Notes

1. The reign of an emperor continues, for chronological purposes, to the end of the calendar year in which he dies. The Tzu-chih T'ung-chien (1084) includes the events in an emperor's reign previous to the beginning of his first year, including his accession, in the previous emperor's reign.

2. This date was two days after the burial of Emperor Wen. SC 10: 18b (Mh II, 491) says that he took the throne "in the Temple of Kao-[tsu] and on [the day] ting-wei he inherited the title and was called `Emperor.' " The Kung-yang Commentary (iii cent. B.C.) 25: 7b (Dk. Ting, I), says, "Arrange the coffin between the two [central] pillars, and then only take the throne." Shen Ch'in-han (1775-1831) remarks, "The regulation, [used by] later generations, of taking the throne before the encoffined corpse, came thus from the explanation in the Kung-yang [Commentary]. This [practise] is honoring [the customs] of later antiquity."

3. HS 27 Cb: 22b adds, "Its trunk was straight [in the constellations] Wei(3) and Chi, and its end pointed to [the constellations] Hsü and Wei1. It was more than ten feet long and reached the Heavenly Han [River (the Milky Way)]. On the sixteenth day it disappeared." This comet is no. 17 in J. Williams, Chinese Observations of Comets.The Chinese phraseology in recording a comet is very expressive, e.g., 有星孛于西方, lit. "There was a star which bushed out [or `cometed'] in the western quarter [of the sky]." When we remember that a comet often appears at first as a mere star wandering among the other stars and later puts forth a tail, the Chinese expression appears apt.Before the time of Emperor Ching only two comets are mentioned in Han times: one in Aug./Sept. 204 B.C. (27 Cb: 22a) and the other in the summer of 172 B.C. (4: 13b). Even Halley's comet, which passed perihelion on May 20, 163 B.C., was not recorded. Did Emperor Ching install an astrologer who was really interested in watching the heavens? Szu-ma T'an did not begin his official career until after 140 B.C., when he became Grand Astrologer (SC 130: 3a).In 157 B.C. there was ended the last of the vassal kingdoms not ruled by a scion of the Liu family. Wu Jui had been moved from the kingdom of Heng-shan to that of Ch'ang-sha in 202 B.C. (1 B: 4a); in 157 B.C. the last king of his line died without heirs, and the kingdom was abolished, later to be given to a son of Emperor Wu. All the other vassal kingdoms not in the hands of a member of the imperial clan had been ended by 196 B.C.

4. Ying Shao (ca. 140-206) says, "The one who first takes the empire is the Founder (tsu 祖). That Emperor Kao was entitled Kao-tsu [lit. "the Eminent Founder"] is an instance [of this use]. The one who first governs the empire well becomes the Exemplar (tsung 宗). That Emperor Wen was entitled the Grand Exemplar (t'ai 太-tsung) is an instance [of this use]." Yen Shih-ku, with his usual cocksureness, writes, "Ying [Shao's] explanation is wrong. Tsu [means] first; he first received the mandate [of Heaven]. Tsung [means] honorable; being virtuous he deserves to be honored." Liu Pin (1022-1088) replies, "Yen [Shih-ku's] saying is mistaken. The one who first received the Mandate [of Heaven] is entitled the Great Founder (t'ai-tsu). Those who perform great deeds are also entitled tsu. [Emperor] Tsu-chia [said to have reigned 1258-1226 B.C.] of the Shang [dynasty] was an instance [of this use]." Cf. Mh II, 491, n. 1.Wang Ch'i-Yüan (xix cent.) writes, "That `the Founder has merit and the Exemplar has virtue' is said in the K'ung-tzu Chia-Yü [forged by Wang Su, fl. 386-534, based on an ancient book and later interpolated], ch. "Miao-chih," to be a saying of Confucius. Although this is not adequate proof, in the HHS, An. 1: [1a], the commentator [Li Hsien, 651-684] quotes these words and attributes them to the Rites, which is probably a lost treatise on the rites."

5. Wang Ch'i-Yüan calls attention to a passage in the Po-hu-t'ung Te-lun (said in HHS, Mem. 40 B: 9a to have been composed by Pan Ku; said by W. Hung to have been composed between 213-245), A: 22a, which reads, "The singers are placed above [in the hall]; the dancers are placed below [the hall]. Why? Because the singers symbolize virtue and the dancers symbolize great deeds. The superior man places virtue above and great deeds below."

6. Chang Yen (prob. iii cent.) explains, "On the first day of the first month they make wine; in the eighth month it is completed. It is named chou 酎 [the word in the text]. It is called chou because it is pure. At the time of Emperor Wu, because in the eighth month, when [the Emperor first] tastes this chou, there was an assembly of the nobles in the [imperial ancestral] temple, at which they paid money to assist in [defraying the expenses of] the sacrifice, it was hence called the eighth month wine money 酎金." Yen Shih-ku adds, "Chou is a thrice-repeated agitated and purified wine. Its taste is rich, hence it is used as an offering in the ancestral temples." Cf. 6: App. III for a description of the ceremonies connected with this wine.

7. HS 22: 13b says, "The Dance of Military Virtue was made in the fourth year of Kao-tsu (203 B.C.) in order to symbolize that the empire is happy because military power has already been used to do away with confusion. The Dance of the Peaceful Beginning was originally Shun's Shao Dance. In his sixth year (201 B.C.), Kao-tsu changed its name to the Peaceful Beginning to show that he [did] not copy [what Shun had done]. The Dance of the Five Elements was originally a dance of the Chou [dynasty]. In his twenty-sixth year (221 B.C.), the First Emperor of the Ch'in [dynasty] changed its name to the Five Elements."Meng K'ang (ca. 180-260) adds, "In the Military Virtue, the dancers hold shields and battle-axes. In the Peaceful Beginning, the dancers hold feathers and flutes. In the Five Elements, the dancers' ceremonial hats and clothes imitate the colors of the five elements. Cf. the `Treatise on Music' [HS, ch. 22]."Ying Shao, in a note to SCHC 10: 44, remarks, "According to my opinion of what the present passage says about the dancing in the Dances of Military Virtue, of the Peaceful Beginning, and of the Five Elements, their music in general was like the music of King Wu [of the Chou dynasty, 1122-1117 B.C.]. The meaning was that Kao-tsu used military means to conquer the world, hence he showed that he was not copying [what King Wu had done, and could make a new beginning, just as King Wu did]. When they begin to perform music, they first perform the Peaceful Beginning. Using feathers, flutes, and ornamented and embroidered clothes, they make the first [performance]; then they immediately perform the Five Elements. The Five Elements is a military dance; they hold shields and battleaxes and in their clothes they have the colors of the five elements."In a comment to the Chou-li 23: 7b, sub the Ta-hsü, Cheng Chung (ca. 5 B.C.-A.D. 83) says, "The Han Code Concerning the Music Master [now lost] says, `The children of humble people are not permitted to dance at the offering of the eighth month wine in the [imperial] ancestral temples. Officials who have been appointed to [positions ranked at] two thousand piculs down to six hundred piculs, together with those [holding noble ranks from] Kuan-nei Marquis down to Fifth Rank Grandee first pick their heirs who are seven feet [63 in. Eng. meas.] tall or more, in their twelfth year to their thirtieth year, whose features and appearance are harmonious, and whose body and members are healthy, and use them for the dancers.' "

8. Cf. 4: 14a.

9. Cf. 4: 10b.

10. Cf. 4: 14b.

11. Cf. 4: 7a, b.

12. Cf. p. 238, n. 1; 4: 14b.

13. The clause translated, "not enriching himself with such advantages," now stands after the clause, "did not punish those who had committed no crimes." It has been moved in accordance with its meaning, following the Fukien ed. (1549) and the SC, at the suggestion of Ch'ien Ta-chao and Wang Hsien-ch'ien.

14. Cf. p. 233 and n. 3. The text reads 帑; Yen Shih-ku says that this character "should be read as 孥." Ch'ien Ta-chao remarks, "The Mao [text of] the Book of Odes, the Li-ki, and the HS all write" the first character; "the Book of History and the Mencius write" the second character. "It is a corrupt form, and arose from Lü Shen's [fl. 265330] Tzu-lin. Cf. Chang Ts'an, Wu-ching Wen-tzu [776]."

15. The SC reads 肉 instead of 宮, repeating what is said above (5: 1b); cf. Mh II, 492, n. 5. This reading in the SC may be a corruption arising from conflation with this passage of the HS, as Wang Hsien-ch'ien thinks, or it may be an error in transcribing an original 腐. Wang Hsien-ch'ien remarks that the last part of this sentence shows that castration, not mutilation, is the original meaning. Ch. 23 does not say that Emperor Wen specifically abolished castration independently of the other mutilating punishments. But 5: 7a says that the Emperor allowed those who had been sentenced to capital punishment to be castrated instead, so that probably in the time of Emperor Wen castration had really been abolished.

16. Cf. 4: 14a.

17. HS 22: 14a says, "[Emperor] Hsiao-ching selected from the Dance of Military Virtue to make [the Dance of] Glorious Virtue, in honoring the Temple of the Great Exemplar."

18. The SC at this point adds, "will be written upon bamboo and silk" (the writing materials of the time). Cf. Mh II, 493.

19. Cf. Glossary, sub Salaries.

20. Wang Hsien-ch'ien suggests that, since the 世 in the text is inappropriate and the SC and the Tzu-chih T'ung-chien do not have it, it is a mistake for 曰, which is in the SC. We have adopted this emendation in the translation.

21. The titles "Great Founder" and "Great Exemplar" became the "temple names" of Emperors Kao-tsu and Hsiao-wen respectively, and are used with their posthumous names in the headings of the chapters devoted to them in the Tzu-chih T'ung-chien and other histories.

22. Wang Hsien-ch'ien points out that the SC has 嵗 for the HS's 所, and that Chang Yen (prob. iii cent.) explicitly uses the former word in his comment; Yen Shih-ku uses the latter character. We have adopted this emendation.Chang Yen says, "The kings together with the marquises, yearly, at the correct seasons, sent delegates to visit the capital and attend the sacrifices to assist at the sacrifices." Ju Shun (fl. dur. 189-265) says, "It is exactly [the case] as the Temple of [Emperor] Kuang-wu [25-58] is at the Chang Tomb and the Grand Administrator of the Nan-yang [Commandery], being entitled a delegate, went to sacrifice [there]. The marquises and kings are not sent to make the sacrifices, [because] the nobles of the imperial house are not permitted to take as their ancestor the Son of Heaven; [they worshipped their imperial ancestors as subjects, not as descendants]. All [nobles] who attend the sacrifices at the ancestral temples act as attendants [not as sacrificers] at the sacrifices." Yen Shih-ku adds, "Chang [Yen's] explanation is correct. Since it says, `The temple where the son of Heaven makes offerings to the [Great] Founder and the [Great] Exemplar,' it does not speak of the temples in the commanderies and kingdoms."

23. Wang Nien-sun (1744-1832) says that the T'ung-tien (compiled by Tu Yu, 735812) in its first chapter on "Foods and Goods," quotes this passage, and that before the words 蹺陿 there is the word 地, which is lacking in the present text, and should be supplied. It is parallel with the same word in the next sentence.Yen Shih-ku says, "毄 is an ancient form of 繫; it means to fatten and rear them; 畜 means to put out to grass."

24. Ju Shun explains, "Chuang Chou [iv cent. B.C.] says, `What deer eat is called grass (chien 薦).' It is also said that when the grass is thick it is called chien; when it is long it is called mang 莽 [translated, `tall grass']." But Wang Nien-sun replies, "If you interpret chien as grass, then the phrase, `chien, grass, and mang' is repetitious. I say that chien means chü 聚 [together, dense]. It means that the region is fertile and broad and that in it the grass and tall grass is dense. Chien is used for ch'ien 荐. The Tso-chuan [iv. cent. B.C., Dk.] Hsiang, IV [Legge 42214], says, `The Jung and Ti live in groups (ch'ien),' while the [Kuo]-Yü [iv or iii cent. B.C., in the chapters on] Chin, says, `The Jung and Ti dwell in groups (ch'ien).' Wei [Chao (197-273/4)] and Tu [Yü (222-284)] both comment, saying, `ch'ien is chü.' HS ch. 84: [20a, says], `He planted it heavily (chien) with thorns,' and Yen Shih-ku comments, `Chien should be read as ch'ien. ch'ien is heavily, together (chü).' " Chou Shou-ch'ang (1814-1884) adds, "HS ch. 69: [11b, says], `Now the caitiffs [Huns] have lost their beautiful land and chien grass.' The T'ang History, `Memoir on the Ch'i-pi-ho-li,' [says], `They followed the dense (chien) grass and fine water for their livelihood." This [passage] speaks of the density of the grass and the advantageousness of streams and springs. The ancients changed the word-order in using [passages with] parallel [phrases]."

25. The Tzu-chih T'ung-chien 15: 16 dates this amnesty on the day yi-mao, May 18.

26. The SC says that the Huns had invaded the region of Tai, hence this treaty.This man's personal name has been the subject of discussion. HS 19 B: 10 says, "The Grandee Secretary T'ao Ch'ing [sic] was made Lieutenant Chancellor." ibid. 9b says, "T'ao Ch'ing became Grandee Secretary." Shen Ch'in-han writes that the Wen-Yüan Ying-hua (publ. ca. 978), ch. 873 tells that Hsiao Lun's (ca. 508-551) stele to T'ao the Hermit (T'ao Hung-ching, 452-536) says, "The son of T'ao She, [T'ao] Ching-ti [occupied] positions up to that of Lieutenant Chancellor." A Lieutenant Chancellor of Emperor Wu was named Yen (or Chuang) Ch'ing-ti; Yen Shih-ku, Shen Ch'in-han, Ch'ien Ta-hsin, and Ch'i Shao-nan think that the last word of his name may have been added by confusion to that of T'ao Ch'ing.But Yang Shu-ta (1885- ), in his Han-shu Pu-chu Pu-cheng 2: 30, remarks, "Duke Wen of Chin [636-628 B.C.] was named Ch'ung-erh; the Tso-chuan, [Dk.] Ting, IV, in recording the oath at Chien-t'u, however says, `Chung of Chin.' Shou Chen-to of Ts'ao is called `Shou Chen' in the [Kuo]-Yü, [ch. on] Chin; the SC calls him `Shou To.' Duke Yin of Lu [722-712 B.C.] was named Hsi-ku; SC ch. 33 calls him only `Hsi.' Anciently there was the practise of calling [given] names [composed] of two words by one word for short. HS ch. 19 [in mentioning T'ao Ch'ing-ti] has not the word ti, for it copies the text of SC 22: [11b], this text [i.e. HS 5: 3a] therefore completes [the name]. The Superintendent of the Imperial House, Liu Hsi, in SC ch. 120, is called Liu Hsi-chi in the HS---this is a clear proof that the SC [uses] a shorter name and Pan [Ku] added to it and that the explanations of Ch'i [Shao-nan], Shen [Ch'in-han], and Ch'ien [Ta-hsin] are all incorrect. Cf. my Ku-shu Yi-yi Chü-lieh Pu."

27. The word hsia 下 is sometimes added to a place-name which is composed of only one word in order to make a binomial. For example, in SCHC 47: 91 and HS 81: 14b, K'ung Fu is said to have died at Ch'en(2)-hsia; in the K'ung-ts'ung B: 34a, sect. 19, near the end, he is said to have died at Ch'en2. SCHC 11: 3 (Mh II, 497) says under this date, "The Huns entered Tai and [the Emperor] made a treaty of peace and friendship with them," hence it was natural that T'ao Ch'ing-ti should have been sent to Tai.

28. Emperor Wen had exempted agriculturists from taxes; cf. 4: 14b. Now that tax was re-established at half its former rate. The Tzu-chih T'ung-chien 15: 16b adds that this tax was at the rate of 1/30.

29. Szu-ma Cheng (fl. 713-742) in a note to SCHC 57: 23 says, "The hsien-kuan 縣官 is the Son of Heaven. The reason that the state is called the hsien-kuan is that in [the Chou-li, sub] the Ministers of Summer, [it says,] `The inner prefecture (hsien) of the imperial central domain is the capital of the state.' The king controls (kuan) the world. Hence he is called the hsien-kuan [i.e. controller of the capital prefecture]." The Chou-li does not seem to contain this statement; the two words referring to that book may be an interpolation.

30. Li Ch'i explains, "Those who had noble ranks were to have [their ranks] taken from them and to be made common soldiers; those who had official positions were to be dismissed from their positions." But Shen Ch'in-han replies that the case of those who have already left their positions is different from those who are in official positions, since in the former case they could not compel their subordinates to pay bribes; hence in such cases they were to be punished by merely having their noble titles taken away from them and were excused from further trial. He adds that the Han practise was, at the first crime, to dismiss a person from official position, and, when he was tried a second time, to take away his noble rank.

31. This is comet no. 18 in John Williams, Chinese Observations of Comets, London, 1871. His date is incorrect; this month was Jan. 18-Feb. 15, 155 B.C. The Han-chi 9: 1b erroneously dates this comet in the eleventh month; the Tzu-chih T'ung-chien reads as the present text does.

32. Yen Shih-ku explains "[According to] the old law, in their twenty-third [year they were enregistered (cf. p. 80, n. 2)]; now this [edict sets the age at] twenty, a change to a different [dynasty's] code." But Shen Ch'in-han replies, "Originally those who were in their fifteenth year and over had to pay the poll-tax (suan) in cash [cf. p. 93, n. 1]; now [the Emperor] liberalized it, making it the twentieth year."

33. HS 14: 14a, 15a dates these appointments on the day chia-yin, May 12.

34. According to 16: 43b, the Marquis of Hsiang-p'ing was Chi T'ung. Here he is called [Chi] Chia. We have understood this as merely another case of a double given name for one person; cf. n. 3.2.

35. Ju Shun says, "According to the Code, when there is a case of `treason and inhumanity,' the father, mother, wife, children, and brothers and sisters should all be publicly executed." Evidently Emperor Wen's abrogation of extending punishment to the relatives of a criminal (4: 5b) did not extend to treason and inhumanity.

36. This dating is incorrect. For a discussion of the eclipses in this chapter, cf. App. II.

37. For an account of this rebellion, cf. Introduction.

38. In 169 B.C. these barriers had been abolished. Cf. 4: 14a. The SC dates the present order in the intercalary ninth month (Oct./Nov., 153) and says, "He re-established the fords and [customs] barriers." Cf. Mh II, 500. Ying Shao says that this reestablishment was "because the Seven Kingdoms had just rebelled and to be prepared for any untoward circumstance."

39. She had no children, had lost the favor of Emperor Ching, and her protectress, the Grand Empress Dowager née Po, had died.

40. SC ch. 11 (Mh II, 501) dates this dismissal in the winter of 151/150 B.C. HS 14: 17a dates his appointment as king "in the eleventh month, on [the day] chi-yu," which day was only possible in the tenth and twelfth months of that year. SC 17: 21b dates the dismissal and appointment both "in the eleventh month, on [the day] yi-ch'ou," which was Dec. 28, 151. The Tzu-chih T'ung-chien 16: 12b follows HS 14: 17a. The Han-chi 9: 12b follows HS 5: 5a.

41. The Grand Commandant, Chou Ya-fu, was made Lieutenant Chancellor on Apr. 7, according to Mh II, 501, and, according to HS 19 B: 11a, after Aug. 5.

42. For the intrigues leading to this change of heirs, cf. Glossary sub Wang, Empress née; Mh II, 501, n. 5.

43. The name for this year is usually written today as if there had been a year-period by the name of Chung-Yüan 中元. There is also tacitly assumed to have been a year-period Hou-Yüan 後元. Both the SC and the HS however only write the first of these two pairs of characters. In the SC, the Chinese for the various years is 中二年, etc. In the HS, only the first year of the part of the reign is preceded by 中; in that year the word Yüan 元 is plainly intended to indicate the "first" year of that part of the reign. In the "Tables," the Chinese dates for the latter two parts of this reign are always written 中二年, 后五年, etc. Cf. 14: 17b, 19a; 15 A: 8a; 16: 7b, 8a, 9a, 14a, b; 17: 1b, 4a, 6a; 18: 7b. There is an exception: 16: 13b has 景後元元年, but Chu Yi-hsin (1846-1894) says that the Wang ed. (1546) is correct in reading only one Yüan, for the second Yüan is dittography. Wang Hsien-ch'ien, in a note to 5: 8b, also uses the single character to indicate this part of the reign, but Shen Ch'in-han, in a note to 5: 8a, uses two characters, making it the name of a year-period. Emperor Ching was merely imitating the practise of his father, Emperor Wen, in beginning anew the numbering of the years in his reign. Reign-periods were not introduced until 114 or 113 B.C., in the reign of Emperor Wu. Cf. p. 260, n. 1; ch. 6, App. I.

44. The words for "grandson and son" seem to be a mistake on the part of Pan Ku in which he follows the text of SC ch. 11. HS 16: 45a tells that the Marquis of Kaoching, Chou Ch'eng, was enfeoffed because of his father, Chou Ho, and that in 159 B.C. his marquisate was abolished, but that in 149 B.C. (the present year) Chou Ch'eng's grandson, Chou Ying, was enfeoffed as Marquis of Sheng. SC 18: 45a (Mh III, 130, no. 25) says the same. Then Chou Ying was Chou Ho's great-grandson.HS 16: 15b, 16a tells that Marquis Tao of Fen-yin, Chou Ch'ang, transmitted his marquisate to his son and grandson. The latter was punished and the marquisate abolished, but in "the second year of the middle [part of the reign] of [Emperor] Hsiao-ching, [Ch'ien Ta-chao remarks that it should be the "first year"], [Chou] Tso-ch'ê succeeded to enfeoffment because he was a grandson of [Chou] Ch'ang" and became Marquis of An-yang. SC 18: 12a says the same. HS 42: 4a also says that Chou Tso-ch'ê was Chou Ch'ang's grandson.Then these two new marquises were the great-grandson and grandson of these Grandee Secretaries. SC ch. 11 (Mh II, 502) says, "[The Emperor] appointed [Chou] P'ing [who was the son of Chou Ying, according to SC 18: 45a and HS 16: 45a], the grandson of the former Grandee Secretary Chou Ho, as Marquis of Sheng and [Chou] Tso-chün [chün 軍 instead of the ch'ê 車 in HS 16: 15b], the son of the former Grandee Secretary Chou Ch'ang, as Marquis of An-yang." The HS seems here to have clearly been abstracting from the corresponding passage in the SC.

45. Ying Shao writes, "When the Emperor entertains the vassal kings or treats kings and nobles as his guests, they are all under the charge of the Grand Herald. Hence, when they die, he memorializes their deeds and grants them posthumous names, together with funeral eulogies." Ch'ien Ta-hsin adds, "The posthumous name and eulogy are used for the dead; charters are used by those who are newly enfeoffed and go to their states."Fu Tsan (fl. ca. 285) says, "Emperor Ching in this year had already established a Grand Herald, yet HS 19 [A: 13b] says, `In 104 B.C. Emperor Wu changed [the title of the Chief Grand Messenger] to be the Grand Herald,' which is, according to this passage, incorrect." The use of the title, Grand Herald, here may however be an anachronism. Yen Shih-ku says, "The Grand Herald was originally named the Director of Guests; later [his title] was changed to be Grand Herald. The Chief Grand Messenger was originally named the Messenger, which was a subordinate office to the Director of Guests. [His title] was later changed to be Chief Grand Messenger. Hence, in honorable and important matters, [the Emperor] sent the Grand Herald, and in less honorable or important ones, [the Emperor] sent the Grand Messenger. According to the text of this `Annals,' Emperor Ching had already changed [the title of] the Director of Guests to be Grand Herald, and changed the Messenger to be the Grand Messenger. Yet HS 19 [A: 13b] says, `In 144 B.C. Emperor Ching changed the title [of the Director of Guests] to be Chief Grand Messenger. In 104 B.C. Emperor Wu changed the title [of the Chief Grand Messenger] to be Grand Herald . . . and changed the title of the Messenger to be the Chief Grand Messenger.' According to the text [of ch. 5], ch. 19 is mistaken."According to HS 53: 2b, when King Hsien of Ho-chien, Liu Tê, died in 130 B.C., the Chief Grand Messenger memorialized his posthumous name. The passage regarding posthumous names, etc., is not in SC ch. 11; Pan Ku probably found the law regarding the memorializing of posthumous names, eulogies, and charters in the form it assumed after the titles of the participating officials had been changed, and inserted it in the "Annals" at the time when it was originally enacted, so that the titles of the officials are merely anachronisms. The title in this passage, Imperial Household Grandee, is also an anachronism, for according to HS 19 A: 9a that title was not established until 104 B.C.Ying Shao misunderstood the meaning of ts'ê 策 in this passage. Here it is the term for the charter given an official upon his appointment. Ch'ien Ta-hsin (1720-1804) corrects him, saying, "When marquises are first enfeoffed and go to their states, the Grand Herald has charge of memorializing their charter. Ying [Shao] considered that the ts'ê was a `funeral eulogy,' which is a mistake." Such charters are to be found in HS 99 A: 6b, 21a, etc. Another is translated in Appendix I.

46. Wang Hsien-ch'ien's text writes 大; the Official ed. (1739) writes 太, so does HS 19 A: 8b, 9a.

47. The text at this point has the word 薨, which is superfluous and interrupts the meaning. It seems to have crept in through dittography from the preceding three instances of that word. It is not in Han-chi 9: 3a. Following Wang Nien-sun, we have omitted it.

48. SC ch. 11 (Mh II, 503) adds at this point, "Thereafter there ceased to be peace and friendship [between the Chinese and the Huns]."

49. This is one of the classic texts dealing with these two punishments. Ying Shao says, "Before this time those who were punished with death were all chê in the marketplace 磔於市. Now it was changed and called public execution 棄市. From [this time], except for monstrous [crimes] and rebellion, they did not again chê anyone." Chavannes Mh I, cxi, n. 2), Couvreur, (Dict. Classique) and the Tz'u-Yüan say that chê means "to quarter" (the latter writes 分裂肢體). In support of this interpretation is the use of the word chê in the Book of Rites for the cutting up of victims offered in some sacrifices (cf. Couvreur, Li-Ki, I, 352, 406). The existence of a punishment which consisted in quartering 分裂 is established by the use of those words in HS 100 A: 9a.But Yen Shih-ku writes, "Chê means exposing his corpse 磔謂張其尸也; public execution is to kill him in the market-place 棄市殺之於市也. It means that when someone is to be publicly executed, there is employed [the principle stated in the Li-ki III, ii, 11 (Legge I, 215; Couvreur I, 274)], `A person should be executed in the market-place, [thus] being done away with (hsi) with the participation of the crowd.' " The K'ang-hsi Dictionary gives both meanings for chê: "張也開也裂也." Perhaps Yen Shih-ku was attempting to make an ancient practise appear more humane than it really was.

50. Wen Ying (fl. ca. 196-220) says, "The Chancellor of Ch'u, Chang Shang, the Grand Tutor [of Ch'u], Chao Yi-wu, the Chancellor of Chao, Chien-tê, and the Prefect of the Capital [at Chao], Wang Han---these were the four persons. Each had admonished his king not to bring about a revolt, [but their kings] would not heed and killed all of them. Hence their sons were appointed." HS 17: 3a, b, 4a and SC 19: 21b, 22a, b (from which the above information was taken) note these four persons as all appointed in the fourth month, on the day yi-szu, May 26, 148 B.C. SC ch. 11 (Mh II, 503) dates these appointments "in the summer," putting the words for "in the ninth month" after this notice.

51. There is some mistake in the text. At present it reads, "The Empress Dowager died." But the Empress Dowager née Tou did not die until 135 B.C. This notice of a death is not in the SC or the Han-chi. Fu Tsan (fl. ca. 285) quotes Wang Mou (fl. before 265) as saying, "The Empress [née] Po of Emperor Ching died in this year; I suspect that it was she. It should say the `dismissed Empress,' " i.e., read 廢 instead of 太. Wang Mou may be taking as his authority HS 97 A: 8b, which says that this Empress died the fourth year after she was dismissed. The latter date was 151 B.C. (5: 5a); then she died in 147 B.C. We have followed Wang Mou's emendation in the translation.There are however very serious objections. Yen Shih-ku points out that the death of a dismissed empress is not recorded and that the particular word here used for "died" would never be used of a dismissed Empress. Cf. p. 260, n. 3. Ch'ien Ta-chao concludes that the whole sentence is an interpolation.

52. HS 27 Ba: 24a calls it a "great drought" and dates it in the autumn.

53. These locusts are also mentioned in HS 27 Bb: 20a.

54. This is no. 24 in Williams, >Observations of Comets.

55. HS 14: 18b dates this appointment in the third month, on the day ting-yu, May 13, 147 B.C.

56. This was to be Emperor Ching's funerary temple. Ch'ien Ta-chao notes that the Fukien ed. (1549) mistakenly has interchanged the words in this temple's name.

57. This height is about 52 in. Eng. meas. Fu Ch'ien explains, "When horses are in their tenth year, the surfaces of their teeth become smooth." The SC (Mh III, 544) says that in the time of Emperor Ching, additional horse pastures were established in order to increase the public resources.

58. Ju Shun explains that castration was called 腐, i.e., rottenness, because it was being like a rotten tree, which could not bring forth any fruit. HS 97 A: 21b tells that when Hsü Kuang-han had committed a capital crime, an edict of Emperor Wu invited him to enter the silkworm room of the palace, (i.e., to be castrated instead of executed). In the San-kuo Chih (by Ch'en Shou, 233-297) Chung Yu (a Grand Tutor and a famous calligraphist) says to Emperor Ming (58-75), "It is proper that, like the ordinance of [Emperor] Hsiao-ching, whoever should be publicly executed and wishes [instead] to cut off his right toes should be permitted to do so." Chou Shou-ch'ang remarks that castration accordingly does not seem to have been the only way of commuting the death penalty.

59. HS 14: 19a dates this appointment in the third month, on the day ting-szu, an impossible month and day, according to Hoang, Concordance.

60. HS 27 A: 11a blames this fire on the dismissal and suicide of the first heir-apparent, Liu Jung, and the dismissal of Chou Ya-fu. Cf. Glossary, sub vocibus.

61. The purpose of this change, as of that abolishing Grandee Secretaries in kingly courts, was to exalt the imperial court and to distinguish imperial from kingly titles.

62. Chou Shou-ch'ang says, "The T'ung-tien, ch. 4 on Punishments, "Miscellaneous Discussions," pt. A, says, `The Chief Justice sent to the Emperor a prisoner, Fang Nien. His step-mother, [Fang] Ch'en, had murdered Fang Nien's father. Fang Nien therefore killed [Fang] Ch'en. According to the Code, a matricide should be sentenced as having committed treason. The Emperor doubted [the justice of such a sentence]." `The [future] Emperor Wu was at this time in his twelfth year and was Heir-apparent. He was by [the Emperor's] side. The Emperor thereupon asked him [about the case]. The Heir-apparent replied, saying, "Now a step-mother is like a mother, [but] it is plain that she is not equal to a mother. Because of his father, she is similar to a mother. Now this step-mother acted wrongly. With her own hand she murdered his father; then from the day that she put forth her hand [against his father], his indebtedness to her as a mother was already ended. He should be sentenced as a person who has killed another, and should not be sentenced as one who has committed treason." [The Emperor] followed his [judgment].' From this [account we see that] this affair happened in precisely the year [of the edict in the text]."

63. SC 11: 5a (Mh II, 505) says that this visit was in the second month, on the day chi-mao, Apr. 9, 144 B.C.

64. For details, cf. Mh II, 506; HS ch. 19 passim.

65. Ying Shao writes, "Emperor Wen, in his fifth year (175 B.C., cf. 4: 12b), allowed people to coin [cash], a law that had not yet been abrogated. At earlier times there had been made much [alchemistic] counterfeit gold. [But] counterfeit gold cannot really be made, and vainly [causes] loss and expense, so that it turns to mutual boasting about one's brilliancy. When [these alchemists become] poor, then they rise up and become brigands and robbers, hence [the Emperor] established this law." Meng K'ang (ca. 180-260) quites a popular "saying, `If gold could be made, the world could be measured.' " This edict of 144 B.C., together with these comments of the second and third century of our era establish the existence of alchemy in China at this early date.Cash had been largely coined in the kingdom of Wu, under its King, Liu P'i. Now that he had rebelled and had been executed, private coinage was forbidden.

66. HS 27 Bb: 13a says that this snow prognosticated a Hun raid and the death of Chou Ya-fu.

67. Ch'ien Ta-chao says that the omission of the King's personal name must probably have been due to a copyist's error.

68. Chang Yen (prob. iii cent.) comments, "The position of six hundred piculs was that of Grandees." This may be the only place where 長吏 is used in the sense of "important officials." Elsewhere it is the title of certain subordinate officials.

69. Ying Shao explains, "They are the ears of a carriage which open out. They are the means whereby one protects (fan) and covers himself against dust and mud. [Officials ranking at] two thousand piculs make the pair of them vermillion; those of lower rank do it for the left side only. They are made of bamboo matting, or leather is used." Ju Shun says, "Fan 轓 is pronounced as 反; they are the two screens of a small carriage." Yen Shih-ku adds, "According to the explanation of Hsü Shen [fl. 100] and Li Teng [fl. dur. 220-265], fan is the covering of a carriage. . . . They were screens to cover the carriage. To say that they `are the ears of a carriage which open out' is mistaken."Wang Hsien-ch'ien notes that the Supplement to the Official ed. (1739) says, "吏 is erroneously written 史. Following Sung [Ch'i's] ed. [ca. xii cent.], it is emended."HHS, Tr. 29: 10b (by Szu-ma Piao, ca. 240-304) says, "In 145 B.C. there first was an edict granting permission to [officials ranked at] six hundred piculs and above to use bronze for the five ends of their carriage screens and on their yokes to have chi-yang pipes."

70. "Three Adjuncts" (q.v. in Glossary) is probably anachronistic here; this title was not used until 104 B.C. According to HS 19 A: 20b, until 155 B.C. there was only a Prefect of the Capital; in that year Western and Eastern Prefects of the Capital were appointed. Ch'üan Tsu-wang (1705-1755) thinks that perhaps the Western and Eastern Prefects of the Capital, together with the Military Commander at the Capital, governed the capital city, and had covertly divided it into the "Three Adjuncts" (which title denotes also the three districts governed by those three officials). Wang Hsien-ch'ien suggests, "The use of the title, `Three Adjuncts,' is perhaps an anachronistic change by a historian. In this book this sort of thing is quite frequent."

71. Ju Shun comments, "The comment in the Han-[chiu]-yi [written by Wei Hung, fl. dur. 25-57, says], `The various pastures [under the care of] the herdsmen of the Chief of the Stud [number] thirty-six. They are divided and spread over the northern and western borders. Gentlemen are used as Superintendants of the Pastures; thirty thousand male and female slaves care for three hundred thousand horses.' " Yen Shih-ku adds, "Places for rearing birds and beasts are comprehensively named pastures . Hence it says that a place for herding horses is a pasture."

72. Buying and selling wine had been forbidden since 147 B.C. Cf. 5: 6b.

73. Wang Hsien-shen (1859-1922) argues that this date is mistaken and that Chou Ya-fu died in 147 B.C., which is the date given in the SC (Mh II, 504). According to HS 19 B: 12a, he was dismissed from his position as Lieutenant Chancellor in 147 B.C., and 40: 28a tells that soon afterwards he was insulted by the Emperor. When his son had purchased arms for use in his funeral, Chou Ya-fu was arrested and committed suicide by starvation. HS 16: 13a notes that he was made a marquis in 162 B.C., (Chu Yi-hsin says that the Wang ed. (1546) is correct in reading 161 B.C.) and was dismissed from his title of marquis in the eighteenth year after, which would be 145, 144 or 143 B.C. HS 40: 28b moreover says that the same year that he died, Emperor Ching enfeoffed his son as Marquis of P'ing-ch'ü; HS 16: 13b dates that appointment in 143 B.C., so that the date of his death in 5: 8b is corroborated.

74. In 179 B.C. (cf. 4: 8b), Emperor Wen ordered the marquises to go to their states, which order is now dispensed with. Chavannes (Mh II, 508) translates quite differently, "on examine si les seigneurs avaient été envoyés dans leurs états." The nobles had however evaded Emperor Wen's order that they should go to their estates (cf. p. 246). Emperors regularily enfeoffed the relatives of their mothers and favorite concubines; we do not hear of any such nobles thereupon disappearing from the capital; on the contrary they continued to figure in intrigues even when they did not hold office. According to 8: 9a, in 67 B.C. the Emperor "granted to each of the eighty-seven marquises who were at their estates twenty catties of actual gold." But, according to the "Tables," there were at that time more than two hundred marquises, so that the vast majority of the marquises were in the capital. Marquises were moreover sometimes sent to their estates as a punishment, cf. HS 45: 18a, also Glossary, sub Marquis.The original term for marquis 徹侯, which is here used in the text, was tabooed because the word ch'ê was the personal name of Emperor Wu. Chou Shou-ch'ang says that this reading is a copyist's chance error.

75. Wang Hsien-ch'ien points out that "the spring" has been previously mentioned and that this word is here an interpolation. The SC dates the invasion of the Huns in the third month and the prohibition of feeding grain in the first month.

76. SC 11: 6a reads 内史郡, in which phrase the HS omits the middle word. Yen Shih-ku says that what were confiscated were the horses.

77. Ying Shao writes, "Tsuan 纂 are the present laces of many colors. Silk stuff of variegated colors (tsui 綷) is this [material]. Tsu 組 is the present seal-ribbon. Intermixed silk cords 紛條 is this [material]." But Fu Tsan (fl. ca. 285) writes, "Hsü Shen [who wrote the Shuo-wen, ca. 100] says, "Tsuan is vermillion tsu,' " and Yen Shih-ku writes "[Fu] Tsan's explanation is correct. Tsui is hui [many-colored embroidery] and hui is many [colored] ts'ai 綵 [many-colored flowered silk]. At present it is called ts'o-ts'ai 錯綵 [woven multicolored stuff]. It is not tsuan."Women's work was especially raising silk-worms, weaving, and sewing. Raising food is men's work; making cloth and clothes is women's work.

78. The foregoing sentence is found in a conversation about punishments between Marquis Wen of Wei(h) and Li K'o or Li K'uei (cf. Duyvendak, Book of Lord Shang, p. 43, n. 2), in the Shuo-Yüan (written by Liu Hsiang, 77-6 B.C.), ch. "Fan-chih."

79. The taxes paid to the emperor by commanderies and nobles.

80. Yü Yüeh (1821-1906), in his Hu-lou Pi-t'an 4:4, suggests that one wei and one li are due to dittography. A parallel passage is found in HS 6: 17a.Li Ch'i (fl. 220-265) writes, "Mou 牟 is an insect that eats the roots of cereals. 侵牟 is to eat up the people like this mou."Yen Shih-ku explains yü by lieh 獵 (hunting), but Chou Shou-ch'ang replies, "To invade and take by force without choosing [any particular things] is called yü. Yü and lieh are two [different] things."

81. Ch'ien Ta-chao notes that the Fukien ed. (1549) mistakenly reads 異 for 謂.

82. Fu Ch'ien (ca. 125-195) comments, "Those whose tzu 訾 (capital or property) is ten thousand cash [pay] as a poll-tax (suan 算 [cf. p. 184, n.1]) 127 [cash]." Ying Shao explains, "Anciently [people] hated that officials should be covetous. `If their clothes and food are enough, they know [how to distinguish between] honor and disgrace.' [A quotation from Kuan-tzu]. So [official position] was restricted [to those whose] capital (tzu) [was sufficient so that they paid at least] ten [times] the poll-tax (suan) and then only were people permitted to become officials. [Those who paid] ten [times] the poll-tax [possessed] a hundred thousand [cash]. Merchants who had wealth were not permitted to become officials; incorrupt gentlemen who had no capital were also not allowed to become palace officials (huan). Hence [the Emperor] reduced [the required] capital to [enough to require the payment of only] four [times] the poll-tax [as the amount required before they] were permitted to become palace officials (huan)."Ho Ch'uo (1661-1722) adds "What Tung Chung-shu said [in the HS] `To select Gentlemen and officials according to their wealth and capital (tzu)' points to this tzu and suan. [HS 57 A: 1a says that] Szu-ma Hsiang-ju, `by his capital (tzu) and poll-taxes (suan) became a Gentleman.' " The Han dynasty had a tax upon property or capital; each ten-thousand cash of property paid one poll-tax (which tax was different in amount at different times; cf. Glossary sub Poll-tax). Poor people were kept out of office in order to avoid securing high officials who sought profit in holding office.Yao Nai (1732-1815) however says, "When this [passage] says palace officials (huan 宦), it means Gentlemen. [But cf. below]. At the beginning of the Han [period], Gentlemen had to furnish ornamented robes and horses before they were permitted to wait upon the emperor, hence [they were appointed] according to their capital (tzu) and poll-taxes (suan). The saying of Chang Shih-chih [HS 50: 1a], `Being a palace official (huan) for a long time reduced my [older brother] Chung's possessions' and that General Wei Ch'ing ordered that the members of his suite should all furnish their saddles, horses, deep red garments, jade, utensils, and swords is about this [matter]."In Han [times], when a person [wanted to] enter official life, in general there were three ways: [1] as a Gentleman or [Palace] Attendant, [2] by holding office in a province or commandery or in the yamen of a minister, or [3] by an imperial summons. Gentlemen were attendants upon the emperor. Without capital, they were not allowed to become attendants upon the emperor, but naturally they could hold office in the commanderies or prefectures or in the yamens of the ministers. At the time of Emperor Wu, schools were established and the filial and incorrupt were recommended; after that, Gentlemen did not need capital [on which to pay] poll-taxes in order to be promoted; yet they contributed sheep and contributed grain in order to be given a vacancy among the Gentlemen, which was a very much greater [payment] than the former [requirement] of capital [on which to pay] poll-taxes. All this did not exist before the time of Emperor Ching. When Ying [Shao] says, `[Official position] was restricted to those whose capital [was sufficient so that they paid at least] ten [times] the poll-tax, and then only were they permitted to become officials,' he did not comprehend that this regulation did not apply to all officials."Wang Hsien-ch'ien says that the Official ed. (1739) and the Academy ed. (1124) read kuan 官 (offices) instead of huan (palace officials) both in the text and in Ying Shao's comment, at the places indicated by (9.9) or by (huan). If this emendation is accepted (and the first part of Ying Shao's comment uses the word li 吏 for "officials," so that he may not have had huan in his text), Yao Nai's restriction that only palace officials were required to have property falls to the ground.This emendation is however making a difficult reading easy and hence is operating on a wrong principle. Dr. J. J. L. Duyvendak remarks that it is not likely that an original kuan should have been changed to huan and that such a change does not make a proper sentence, inasmuch as in the HSkuan is used to mean "office" rather than "official." For "official," the word li would have been used.Emperor Ching seems to have been thinking that entrance into the government bureaucracy is normally through first becoming a Gentleman in the imperial palace, where the Emperor could get to know him, and from which position persons were promoted to governmental offices. He deplored that only very wealthy persons could thus enter the government service, hence he lowered the amount of property required for service in the palace. At a later time Commandery Administrators and other high officials recommended persons as filial and incorrupt, etc., whereupon such persons were sent to the quarters of the Major in Charge of Public Carriages or to the Yellow Gate in the imperial palace, where they became Expectant Appointees and were given a small allowance. Later such persons were given positions in the bureaucracy, seemingly without being made Gentlemen. Hence Yao Nai is correct in pointing out that not all officials first became Gentlemen, at least in the time of Ying Shao. Whether that was the case before the time of Emperor Ching is difficult to determine.

83. Cf. p. 182, n. 2.

84. Fu Tsan (fl. ca. 285) writes, "The Emperor was in his thirty-second year when he came to the throne; he reigned to his sixteenth year; he lived to his forty-eighth year." Then he was born in 188 B.C.

85. Wang Ming-sheng (1722-1798) remarks, "When Emperor Wen died, he sent home [his concubines], from his Ladies down to his Junior Maids, [hence] when Emperor Ching died, he also freed the women of his harem. In [the time of Emperors] Wu and Chao there came to be the practise [that members of an emperor's harem] should uphold [his worship] at his tomb. When Emperor P'ing died, Wang Mang again freed [the Emperor's] concubines and sent them all home."

86. Analects, XV, xxiv, 2. Yen Shih-ku explains, "He means that the people of this time were the same as those governed by the Hsia, Yin, and Chou [dynasties], when, because of the government's cultural influence, purity, and unity, [the people] could follow a straight path in their actions. He regrets that at this time [the situation] was different."

87. The Ch'in dynasty enacted many and severe laws, which applied to everyone, high and low. These were the "fine net" and "severe enactments." The Lord of Shang, who established the severe laws of Ch'in, is said to have even had the nose of the Grand Tutor of the Heir-apparent, Prince Ch'ien, sliced off in punishment. Cf. J. J. L. Duyvendak, The Book of Lord Shang, p. 19.

88. Wang Hsien-shen (1859-1922) says that the words 至於 are an interpolation; the T'ai-p'ing Yü-lan (978-983) ch. 88, quotes this passage without these two words.

89. On the meaning of this phrase, cf. 10: n. 6.7.