Concerning Ban Gu's motives of compiling The Book of Han, there are several explanations. Some scholars claim that Ban's devotion to historical records is out of filial obligation, while others view it as a clever move to glorify the Liu rulers of the Han and to account for, if not boast about, his own family's rise into the court elite. Anyhow, his father Ban Biao's great influence on him undoubtedly provides an important incentive to his great endeavor in the laborious task of historical writing.
Based on his father's Sequel to the Historical Records, Ban Gu started to compile The Book of Han during the Yongping Era under the reign of Emperor Ming of Eastern Han. While he was engrossed in the compilation, he encountered unexpected accusations by his political rivals who reported to the Emperor that "Ban Gu was privately revising the national history," a serious offence strictly forbidden. Needless to say, it caused the court to worry deeply about what Ban Gu would write of the fall of the Western Han and the rise of the Eastern Han. Though the Ban clan has maintained close proximity to the royal court, Ban Gu himself was a mere minor official and the charge on him was by no means a simple one. In fact, not long before that, his hometown-fellow, a man named Su Lang (蘇郎) from Fufeng County was sentenced to death soon after being imprisoned for the same charge. As a consequence, Ban Gu was imprisoned and the Ban familylibrary conliscated.
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