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Houhanshu 後漢書 "The History of Later Han Dynasty" | Literature by A to Z Literature by time Literature by theme Literature by Sibu | ||
The first dynastic history of China was the Shiji 史記 "Records of the Grand Scribe", written by Sima Qian 司馬遷 (145-86 BC) during the Former Han Dynasty. The pattern of Sima Qian's historiographic work was unique and should serve as model for the official standard histories of the imperial dynasties for the next two thousand years. The Hanshu, written by Ban Biao 班彪 and his son Ban Gu 班固, a historian who also took part in the compilation of the political compendium Baihutong 白虎通 and the history Dongguan Hanji 東觀漢記, helped to standardize the style of the official dynastic histories that has been established with the Shiji. Like Sima Qian, Ban Gu used the biographical-thematical stye with four different types of chapters. But the imperial biographies are much more written in an annalistic year-by-year style and report only officially recorded events. Sima Qian's imperial biographies are written in a more narrative style. The chapters of the Houhanshu are:
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