Book of The Later Han

The Book of the Later Han, also known as History of the Later Han or Hou Han Shu, is an official Chinese historical text covering the history of the Han Dynasty from 6 to 189. It was compiled by Fan Ye and others in the 5th century during the Liu Song Dynasty, using a number of earlier histories and documents as sources.

The book is part of early four historiographies of the Twenty-Four Histories canon, together with the Records of the Grand Historian, Book of Han and Records of the Three Kingdoms. Fan Ye used a number of earlier histories, including accounts by Sima Qian and Ban Gu, along with many others (some had similar names, such as the Han Records of the Eastern Lodge by various contemporaries throughout the 2nd century, and the Records of Later Han by Yuan Hong from the 4th century), most of which did not survive intact.

The section on the Treatise on the Western Regions was based on a report composed by Ban Yong (with a few later additions) and presented to Emperor An of Han in around 125. It presumably includes notes from his father Ban Chao. It forms the 88th chapter (or 118th chapter in some editions) of the Book of the Later Han, and is a key source for the cultural and socio-economic data on the Western Regions, including the earliest accounts of Daqin (the Roman Empire), and some of the most detailed early reports on India and Central Asia. It contains a few references to events occurring after the death of Emperor An, including a brief account of the arrival of the first official envoys from Rome in 166.

Fan Ye, himself, clearly says that the new information contained in this section on the Western Regions, is largely based on information from the report of Ban Yong:

"Ban Gu has recorded in detail the local conditions and customs of each kingdom in the former book . Now, the reports of the Jianwu period onwards recorded in this 'Chapter on the Western Regions' differ from the earlier ; they are from Ban Yong's report at the end of Emperor An, and so on."