4.1.1. The Writers of Han Grand Rhapsody

Writers of the grand rhapsody were mostly, if not all, members of the upper class, evidence of which can be found in official historical records. First, fu writers always composed their works by the emperor's side all year round. Ban Gu 班 固 (AD 32–92) depicted the grand occasion on which writers composed rhapsodies in the preface to his "Liangdu fu" 兩 都 賦 序 (Rhapsody on the Two Capitals):

The ministers whose duties relied on language skills, such as Sima Xiangru, Yuqiu

Shouwang 虞 丘 壽 王, Dongfang Shuo 東 方 朔, Mei Gao 枚 , Wang Bao 王 褒, and Liu Xiang 劉 向, spent entire days composing articles and often offered them to the emperor. The officials who held important positions in the imperial court, such as Ni Kuan 倪 寬 as *yushi dafu* 禦 史大夫 (Censor-in-chief), Kong Zang 孔 臧 as *taichang* 太 常 (Minister of Ceremonies), Dong Zhongshu 董 仲 舒 as *taizhong dafu* 太 中大夫 (Palace Counsellor), Liu De 劉 德 as *zongzheng* 宗 正 (Minister of the Imperial Clan), and Xiao Wangzhi 蕭 望 之 as the *taizi taifu* 太 子 太 傅 (the Grand Mentor), and so on, all took time to write *fu*. (Fei et al. 1993, p. 311)

Those that Ban Gu alludes to were all representative masters of Han dafu. The view that they were yanyu shicong zhi chen 言語 侍 從 之 臣 (the ministers whose duties relied on language) is generally recognized in academic circles. Second, fu writers have their biographies in the official historical records. The four fu writers who wrote about the Queen Mother have their independent biographies in the official history. This is a clear indicator that can show that fu writers were aristocrats who enjoyed a relatively high social status (see Table 2).


**Table 2.** Biographies of Han fu masters in dynastic histories.
