Eastern Han history in annals and biographies
Fan Ye worked more than two centuries after the Eastern Han's fall, selecting and reorganizing earlier histories. His contribution comprises ten juan of annals and eighty of biographies. The opening account of Liu Xiu reaches into his family background and activities before the dynasty's restoration.
Biographies cover individuals and families, but also groups such as exemplary officials, harsh officials, eunuchs, scholars and literary figures. Other chapters concern regions and peoples, including the Western Regions and Southern Xiongnu. These arrangements place court politics alongside learning, local government and contacts across frontiers.
Judgment within the narrative
Introductions and concluding judgments make the author's evaluations explicit. The introduction to the exemplary officials praises Emperor Guangwu's restraint and concern for suffering, then criticizes harsh administration during his reign and that of Emperor Ming. Praise is qualified by specific shortcomings.
The biographies develop these questions through cases. As governor of Guiyang, Wei Sa is described as opening roads and establishing relay stations because official travel repeatedly requisitioned civilian boats. The account links administrative arrangements with transport and labor burdens, rather than supplying a career list alone.
Treatises and layers of commentary
Fan's planned treatises were not completed. The thirty juan of eight treatises in the received text derive from Sima Biao's Continued Book of Han. They cover calendars, ritual, sacrifice, astronomy, portents, administrative geography, offices, and vehicles and dress.
Liu Zhao explains his use of those earlier treatises to supplement Fan and acknowledges their dependence on preceding scholars. The annals and biographies also carry Tang commentary associated with Li Xian, whereas Liu's notes accompany the treatises. The conventional total of 120 juan thus combines distinct authors and periods of textual work.