Official titles of the former Han Dynasty : an index

In the three volumes of The History of the Former Han Dynasty, Professor H. H. Dubs translated the basic annals and the biography of the usurper Wang Mang from the Han shu of Pan Ku. Official Titles of the Former Han Dynasty, which has been compiled on Professor Dubs's authority and with the aid of his notes, sets out his English translations for the Chinese official titles of that time. The Former Han Dynasty ruled China from 206 b.c. to a.d. 9, and its administrative system set the pattern for the empires that followed. This index contains official titles mentioned in the Treatise of Officials of Han shu and in the Former Han section of the Li-tai chih-kuan piao, both valuable sources for the study of the bureaucracy of the empire. The translations put forward by Professor Dubs have already received wide circulation and acceptance among scholars, although they have never before appeared in a formal list. This index fills that gap in presentation, and should be an invaluable aid to the study of the earliest empires of China