TheDongguan Hanji (Chinese:東觀漢記) is a Chinese text that is a history of theEastern Han dynasty. It was compiled in several stages by different people throughout the Eastern Han period. It was considered the standard history of the Eastern Han until theTang dynasty when it replaced by theBook of the Later Han.
The book started to be written in 72 CE, whenEmperor Ming of Han ordered that a history be written of the reign of his fatherEmperor Guangwu.Ban Gu,Chen Zong (陳宗),Yin Min [zh],Meng Ji (孟冀),Ma Yan [zh], andDu Fu [zh] were chosen to compile it. They worked on this project in the Orchid Terrace (Lan tai, 蘭臺), one of the libraries and archives in the Southern Palace complex inLuoyang. The result was a 28-chapter book entitledJianwu zhu ji (建武注記), covering the time from 22 to 57 CE.[1]
In 120 CE,Empress Dowager Deng Sui instructedLiu Zhen [zh],Liu Taotu [zh],Liu Yi [zh], andLi You [zh] to expand theJianwu zhu ji. They worked in the Eastern Lodge (Dong guan, 東觀), another library in the Southern Palace. Their completed work was entitled theHan ji (漢記), updating the text to cover the time from 58 to 106 CE.[1]
In 151 or 152 CE,Emperor Huan ordered theHan ji to be expanded, withFu Wuji,Huang Jing (黃景),Bian Shao [zh],Zhu Mu [zh],Cao Shou (曹壽), andYan Du [zh] expanding the text in the Eastern Lodge, bringing theHan ji to a total of 114 chapters. This expansion covered the time from 107 to 146 CE.[1]
Between 172 and 177 CEEmperor Ling ordered that the text be expanded again, withMa Midi,Han Yue [zh],Cai Yong,Lu Zhi, andYang Biao [zh] as compilers. At this point the text was renamed to theDongguan hanji and it covered the time up to 167 CE.[1]
After the fall of the Eastern Han in 220, Yang Biao privately worked on the text before his death in 225 for a final round of revision and expansion. This brought the text to 143 volumes, with the text now covering the entire history of the Eastern Han up to its fall.[1]
Until the seventh century, theDongguan Hanji was considered the standard history of the Eastern Han. It was regularly grouped with theShiji andHanshu as the "three histories" (Sanshi, 三史). TheDongguan Hanji was used as the main source for all subsequently compiled histories of the Eastern Han, includingFan Ye'sBook of the Later Han. TheDongguan Hanji gradually faded in importance during theTang dynasty, especially after Crown PrinceLi Xian sponsored a commentary on theBook of the Later Han.[2]
Once theDongguan Hanji was replaced as a standard history, large parts of it began to be lost. TheBook of Sui lists the text as having the original 143 volumes. By the Tang, it had been reduced to 127 or 126 volumes. By theSong dynasty, there were only 8 volumes remaining.[3] By theMing dynasty it had been largely lost as a separate complete work. The editors of theSiku Quanshu recovered 24 volumes from theYongle Encyclopedia and other sources.[2]