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The Book of Han () is a classic Chinese historical writing covering the history of Western Han from 206 BC to 25. It is also sometimes called Book of Former Han in order to distinguish it from the Book of Later Han, which covers the Eastern Han from 25 to 220, composed in the 5th century. The book was started by Ban Biao. Following his death, Ban Gu, eldest son of Ban Biao, continued working on the book, which grew to a total of 100 volumes, and included essays on law, science, geography, and literature. His younger sister Ban Zhao, finished the writing in 111, 19 years after he was put in prison, and made the minor volumes 13-20th (eight chronological charts) and 26th (astronomical biography) included to the work. Like the Records of the Grand Historian, Zhang Qian, a famous Chinese general who travelled to the west, was the key source for the cultural and socio-economic data on the Western Regions contained in the work on 96th volume. The book set the format for the writings of later Chinese dynasties, and today it is a reference used to study the Han period. It is often regarded as part of the early four historiographies of the Twenty-Four Histories canon, together with the Records of the Grand Historian, Records of Three Kingdoms and Book of Later Han.
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