Hans Bielenstein on the civil war in Ancient China in 23-36 AD. A review of Hans Bielenstein’s book “The restoration of the Han Dynasty, with prolegomena on the historiography of the Hou Han Shu; Volume II”

Abstract

Subject of this review is the second volume of fundamental work of american sinologist H. Bielenstein on war for restoration of Han empire (Bielenstein H. The Restoration of the Han Dynasty: The Civil War: II // Bulletin of the Musum of Far Eastern Antiquities,. 1959. Vol. 31 P. 1287). Authors research purpose was reconstruction of the military actions of the civil war in the first century AD in Ancient China. Highlighting the period of civil war in early history of Eastern Han empire became a big step forward in study of history of this empire. This book and other books of H. Bielenstein become classical for the foreign scientists, but it is little known in our country. This review also seeks to determine the nature of the sources (the types of the texts contained within Hou han shu) he used for his research and it is clear, that the majority of these sources are plot-driving narratives, rather than annals.