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Errors within Rafe de Crespigny's A biographical dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23–220 AD)[edit]

Although Rafe de Crespigny's A biographical dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23–220 AD) is a great resource, there are unfortunately a few mistakes within the tome which are to be expected in such a massive undertaking. The Wikipedia editor is encouraged to cross-reference the entries in the Biographical Dictionary with other sources to ascertain the facts before using it as a citation in Wikipedia, which goes for other secondary and tertiary sources as well. That said, the Biographical Dictionary is a reliable source to use as a source most of the time, and a few typos and minor errors do not detract from its value. The errors that have been found are listed below:

The biographies for Rui Zhi 芮祉 and his sons Rui Liang 芮良 and Rui Xuan 芮玄 (pp.724-725) are repeated under the names Bing Zhi 邴祉, Bing Liang 邴良, and Bing Xuan 邴玄 (p. 22)

Detailed here. May have arisen due to the similarities of the characters 芮 and 邴. Rui is correct.

Cao Chun is incorrectly described to be a younger twin of Cao Ren. De Crespigny may have interpreted 同產 as meaning "born at the same time" (as twins) rather than "born from the same womb" - maternal brothers. Any mention of "twins" in the book should be viewed critically. (p. 40)
Guan Yu and Guan Ping died in 220, not 219 (pp. 276-277)

The Zizhi Tongjian (drawing from the Biography of the Wu Lord) stated that Guan Yu and Guan Ping was captured and executed in the 12th month in the 24th year in the Jian'an era (196-220) of the reign of Emperor Xian of Han. Quote from Zizhi Tongjian vol. 68: (... [獻帝建安二十四年（己亥、二一九年）]十二月，璋司馬馬忠獲羽及其子平於章鄉，斬之，遂定荊州。) This date corresponds to sometime in January 220, and is likely a simple date conversion error.^[1]

Guan Yu's marquis title is wrongly transcribed as 漢壽享侯, should be 漢壽亭侯 (p. 277)
Guan Yu's deity name is wrongly transcribed as 管帝, should be 關帝 (p. 277)
Huang Zu's death year is listed as 200 even though the body text describes his death in 208. The latter is correct. (p. 352)
Liang Boning shouldn't exist. (p. 446)

This has been acknowledged by Rafe de Crespigny.

Sun Qiang 孫羌 is incorrectly described as the older twin of Sun Jian when he is only the older brother of the same mother. cf. Cao Chun above. (p. 772)
Wei Yan's Chinese name somehow got rendered as 隗延 (Kui Yan), should be 魏延 (p. 857)
Xiahou Shang's death year should be 226, not 225. (p. 884)

Per Jin Shu vol. 13: (七年正月，驃騎將軍曹洪免為庶人。四月，征南大將軍夏侯尚薨。). The 7th year of the Huangchu era (黄初) corresponds to 226.

Zhu Huan's birth year should be 177, not 167. (p. 1159)

The Records of the Three Kingdoms volume 56 gives his death year and age (年六十二，赤烏元年卒。), which states Zhu Huan died at the age of 62 (61 by western reckoning) in the first year of Chiwu (238), thus his birth year is deduced to be 177. Since de Crespigny gives no explanation for the year 167, one must assume that the year number is written in error.

References[edit]

Notes[edit]

^ In the Introduction of the text, de Crespigny explains his date conversation from Chinese to Western calendar methodology as such: "While recognizing that the Chinese year ends in late January or early February of the West, I have followed the convention which expresses the Chinese year by its major Western equivalent; unless, of course, more precise dating is required." (p. x)

Sources[edit]

de Crespigny, Rafe (2007). A biographical dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23–220 AD). Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-15605-0.
Collection of Q&A's to & from Rafe de Crespigny, Gongjin's Campaign Memorials.

[1] In the Introduction of the text, de Crespigny explains his date conversation from Chinese to Western calendar methodology as such: "While recognizing that the Chinese year ends in late January or early February of the West, I have followed the convention which expresses the Chinese year by its major Western equivalent; unless, of course, more precise dating is required." (p. x)

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