired old man,
sleeping only on his stool (99 C: 24a), wearing himself out to the end
in an iron determination to vanquish even hopeless circumstances, using
every means except the right ones, our indignation turns to pity, and the
final massacre becomes not merely the inevitable result of his deeds, but a
real tragedy, for the whole account constitutes a masterly portrayal of
overweening ambition and its inevitable result.

Pan Ku has moreover achieved this wonderful effect, not by a free
composition, but by piecing together documents in the right order, clinging
to the facts as he found them—a work of extraordinary artistry. Sometimes
the machinery does creak, as when we are given the long list of
appointments and enactments made when Wang Mang ascended the
throne, but such things are inevitable in a history that attempts to be
complete. When the edicts and memorials drag out their weary length
and the flowery parallels are repeated again and again, we begin to get
weary, until we realize that we are being treated to samples of the age's
literature. It is rather surprising that the whole account is not dull and
long-winded from beginning to end. A lesser artist would have made it so.
Pan Ku saw his opportunity for producing an unusually artistic history
out of dry-as-dust materials and solved the problem of doing so. Such
an achievement is nothing less than a work of genius.