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BAN GU'S VIEW ON THE “SECOND VICTORY” OF “CONFUCIANISM” AND THE FALL OF THE FORMER HAN
Open accessAbstract
This essay, which focuses on the reigns of Emperors Xuan and Yuan in Western Han, complicates the prevailing presumption that Ban Gu identified as a Ru 儒, and valued the Ru contributions to good governance above those who were identified with other forms of expertise. By a close reading of biographies of all major Ru scholars active during the time of these two emperors as well as some later ones, this essay provides further proof in support of points registered by Michael Loewe throughout his long career.
Overview
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TL;DR
Hans van Ess argues that Ban Gu did not straightforwardly identify as a Ru/“Confucian” and did not treat classical expertise as the main criterion for good governance. Through close readings of Han shu biographies from the reigns of Emperors Xuan and Yuan, he shows Ban Gu praised Emperor Xuan’s law-oriented administration and blamed Reformist classical experts for enabling Wang Mang and the fall of the Former Han.
Key findings
- Ban Gu approved of Emperor Xuan’s governance: his Appraisal praises Xuan for making rewards dependable and punishments certain, matching names with realities, and says the skilled work of Xuan’s era was seldom matched under Emperors Yuan and Cheng; Ban Gu called Xuan’s reign a “mid-dynastic renaissance” (*zhongxing*).
- Ban Gu presents Emperor Xuan as skeptical of classical experts: Xuan says the Han dynasty’s regulations mix “the ways of the hegemons and the [ideal] kings,” that “vulgar Ru” do not understand what is appropriate to the time, and predicts, “The one who will bring chaos to our ruling house will be my heir apparent.”
- Ban Gu criticizes prominent classical experts/Reformists: Xiao Wangzhi and Jing Fang are shown as lacking due foresight; in the Han shu 81 Appraisal, Chancellors such as Wei Xuancheng, Kuang Heng, and Zhang Yu are said to have “just taken their salary, secured their positions,” and been liable to sycophancy, unable to fulfill their responsibilities.
- Ban Gu valued legal experts and legal training with some classical learning: men such as Bing Ji, Yu Dingguo, Chen Wannian, Du Yannian, and Zhang Chang are treated favorably; the essay concludes there was no “victory of Confucianism” under Emperor Xuan, while Emperor Yuan’s promotion of classical experts failed to preserve the Han from Shi Xian or the Wang family.
Methods
- Close reading of Han shu biographies of major Ru scholars active under Emperors Xuan (r. 74–48 BCE) and Yuan (r. 48–33 BCE), plus later figures, especially chapters 71–82, with tables of major appointments.
- Analysis of Ban Gu’s Appraisals and narrative rhetoric against existing scholarship, especially Homer Dubs’s “victory of Confucianism” and Michael Loewe’s Reformist/Modernist categories.
- Historical-philological textual analysis; no new empirical data or quantitative sample.
Limitations
- The paper states it is “simply a first step” and that it is impossible in a single essay to delve into all relevant passages needed to fully understand Ban Gu’s ideas about “Confucianism.”
- The paper states that what Ban Gu thought about figures such as Liu Xiang, Liu Xin, and Zhai Fangjin deserves separate analysis beyond the article’s scope.
- Evident from the text: the argument depends on interpretive close reading of selected Han shu chapters and Ban Gu’s rhetorical framing rather than systematic quantitative or independent-source analysis.
Model-written summary. Check it against the paper before relying on it.
Integrity signals
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Verification
Claims the paper makes
90 Own interpretation · 59 Sources not found · 15 Own result · 7 Not checked yet · 2 No basis given
A result the paper states — it cites no source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Those later classical experts Ban Gu judged to be weaklings who did not dare to act against a powerful eunuch.”
§ BAN GU'S VIEW ON THE "SECOND VICTORY" OF "CONFUCIANISM" AND THE FALL OF THE FORMER HAN > Jing Fang and Xiao Wangzhi as Examples of Classical Expert's Failures, the Rule of the Eunuch Favorite Shi Xian
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
A result the paper states — it cites no source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Ban Gu rates him less successful than Bing Ji, Wei Xiang, and his successor Yu Dingguo.”
§ BAN GU'S VIEW ON THE "SECOND VICTORY" OF "CONFUCIANISM" AND THE FALL OF THE FORMER HAN > Major Appointments by Emperor Xuan
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
In the paper
“After the death of Chen Wannian, the last Imperial Counselor installed by Emperor Xuan, in 44, 100 Emperor Yuan for the first time appointed a classical expert for a major position, Gong Yu (see Table 3).”
§ BAN GU'S VIEW ON THE "SECOND VICTORY" OF "CONFUCIANISM" AND THE FALL OF THE FORMER HAN > Emperors Yuan and Cheng and the Classical experts
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Han shu, 66.2900
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Not matched
In the paper
“Yet, Emperor Yuan did not want him to stay.”
§ BAN GU'S VIEW ON THE "SECOND VICTORY" OF "CONFUCIANISM" AND THE FALL OF THE FORMER HAN > Emperors Yuan and Cheng and the Classical experts
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Han shu, 71.3043-45
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plainSingle case- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Not matched
In the paper
“Just as Emperor Xuan at some point had thought about substituting his heir, Emperor Yuan, too, several times considered replacing his son by Empress Wang with a son by a consort named Fu 傅, but his court convinced him not to do so.”
§ BAN GU'S VIEW ON THE "SECOND VICTORY" OF "CONFUCIANISM" AND THE FALL OF THE FORMER HAN > Emperors Yuan and Cheng and the Classical experts
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Han shu, 81.3338-40
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plainSingle case- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Not matched
- Probably not a substantial claim. 91
- It may state two separate claims as one. 79
- The quote only partly states this claim. 1
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Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
Each contradiction between two passages listed here was confirmed by an independent check.
Rated minor: it would not touch a result — a value no result rests on, a p-value that stays on the same side of the significance level, or a conflict that is clerical, resolved elsewhere in the paper, or outside its own findings.
In the paper
§ BAN GU'S VIEW ON THE "SECOND VICTORY" OF "CONFUCIANISM" AND THE FALL OF THE FORMER HAN > Conclusion
“The only Imperial Counselor who did not automatically become Chancellor under Emperor Xuan's rule was the classical expert Xiao Wangzhi, who was deposed and posted to a commandery when it would have been his turn.”
§ BAN GU'S VIEW ON THE "SECOND VICTORY" OF "CONFUCIANISM" AND THE FALL OF THE FORMER HAN > Emperor Xuan and Emperor Yuan: Contrasting Pictures
“Probably correctly, Emperor Xuan interpreted his memorial as a critique of Bing Ji and demoted Xiao Wangzhi, who then became tutor to the crown prince”
Rated minor: it would not touch a result — a value no result rests on, a p-value that stays on the same side of the significance level, or a conflict that is clerical, resolved elsewhere in the paper, or outside its own findings.
In the paper
§ BAN GU'S VIEW ON THE "SECOND VICTORY" OF "CONFUCIANISM" AND THE FALL OF THE FORMER HAN > Emperor Xuan and Emperor Yuan: Contrasting Pictures
“Gong Yu 貢禹 (d.c. 62)”
§ BAN GU'S VIEW ON THE "SECOND VICTORY" OF "CONFUCIANISM" AND THE FALL OF THE FORMER HAN > Emperors Yuan and Cheng and the Classical experts
“After the death of Chen Wannian, the last Imperial Counselor installed by Emperor Xuan, in 44, 100 Emperor Yuan for the first time appointed a classical expert for a major position, Gong Yu (see Table 3).”
Rated minor: it would not touch a result — a value no result rests on, a p-value that stays on the same side of the significance level, or a conflict that is clerical, resolved elsewhere in the paper, or outside its own findings.
In the paper
§ BAN GU'S VIEW ON THE "SECOND VICTORY" OF "CONFUCIANISM" AND THE FALL OF THE FORMER HAN > Jing Fang and Xiao Wangzhi as Examples of Classical Expert's Failures, the Rule of the Eunuch Favorite Shi Xian
“Zhang Bo 張博 (d.37), an uncle of Liu Qin, began to convince the king that Qin could become emperor should Emperor Yuan die.This uncle relied on a classical expert named Jing Fang 京房 (77-37)”
§ BAN GU'S VIEW ON THE "SECOND VICTORY" OF "CONFUCIANISM" AND THE FALL OF THE FORMER HAN > Jing Fang and Xiao Wangzhi as Examples of Classical Expert's Failures, the Rule of the Eunuch Favorite Shi Xian
“with the result that both were executed in 36.53”
Citations
Cites
A Biographical Dictionary of the Qin, Former Han and Xin Periods (221 BC - AD 24)
Loewe, M. A. N. (2000) · BRILL eBooks · doi:10.1163/9789004490253 · Cited by 85
Ng, O.-C., & Wang, Q. E. (2017) · University of Hawaii Press eBooks · doi:10.1515/9780824843205 · Cited by 67
The History of the Former Han Dynasty
Bodde, D., & Ku, P. (1939) · The American Historical Review · doi:10.2307/1839950 · Cited by 64
Imagining Boundaries: Changing Confucian Doctrines, Texts, and Hermeneutics
Smith, R. J., Chow, K.-W., Ng, O.-C., & Henderson, J. B. (2000) · The American Historical Review · doi:10.2307/2652057 · Cited by 60
Crisis and Conflict in Han China
Loewe, M. A. N. (2013) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781315018829 · Cited by 57
Webb, H. (1961) · Pacific Affairs · doi:10.2307/2752635 · Cited by 47
Ban Gu's History of Early China
Clark, A. E. (2008) · Whitworth Digital Commons (Whitworth University) · Cited by 17
Lee, T. (2020) · Contemporary Chinese Thought · doi:10.1080/10971467.2020.1800901 · Cited by 8
Confucian, Legalist, and Taoist thought in Later Han
Chen, C.-Y. (1986) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/chol9780521243278.017 · Cited by 7
Consultants and Advisors, and the Tests of Talent in Western and Eastern Han
Loewe (2019) · Journal of Asian History · doi:10.13173/jasiahist.53.1.0021 · Cited by 2
Research works printed but not linked: 2
- Ess, 1993, Politik und Gelehrsamkeit in der Zeit der Han: Die Alttext/Neutextkontroverse, 258
- Watson, 1974, Courtier and Commoner in Han China, 209
Cited by
Lee, T. (2022) · Kritike An Online Journal of Philosophy · doi:10.25138/16.2.a3 · Cited by 10
Agbisit, G. C. (2022) · Kritike An Online Journal of Philosophy · doi:10.25138/16.2.cp
Inventing the Spring and Autumn Period
Wong, P. T. K. (2024) · The Journal of Asian Studies · doi:10.1215/00219118-11162993
Metadata
- Authors
- van Ess, H.
- Venue
- Early China
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2022-09
- Volume
- 45
- Pages
- 15-49
- ISSN
- 0362-5028 (ISSN-L)
- 2325-2324
- OpenAlex
- W4295024967
- Semantic Scholar
- fe41d9030cfb149263e098e2cf1d18f8653e9b30
- Cited by
- 3
- References
- 9
- Citations by year
- 2024: 1 · 2022: 2
- FWCI
- 1.08
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Early China (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Open access LMU (Ludwid Maxmilian's Universitat Munchen) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- mediaTUM – the media and publications repository of the Technical University Munich (Technical University Munich) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Haute école Spécialisée de Suisse Occidentale
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History › Chinese history and philosophy
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › Classical Studies and Philology
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History › Philosophy, History, and Historiography
- Keywords
- Ban Gu, Confucianism, Western Han dynasty, good governance, Confucian scholars
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