Hanguan yi

Hanguan yi is a work by Ying Shao 应劭 from the 2nd century. It is a significant historical source for understanding Han-dynasty governance.

Content

The work describes the official system and bureaucratic structure of the Han dynasty; it is therefore often cited in works on Chinese administration and the history of that period.
Ying Shao presented in the work “a quantity of material on the conduct of the court, gathered from his own notes and recollections”. In the words of Chinaknowledge, the book “enumerated each office, designations, jurisdictions and duties, salaries and income, seals as well as some miscellaneous stories about the individual offices and office bearers”.
In the Bibliographical Treatise of the Book of Sui, it is stated: “Hanguan yi, in ten juan, composed by Ying Shao”. In the second year of the Jian'an era, Emperor Xian of (Eastern) Han was relocated to Xudu. As “the old institutional regulations had been lost and written records had become rare”, as the Book of the Later Han writes, Ying Shao deeply lamented this situation and therefore composed this work.
The Hanguan yi is regarded as the most systematic and detailed of the six works on Han officials.
The Hanyu da zidian, for example, uses the edition of the Pingjinguan congshu 平津馆丛书.