Xī Hàn Yěshǐ 西漢野史
Unofficial History of the Western Han by 黃士衡 (撰)
About the work
Xī Hàn Yěshǐ 西漢野史 is a Republican-era historical novel by 黃士衡 (Huáng Shìhéng), the same author as KR4k0308 Qíncháo Yěshǐ. The Kanripo text is filed under the series title Zhōnghuá Gǔdiǎn Jīnghuá Wénkù 中華古典精華文庫 (Treasury of the Classics of Chinese Culture), suggesting it was published as part of a popular historical fiction series. The catalog records the title as “中華古典精華文庫” and the author as “西漢野史,” but the source file identifies the work as Xī Hàn Yěshǐ 西漢野史 by 黃士衡. The Kanripo text preserves Part 1 (dì yī bù 第一部) and opens with Hàn Gāo Zǔ’s 漢高祖 post-conquest dispensation: the famous episode of “Gāo Zǔ hosts a banquet and discusses the three heroes” (Gāo Zǔ zhìjiǔ lùn sān jié 高祖置酒論三傑 — i.e., the famous speech in which Liú Bāng explains his victory over Xiàng Yǔ by crediting his three advisers: Zhāng Liáng 張良, Xiāo Hé 蕭何, and Hán Xìn 韓信), continuing through the early Hàn politics: the settlement of Luān Jǐng 婁敬’s suggestion to settle the capital in Guānzhōng, the enfeoffments, and the campaigns against the Xiōngnú.
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source.
Abstract
Xī Hàn Yěshǐ continues the narrative of the Chǔ-Hàn contention begun in KR4k0308 Qíncháo Yěshǐ, picking up after the defeat of Xiàng Yǔ and the founding of the Hàn. The famous “three heroes” (sān jié 三傑) speech is preserved in the Shǐjì (史記, ch. 55, Liú Hóu Shì Jiā 留侯世家) and has been a set piece in Hàn history fiction since antiquity. The novel covers the early Hàn settlement: the enfeoffments of kingdoms to the victorious generals (Lú Wǎn as King of Yān 燕, Tián Héng’s 田橫 death by suicide rather than submission, Jì Bù’s 季布 escape into slavery, Hán Xìn’s reward to the washerwoman who fed him, and Chén Píng’s 陳平 stratagem for capturing the Chǔ king). These are all episodes from the Shǐjì biographies, presented in vernacular novelistic form.
Note: The catalog entry correctly assigns this to the Republican era, though the Zhōnghuá Gǔdiǎn Jīnghuá Wénkù series name suggests a specific commercial reprint series.
Translations and research
- Loewe, Michael. 1986. “The Former Han dynasty.” In The Cambridge History of China, vol. 1.
- Sima Qian. Records of the Grand Historian (Shǐjì). Trans. Burton Watson. Columbia University Press, 1961. (The primary source drawn upon by this novel.)