Notes

1. Ch'en Ching-Yün (1670-1747) would emend "third" to "second" because HS 97 B: 21b reports that Emperor P'ing was born in 9 B.C. and was in his second year when his father died, and because HS 12: 1b says he was in his ninth year when he came to the throne. But HS 14: 23b records that his father first became King in 37 B.C. and reigned altogether to the thirtieth year; hence his father died in 8 B.C. Emperor P'ing succeeded his father in 7 B.C. (14: 23b) and became Emperor in 1 B.C., which was the ninth year of his life. So there is no reason to emend the text; Ch'en Ching-Yün seems not to have understood that in Han times ages were counted by elapsed full years, not by elapsed calendar years as at present; so that a child born just before New Year's was not then considered after New Year's to be in his second (calendar) year, as at present. Cf. Glossary sub Hsiao-ai, Emperor.

2. Cf. 11: 8a.

3. The Sung Ch'i ed. (xi or xii cent.) notes that the T'ang text (before xi cent.) does not have the words 卽日. The dates of Tung Hsien's dismissal and death and of Wang Mang's appointment are found in 19 B: 51a.

4. The Sung Ch'i ed. (xi or xii cent.) notes that the T'ang text (before xi cent.) does not have the words 卽日. The dates of Tung Hsien's dismissal and death and of Wang Mang's appointment are found in 19 B: 51a.

5. The Sung Ch'i ed. (xi or xii cent.) notes that the T'ang text (before xi cent.) does not have the words 卽日. The dates of Tung Hsien's dismissal and death and of Wang Mang's appointment are found in 19 B: 51a.

6. Liu Pin (1022-1088) notes that this was the 64th day after Emperor Ai's death.

7. A quotation from Analects XIV, xliii, 2.

8. Ch'ien Ta-chao (1744-1813) says that the second 性 should be 往. The Official ed. (1739) has that emendation.

9. A saying of Confucius found in Analects XIII, ii, 1. Emperor Ai had previously issued an order to this same effect: cf. 11: 3b.

10. Very probably Wang Mang is thinking of Wang Chia(1a), who was done to death by Emperor Ai, because, after an amnesty, he had recommended some persons whom Emperor Ai had previously dismissed on suspicion of crime (cf. Introduction to ch. XI, pp. 5-6; Glossary sub Wang Chia(1a)). Ho Ch'uo (1661-1722) says, "By this [ordinance, Wang] Mang was ensnaring and attracting people who had been rejected, discarded, and despised, by giving them unhoped for extraordinary favors, in order that he might use them for his own purposes." In A.D. 210, (Cf. San-kuo Chih, 1: 28b), Ts'ao Ts'ao, in his famous "Order Requesting Worthy Persons to Come," similarily said, "If one must be an incorrupt person and then only be given position, how could [Duke] Huan of Ch'i have come in his epoch to be Lord Protector?" Ho Ch'uo, after quoting the above passage, remarks sarcastically, "Usurpers and rebels always seek for their own kind."

11. The head of the Yüeh-shang tribe is mentioned in the Bamboo Annals (Legge, Shoo-King, Prolegomena, p. 146). The T'ai-p'ing Yü-lan, 917: 8b quotes the Hsiao-ching Yüan-sheng Ch'i (prob. Former Han period), fragments B: 23a, as saying, "In the time of King Ch'eng of the Chou [dynasty], the Yüeh-shang presented a white pheasant. They are 30,000 li distant from the capital. When a true king is unsurpassed in his sacrifices and moderate in his repasts and robes, then [these people] appear [with a white pheasant]." Cf. Introduction, p. 51; Glossary sub Yüeh-shang.

12. The implications of this statement have been debated. Ju Shun (fl. dur. 198-265) says, "When the officials in the various offices are first given new positions, they are all tried as acting [occupants of their positions] for a year, and then made regular [occupants of their positions] with their full salary. When Emperor P'ing took the throne, he therefore granted to them to be regular [occupants of their positions]." Shen Ch'in-han (1775-1832) moreover points out that Ho Hsiu (129-182), in a note to the Kung-yang Commentary, 2: 5b sub Duke Yin, III, Autumn, says, "At that time, altho [a person] was a hereditary grandee, because he had the heart of a filial son, he could not endure at once to take his father's position, hence he followed the ancient [practises] and was first tried [in that position] for a year, and then was given a [regular] mandate [as his father's successor] in his ancestral Temple." Shen Ch'in-han concludes, "The practise of the Han [dynasty], follows from this principle that when [an official] was first given a new position, he was tried as an acting [occupant of that position], and [after] a year he was made the regular [occupant of that position]."But Yen Shih-ku (581-645) writes, "This explanation, [that of Ju Shun], is mistaken. At that time among the various offices there were those who were being tried as acting [occupants of those positions], consequently [the Emperor] specially granted an unusual act of favor and it was merely ordered that they should [be treated] the same as the regular [occupants of those positions]. It was not that all those officials who were given new positions must all be regarded as acting [occupants of those positions] on trial. Yi-ch'ieh 一切 [means] `temporarily,' not `regularly'." Yi-ch'ieh is also found in 76: 15a, 16a, where Ju Shun glosses that yi-ch'ieh means "temporarily 權時也." Wang Ch'i-Yüan (xix cent.) approves of Yen Shih-ku's interpretation that this was a temporary favor on this special occasion, and not a permanent enactment concerning future appointees.Liu Pin however says, "I say that altho the officials' salaries were nominally [a certain number of piculs per year], they all were not [paid] the full [amount of] that number [of piculs]. When Emperor P'ing ascended the throne, favors were extended, hence he granted and ordered that [officials should be paid] the full salary of their rank, for example, that [an official ranking at] two thousand piculs should get double ten hundred [piculs]. Yen [Shih-ku] in a note to HS 19 [A: 1a, concerning] the differences of officials' salaries, speaks of these [circumstances]. His note reads, `[According to] the Han Code, the three highest ministers were nominally [ranked at] ten thousand piculs, [but] the salary of each [one] was 350 hu of grain per month. Those who nominally [ranked at] fully 2000 piculs [received] 180 hu per month. [Those ranked at] 2000 piculs [received] 120 hu, and [those ranked at] equivalent to 2000 piculs [received] 100 hu,' etc. According to the comment in the HHS, [Tr. 28: 14b, from which Yen Shi-ku has taken the above figures], those [whose nominal salaries] were fixed at 1000 piculs or less received a certain proportion of their nominal salary in a year. [But this payment] was added to in the time of [Emperor] Kuang-wu [ruled A.D. 25-57], and was not an old practise of the Former Han [dynasty]."

13. HS 99 A: 19b notes this last appointment in Jan./Feb., A.D. 5. But HS 15 B: 38a, b, 40a-44a, 53a-55b lists 35 appointments on Apr. 10, A.D. 1, in addition to that of Liu Hsin(4) ibid., 50a), so that ch. 99 is mistaken. All were great-grandsons of Emperor Hsüan; 99 A" 19b states they were 曾孫, so that jen-sun 耳孫 must here mean "great-grandson." The genealogy of Liu Hsin(4) in 15 B: 50a confirms this statement. Cf. HFHD I, 176, n. 3.

14. On the phrase, "talons and teeth," cf. 99 A: n. 5.4.

15. Hu San-hsing (1280-1287) explains, "It means that those should have their registration restored who were related [so that in mourning] they uncovered an arm and wore the mourning head-dress or were more [closely related], who because of crime had been cut off the register [of the imperial house]." Cf. 11: n. 2.2.

16. The Yi Tomb was that of Emperor Ai, the buildings attached to which were probably still being erected, since Emperor Ai had not made preparations for his own demise. Private tombs previously at that locality were not to be disturbed, unless they interfered with the Hall at that Tomb.

17. The Official ed. has emended shê 舍 to min 民. It quotes the Sung Ch'i ed. as saying that the T'ang text (before xi cent.) does not have the word li 吏. The Ching-yu ed. (1034) has li-min; the Chi-ku Ko ed. (1642) has li-shê. Chou Shou-ch'ang (18141884) points out that various texts have li-min, and that Yen Shih-ku (581-645) does not explain li-shê, so that his text must also have had li-min.

18. Yen Shih-ku says, "According to the military law, five men make a pentad (group of five), and two groups of five make a decade, who therefore have their implements and articles in common. Hence [people] generally call productive implements shih-ch'i 什器 [i.e., implements belonging to a decade]. It was also like those who today are with the army or do forced service: ten persons constitute a `fire' and share their provisions and arrangements." This term is also found in 12: 6a.Chia Yi, in HS 48: 27a7,8, uses chih 置-ch'i with a similar meaning, "When people today lay up things (chih-ch'i), if they lay them up (chih) in a safe place, they are safe, [while] if they lay them up (chih) in dangerous places, they are in danger. The affections of the empire are in no way different from things (ch'i)---they are where the Son of Heaven places (chih) them."

19. For irregular (or unlawful) sacrifices cf. HS 25 A: 4a; Li-ki 5: 11a (Couvreur I. 100; Legge, I, 116). "Songs of Cheng" denotes licentious music; cf. Analects XV, x, 6.

20. For a similar incident, cf. 99 C: 8b.

21. For eclipses, cf. App. I.

22. The Sung Ch'i ed. says that fu(4) 傅 (Junior Tutor) is in some texts written as fu(3) 府 (Privy Treasurer). HS 19 B: 52a writes fu(3); 97 B: 22a writes fu(4). Chou Shou-ch'ang in a note to this passage, suggests that fu(4) should be amended to fu(3); Wang Hsien-ch'ien (1842-1918), in a note to 19 B: 52a, suggests that fu(3) should be emended to fu(4). HS 99 A: 6a records that Chen Feng was appointed Junior Tutor, one of the Four Coadjutors, so that fu(4) is certainly the correct reading.

23. The text says "four," but 97 B: 22a, in recounting these sisters, says there were three and enumerates their names and titles. HS 99 A: 16a, in recounting the events at this time, does not mention these Baronetesses. Hence "four" should be emended to "three" (Chou Shou-ch'ang). Han-chi 30: 2a follows this passage in writing "four"; Tzu-chih T'ung-chien 35: 17b has emended it to "three."

24. Ch'ien Ta-chao remarks that Hsüan-ni as a name for Confucius originated in this enactment.

25. Wang Hsien-ch'ien says that the meaning requires the insertion of 出 before the word 顧. Tzu-chih T'ung-chien 35: 18a has this word.On the term `mountain hire,' Ju Shun says, "In the first section of the [dynastic] ordinances [it was ordained] that women who had committed crimes should work as convicts and to the sixth month should be employed [to work on] the mountains. That [the Emperor] had them `return home' means that they ought to have been cutting trees on the mountains, [but] he permitted them to send [a substitute] and pay cash in hire for the value of their work. Hence it is called `mountain hire." ' Ying Shao (ca. 140206) says, "The ancient punishment of `spiritual firewood' [cf. HFHD, I, p. 177, n. 1] was taking firewood from the mountains for the use of the [imperial] ancestral temples. Now [the ruler] caused female convicts to pay cash to hire [people to cut] firewood, hence it is called `mountain hire'." Yen Shih-ku adds, "Ju [Shun's] explanation comes near [the truth]. It means that the female convicts whose sentences for crime have already been imposed shall all be set free, return to their homes, and not themselves do forced labor; instead he ordered that they should pay three hundred cash per month to hire people. He performed this [act of] grace in order to spread the virtue of the Grand Empress Dowager [nee Wang] and accord her beneficent government to women." Shen Ch'in-han adds, "Since in HS 66: [8b] rich Gentlemen who pay money [to gain holidays] are called `mountain Gentlemen', [the name for] female convicts who pay money are likewise called `mountain hire'. The meaning is similar [to that of the other name]." Cf. Glossary, sub Yang Yün.

26. Yen Shih-ku explains that they were put in charge of the taxes upon sea [products] and upon fruits, respectively.

27. Hu San-hsing explains, "Emperor Wu had Sang Hung-yang establish several tens of Divisional Assistants to the Grand Minister of Agriculture, who separately had for their districts [certain] commanderies and kingdoms, and had control of the Equalization and Transportation and the Salt and Iron [government monopolies]. Now thirteen persons were employed to have charge of the thirteen provinces, [respectively], as their districts."

28. Yen Shih-ku explains, "The rhinoceros has the shape of a water buffalo and a head like a pig, with four legs; it is like an elephant in its black color. It has one horn in front of its forehead, and on its nose has another small horn." For a translation of the passage in the HS describing trading voyages into the Indian Ocean and the location of this place, cf. Glossary sub Huang-chih. Also cf. C. W. Bishop, "Rhinoceros and Wild Ox in Ancient China," China Journal XVII, no. 6 (June 1933), p. 330. Wang Mang had sent a messanger with an order to the king of Huang-chih that he should present a live rhinoceros. Cf. HS 28 Bii: 68a, b; Tzu-chih T'ung-chien 35: 18b.

29. Emperor P'ing's first personal name, Chi-tzu 箕子, means `dustpan'; it is found in 14: 23b. His name was changed to K'an 衎, `rejoice,' in conformity with the precedent set by Emperor Hsüan (cf. 8: 13b). This rare word would not be troublesome as a taboo. Hsün Yüeh (148-209), in a note to 12: 1a and Meng K'ang (ca. 180-260), here furnish the latter name.

30. HS 14: 14b and 53: 7a both record that Liu Kung was the son of the Marquis of Hsü-yi; hence 子 should be in the text at this point.The text names this kingdom as Kuang-ch'uan 川, 14: 14b names it Kuang-shih 世, and 53: 7a names it Kuang-ling 陵. HS 14: 20b lists other kings of Kuang-ling down to the time of Wang Mang's usurpation, so that Kuang-ling is certainly a mistake. Kuang-ch'uan was the name of a kingdom whose name had been changed to Hsin-tua (q.v. in Glossary) and made a kingdom, the king of which at this time was Liu Ching(3b). Ch'ien Ta-hsin (1728-1804) remarks that a piece of Liu Ching(3b)'s territory would hardly have been taken a way from him to make a new kingdom of Kuang-ch'uan, as must have been done if that name had been used. Shen Ch'in-han notes that ch'uan and shih might easily have been mistaken for each other, and says that several thousand households might have been taken from Hsin-tua to make the kingdom of Kuang-ch'uan. Han-chi 30: 2b has copied the reading Kuang-ch'uan; so has Tzu-chih T'ung-chien 35: 19a. But the Comment to the Shui-ching 23: 3b, sub the Ying-kou River, says, "The Kuo River also goes east and passes north of the city of Kuang-hsiang 廣鄉. Ch'üan Ch'eng [fl. dur. 135-220] glosses, `In Hsiang-yi 襄邑 there is the Shê-ch'iu 蛇丘 Commune, which is the former Kuang-hsiang. It was changed to be Kuang-shih. Emperor Shun of the Later Han [dynasty] in 135 A.D. enfeoffed the Palace Attendant Chih T'ien [not mentioned in the HHS] as the marquis [of this place]. His marquisate was Kuang-hsiang.' " Then the reading in ch. 14, Kuang-shih, is probably correct, and the text should be emended accordingly. The error was probably caused by attraction to the following Kuang-ch'uan.

31. Han-chi 30: 2b reads "130 persons"; Tzu-chih T'ung-chien 35: 19a says "117 persons," including the full marquises.

32. HS 27: Bb: 20b says, "In Yüan-shih II, in the autumn, locusts were everywhere in the empire."

33. Wang Hsien-ch'ien says that 姓 is omitted after 百; the Official ed. has this word. For the Coadjutors, cf. Glossary. For a parallel account, cf. 99 A: 7b.

34. HS 27 Cb: 25a says, `In Yüan-shih II, vi, (July), two meteorites fell in the Chü-lu [Commandery]."

35. Yen Shih-Ku explains, "They went to their native counties and towns and performed [the payment of] the land taxes and conscript service." Ho Chuo adds, "Shou-shih 收事 is like when at present they are enrolled in the militia of the hamlets as runners."

36. A phrase from Yi-li 4: 1a (Steele I, 18) and Li-ki XLI, 1 (Legge, II, 428; Couvreur, II, 641). Cf. 99 A: n. 9.4.

37. Fu Ch'ien (ca. 125-195) explains, "Yao 軺 (a small chariot) . . . is a small chariot in which one rides standing up. Ping-ma, 併馬 [means] yoked with two horses attached to the same yoke." Cf. also HFHD I, 107, n. 3 for the "small chariot." Yen Shih-ku remarks, "These regulations were [now] newly fixed."The Yi-li (Steele, III, 8a) and Li-chi, ch. 40 (Legge, II, 429; Couvreur II, 624) direct that the groom shall to the bride's house to fetch her; the Yi-liibid., 4: 6b) specifies a quadriga 乘; neither of these classics seem to mention the "small chariot." HS 27 Bb: 7a says, "In Yüan-shih III, i [Feb./Mar.], Heaven rained plants of a sort like that in the period Yung-kuang [42 B.C.]." Cf. 9: n. 9.2. Cf. W. Eberhard, Beiträge zur Kosmologischen Spekulation", p. 27.

38. An allusion to Mencius IV, ii, xiii (Legge, p. 322).I do not find anywhere an explanation of these sumptuary regulations regarding slaves, fields, etc. It may have been a reenactment of Emperor Ai's law; cf. 11: 3a.

39. About 205 B.C., Emperor Kao "ordered the prefectures to make public altars to the gods of the soils 公社" (HS 25 A: 18a). HS 25 B: 22a, b says, "[Wang] Mang said, . . . `When the sage Han [dynasty] arose, rites and ceremonies were somewhat fixed, so that there are already official altars to the gods of the soils, [but] there are not yet any official altars to the gods of the grains.' Thereupon behind the official altars to the gods of the soils there were established official altars to the gods of the grains. Yü of the Hsia [dynasty] was made the coadjutor to receive the offerings together with the official gods of the soils; Prince Millet was made the coadjutor to receive the offerings with the official gods of the grains. [At the] altars to the gods of the grains there were planted paper mulberry trees." (Reference from Ju Shun.)Fu Tsan (fl. ca. 285) explains that passage as follows, "Emperor Kao did away with the Ch'in [dynasty's] altars to the gods of the soils and grains and established the Han [dynasty's] altars to the gods of the soils and grains [cf. HS 1 A: 30b], which the Book of Rites [IX, i, 20 (Legge, I, 425; Couvreur, I, 586)] calls the Grand Altar to the Gods of the Soils (T'ai-shê). At this time there was also established the official altar to the gods of the soils, Yü of the Hsia [dynasty] being made their coadjutor, which is called [in the Book of Rites XX, 6 (Legge, II, 206; Couvreur, II, 265)] the royal altar to the gods of the soils (Wang-shê). Cf. the Han [Dynasty's] Ordinances for Sacrifices [lost]. But official altars to the gods of the grains had not yet been established. At this [time] they were first established. At the Restoration [of the Han dynasty, Emperor] Kuang-wu did not establish official altars to the gods of the grains, which [situation] has been inherited down to the present [time]."There seem thus to have been two sets of altars to the gods of the soils and grains: the Grand Altar, i.e. the altar of the dynasty, and the Royal Altar, i.e. the state altar. Emperor Kao had established a dynastic altar to the gods of the soils and grains and a state altar to the gods of the soils; Wang Mang now added a state altar to the grains, which Emperor Kuang-wu did not reestablish.Yen Shih-ku interprets the passage in ch. 12 to mean that the official altars to the gods of the grains had previously been established at the rear of the altars to the gods of the soils, and that now these altars were changed and set up at another place, not near the altars to the gods of the soils.

40. Li-shih, 5: 3a-4b (by Hung Kua, 1117-1184), quotes a stele to the Chief of the P'iao-yang county, P'an Ch'ien, found in 1143 and dated Dec. 14, 181, in which P'an Ch'ien is praised for having opened a school at this place. In the title of this inscription, the school is called a hsiao-kuan 校官. Shen Ch'in-han says that this inscription proves that county schools were called hsiao.

41. These four names for schools were taken from Mencius III, i, iii, 10 (Legge, p. 242). Wen Tang Weng first established schools in Shu Commandery about 140 B.C. and was so successful in thus developing that region that Emperor Wu shortly afterwards ordered the commanderies and kingdoms to establish seminaries and academies. In 41 B.C., Emperor Yüan ordered the commanderies and kingdoms to establish Retainers for the Classics; cf. 9: n. 9.6.Wei Chao (197-273/4) says, "[Places] smaller than districts (hsiang 鄉) are called chü 聚 (villages)." HS 24 A: 4b states that in hamlets 里 there were palestrae and in districts there were lycea ibid. 4a defines a hamlet as 25 families and a district as 2500 households.

42. For the incident concerning Wang Yü, cf. 99 A: 16a, b; Introduction, pp. 47-48.T'ai-p'ing Yü-lan (978-983) 717: 4b quotes the Ku-chin Chu (ca. 300; this passage is not found in that book today) as saying, "In Yüan-shih III, at the funerary park west of the Yen Tomb, [that of Emperor Ch'eng], the great mirrors in front of the door to the imperial throne inside the funerary chamber of the divinity all [had on them drops of] clear liquid, as if they had the appearance of having perspired."

43. Cf. HS 25 B: 20a-21a and 99 A: 17a. Wang Mang was imitating the examples of the ancients as recounted in the Classic of Filial Piety, 5: 1b (Legge, ch. IX, p. 477), "Anciently the Duke of Chou made the suburban sacrifice (chiao) to Prince Millet, making him the coadjutor of Heaven, and made the sacrifice to the exemplar (tsung) to King Wen in the Ming-t'ang, making him the coadjutor of the Lord(s) on High."

44. Yen Shih-ku says, "[Persons aged] eighty are called mao 毦. Those in their seventh year are called tao 悼. Mao is an appellation for the aged, referring to their dim sight; the tao are those persons who have not yet become men, and for whose death it is proper to sorrow and feel saddened (tao)." For the classical definition, cf. Li-ki I, i, i, 27 (Couvreur I, 9; Legge, I, 66).

45. Li-ki I, i, i, 27 (Couvreur, I, 9; Legge, I, 66) contains the provision that persons in their seventh year and under or in their eightieth year and over were not to undergo (mutilating) punishments. In 195 B.C., Emperor Hui exempted the aged and very young from the mutilating punishments (HS 2: 3a). In 141 B.C., those in their eightieth year and over and in the eighth (or seventh) year and younger, together with suckling babes, blind musicians, and dwarfs, were not to be shackled in prison. In 62 B.C., those over 80 were exempted from all punishments, except for heinous crimes. In 20 A.D. Emperor Ch'eng ordered that capital sentences for children in their seventh year or under must be reported to the Commandant of Justice, and that they should be allowed to ransom themselves (23: 19a, b). Now it was ordered that women and men under seven or over eighty should not be imprisoned, except for heinous crimes. (References from Yü Yüeh.) This enactment was modelled on the principle in the Chou-li 36: 2a (Biot, II, 356) sub the Szu-tz'u, that the young and weak, the aged, and the stupid should be pardoned. The Han laws thus gradually approached Confucian ideals.

46. Yen Shih-ku explains, "They should go to the place where they live to question them," but Chou Shou-ch'ang replies that Yen Shih-ku is probably explaining this ordinance by that of Emperor Kuang-wu in 27 A.D. (HHS, An. 1 A: 22b, 23a), which repeats this order, but uses chiu 就 instead of chi 卽. These two words are different and cannot be used to explain each other. Han-chi (by Hsün Yüëh, 148-209) 30: 4b, writes tsê 則, which Wang Hsien-ch'ien states was anciently a synonym of chi.

47. The principals "bore" credentials, which they "lent" to their associates (Hu San-hsing). These credentials enabled them to wield, temporarily and for a specific purpose, the imperial authority.

48. For the report of these eight messengers, cf. 99 A: 23b; for their names, cf. 12: n. 9.4.

49. Cf. HS 99 A: 18b.

50. Wang Hsien-ch'ien remarks that Wang Mang honored Emperor Yüan in order to please the Grand Empress Dowager nee Wang, who was the wife of Emperor Yüan.

51. The Official ed. has at this point the word for "in the winter." It quotes the Sung Ch'i ed. as saying that the new edition (unknown) drops the word for "winter." The Ching-yu ed. (1034) has that word; the Chi-ku Ko ed. (1642) has excised it. Chou Shou-ch'ang adds that since the word for "in the winter" is found below (12: 8b), that word should be dropped here.For the incident of the Hsi-hai Commandery, cf. 99 A: 23b-24b.

52. Liu Li(5a) had committed incest and many murders, but had avoided punishment; he was finally sentenced to dismissal and exile for having had communication with the Wei clan, whereupon he was forced to commit suicide. His death may have occurred in the preceding year. Cf. Glossary, sub voce.

53. The only change in official titles I have found recorded for this time is from Superintendent of the Imperial House to Elder of the Imperial House (19 B: 52b). Probably these other titles were later changed again, so that historians did not trouble to record such short-lived alterations.

54. Ying Shao remarks, "According to the rites, [every] five years there should be two grand sacrifices, one ti 禘 [a common offering to all the ancestors in the fifth year] and one hsia 祫[a similar offering in the third year]. At the hsia [sacrifice], those shrines which have been removed to the temple of the first ancestor, together with the tablets of those shrines which have not yet been removed, are all jointly given offerings in [the shrine of] the first ancestor." This remark is based on Kung-yang Commentary 13: 3b, 4a (Dk. Wen, II, viii). Cf. Maspero, La Chine Antique, pp. 249-250.

55. Ch'ien Ta-hsin finds that only 22 vassal kings were reigning at this time: the King of Ch'eng-yang, Liu Li(4) (14: 6b), the King of Tzu-ch'uan, Liu Yung(3b) (14: 7b), the King of Ho-chien, Liu Shang(4b) (14: 13b), the King of Lu, Liu Min(3a) (14: 14b), the King of Chao, Liu Yin(6a) (14: 15a), the King of Ch'ang-sha, Liu Lu-jen (14: 16a), the King of Kuang-p'ing, Liu Kuang-han (14: 16b), the King of Chiao-tung, Liu Yin(2) (14: 18a), the King of Liu-an, Liu Yü(5a) (14: 18b), the King of Chen-ting, Liu Yang (14: 19a), the King of Szu-shui, Liu Ching(5) (14: 19b), the King of Kuang-yang, Liu Chia(1b) (14: 20a), the King of Kuang-ling, Liu Shou(3a) (14: 20b), the King of Kao-mi, Liu Shen (14: 21a), the King of Huai-yang, Liu Yin(4b) (14: 21b), the King of Tung-p'ing, Liu K'ai-ming (14: 21b), the King of Chung-shan, Liu Ch'eng-tu (20: 22a), the King of Ch'u, Liu Yü(1a) (20: 22b), the King of Hsin-tua, Liu Ching(3b) (14: 22b), the King of Kuang-tsung, Liu Ju-yi(b) (14: 13a), the King of Kuang-shih, Liu Kung(1a) (14: 14b), and the King of Kuang-tê, Liu Lun (14: 18a). The King of Liang, Liu Yin(1b) (14: 12a), was not appointed until the second or the intercalary month of this year, so is not included.

56. Alluding to Mencius I, i, vii, 12 (Legge, p. 143).

57. An allusion to Book of History I, i, 2 (Legge, p. 17; Couvreur, p. 2).

58. An allusion to ibid. II, iii, 1 (Legge, p. 69; Couvreur, p. 44). Karlgren, BMFED, 20, 106f, gl. 1297, does not express the full force of "giving thin proper order to" a king's kindred.

59. Analects VIII, ii, 2 (Soothill, p. 383).

60. Ho Ch'uo remarks, "At that time the vassal kings were all like ordinary common people, not worth being afraid of. Yet because [the imperial clan] was a multitude of more than a hundred thousand [persons, Wang Mang] thought that [the members of] the Liu [clan] might join together and start trouble. Hence he secretly appointed those of them who were closely leagued with the Wang clan and would injure the imperial house, in order secretly to restrain and repress the imperial clan, not to teach and instruct them." Such comments appear to be unsupported suspicions.

61. These four were Liu Hsin(1a), P'ing Yen, K'uang Yung, and Sun Ch'ien, according to HS 18: 29a, b.

62. These eight were Wang Yün, Yen Ch'ien, Ch'en Ch'ung, Li Hsi, Ho Tang, Hsieh Yin, Lu P'u, and Ch'en Feng, according to HS 19: 30a-31b. This passage is probably composed of quotations from the imperial edicts making these enfeoffments.

63. Cf. HS 18: 29a-31b.

64. HS 99 A: 19a dates the summoning of these persons in A.D. 4. The dating A.D. 5 here probably is that of their arrival.Ju Shun remarks, "[According to] the Code, those who are required [to ride] riding quadrigae (sheng chuan 乘傳) together with those who [ride] equipages [specially] sent out [for them] (fa-chia 發駕) or post-quadrigae ( chih-chuan 置傳) [cf. HFHD I, 107, n. 3 for these types of chariots] must all hold wooden passport credentials (mu-chuan-hsin 木傳信), [cf. I, 252, n. 2] one foot five inches [long], sealed with the seal of the Grandee Secretary. Those who [ride] riding quadrigae have [their passports] sealed thrice. When there is a set convocation, the two ends [of the passports] are repeatedly sealed, each end having two seals, [making] altogether four seals. For riding post quadrigae (chih 置-chuan) and galloping quadrigae (ch'ih-chuan 馳傳) there are five seals: each of the two ends has two [seals] and in the center there is one [seal]. For small chariots (yao-chuan 軺傳) with two horses, [passports] are sealed twice; for [small chariots] with one horse, [passports] are sealed once." Han Chiu-yi A: 6b (by Wei Hung, fl. dur. 25-57) says, "For those who in accordance with an imperial edict are sent to dispose of some matter, the [Grandee] Secretary has yoked [a small carriage and their passports are sealed with] one seal; [for those who] transmit an ordinance of amnesty, he has yoked [a small carriage and their passports are sealed with] two seals." (Reference from Shen Ch'in-han.) Yao Nai (1732-1815) suggests that "equipages [specially] sent out" may be equipages like the comfortable carriage (an-ch'e 安車) sent for his excellency Shen, to bring him to the capital, who was accompanied by two disciples riding small chariots (cf. 88: 16a)."Shih Chou's Fascicles" is the famous word list attributed, in Han times, to a clerk of the eighth century B.C., cf. HS 30: 22b.For Han materia medica cf. HS 25 B; 15a, 92: 7b. The latter passage mentions a work containing several hundred thousand words.

65. HS 14: 12a dates this appointment in the second month on the day ting-yu (Mar. 1).HS 27 A: 16a says, "In Yüan-shih V, vii, on chi-hai [Aug. 30], there was a visitation [of fire] to the doors of the Hall in the Second Temple of Emperor Kao, and they were reduced to ashes."

66. The text reads ping-wu, but Hoang places no such day in that twelfth month. HS 99 A: 24b also reads "twelfth month." Han-chi 30: 6b reads, "the twelfth month, [the day] ping-tzu," which seems to be correct, for that day occurred in that month.Yen Shih-ku comments, "A Han commentator says, `When the Emperor became older and grew up, he had a grudge on account of his mother, the Queen Dowager [nee] Wei, [who had wept day and night for her son, but was nevertheless not allowed to come to the imperial capital to care her child, and all of whose relatives had been killed by Wang Mang], and was unhappy. [Wang] Mang himself knew that [the Emperor] was becoming increasingly estranged from him, and [Wang Mang's] plot to usurp [the throne] and kill [the Emperor] arose from this circumstance. Hence when the la day [which that year was Jan. 20, A.D. 6] arrived, [Wang Mang] presented to the Emperor the peppered wine, and put poison into the wine.' Hence Chai Yi sent about a message which said, `[Wang] Mang assassinated Emperor Hsiao-p'ing by poison.' " HS 84: 11a records that when in A.D. 7 Chai Yi rebelled against Wang Mang, he sent urgent messages thru the empire with the foresaid words. Wang Ch'ung (Lun-heng, Forke's trans., I, 485) repeats this charge. Ch'ien Ta-chao remarks, "[Emperor] Hsiao-p'ing was poisoned by [Wang] Mang, [but a historian] does not record an assassination, [according to] the principle of the Spring and Autumn, that one should keep silent about great evils [that occur] within [the court. Pan Ku] merely did not record the day of the burial, in order to point out that it was to be classed with grievous vicissitudes." Kung-yang Commentary 3: 8b (Dk. Yin, X, vi) says, "Great evils within [the court] are not mentioned; small evils are recorded"; cf. ibid. 2: 2a (Dk. Yin, II, v). The HS records the dates of burial for all the rulers except for those of Emperor P'ing and the Empress nee Lü. For the latter it is not even mentioned that she was buried. For a discussion of the evidence for this poisoning, cf. Introduction to this chapter, pp. 57-60.

67. Huang-ch'ing Ching-chieh (1813) 1250: 27b quotes the Wu-ching Yi-yi by Hsü Shen (d. 121; a lost book; fragments collected by Ch'en Feng-ch'i, 1771-1834), as saying, "In accordance with the rites, Mr. Hsü said, `Subjects do not treat their lord as if he had died before he had reached maturity (the twentieth year); a son does not treat his father as if he had died before he had reached maturity. When a lord dies without children and no temple is establishroper conduct, the greatest of crimes.' "

68. Asthma?

69. Cf. 4: 20b.

70. A quotation from Book of Odes, III, i, x, 6 (Legge, p. 463).

71. T'ai-p'ing Yü-lan 89: 8b quotes this eulogy, with the word 人 after the 民.