p. 71: The basic historical text for this whole period, the _Dynastic History of the Han Dynasty_, is now in part available in English translation (H. H. Dubs, _The History of the Former Han Dynasty_, Baltimore 1938, 3 volumes).

p. 72: The description of the gentry is based upon my own research. Other scholars define the word "gentry", if applied to China, differently (some of the relevant studies are discussed in my note in the _Bull. School of Orient. & African Studies_, 1955, p. 373 f.).

p. 73: The theory of the cycle of mobility has been brought forth by Fr. L. K. Hsu and others. I have based my criticism upon a forthcoming study of _Social Mobility in Traditional Chinese Society_. The basic point is not the momentary economic or political power of such a family, but the social status of the family (_Li-shih yen-chiu_, Peking 1955, No. 4, p. 122). The social status was, increasingly, defined and fixed by law (Ch'ue T'ung-tsu).--The difference in the size of gentry and other families has been pointed out by a number of scholars such as Fr. L. K. Hsu, H. T. Fei, O. Lang. My own research seems to indicate that gentry families, on the average, married earlier than other families.

p. 74: The Han system of examinations or rather of selection has been studied by Yang Lien-sheng; and analysis of the social origin of candidates has been made in the _Bull. Chinese Studies_, vol. 2, 1941, and 3, 1942.--The meaning of the term "Hundred Families" has been discussed by W. Eichhorn, Kuo Mo-jo, Ch'en Meng-chia and especially by Hsue T'ung-hsin. It was later also a fiscal term.

p. 75: The analysis of Hsiung-nu society is based mainly upon my own research. There is no satisfactory history of these northern federations available in English. The compilation of W. M. MacGovern, _The Early Empires of Central Asia_, Chapel Hill 1939, is now quite antiquated.--An attempt to construct a model of Central Asian nomadic social structure has been made by E. E. Bacon, _Obok, a Study of Social Structure in Eurasia_, New York 1958, but the model constructed by B. Vladimirtsov and modified by O. Lattimore remains valuable.--For origin and early-development of Hsiung-nu society see O. Maenchen, K. Jettmar, B. Bernstam, Uchida Gimpu and many others.

p. 79: Material on the "classes" (_szu min_) will be found in a forthcoming book. Studies by Ch'ue T'ung-tsu and Tamai Korehiro are important here. An up-to-date history of Chinese education is still a desideratum.

p. 80: For Tung Chung-shu, I rely mainly upon O. Franke.--Some scholars do not accept this "double standard", although we have clear texts which show that cases were evaluated on the basis of Confucian texts and not on the basis of laws. In fact, local judges probably only in exceptional cases knew the text of the law or had the code. They judged on the basis of "customary law".

p. 81: Based mainly upon my own research. K. A. Wittfogel, _Oriental Despotism_, New Haven 1957, has a different interpretation.

p. 82: Cases in which the Han emperors disregarded the law code were studied by Y. Hisamura.--I have used here studies published in the _Bull. of Chinese Studies_, vol. 2 and 3 and in _Toyo gakuho_, vol. 8 and 9, in addition to my own research.

p. 85: On local administration see Kato Shigeru and Yen Keng-wang's studies.

p. 86: The problem of the Chinese gold, which will be touched upon later again, has gained theoretical interest, because it could be used as a test of M. Lombard's theories concerning the importance of gold in the West (_Annales, Economies, Societes, Civilisations_, vol. 12, Paris 1957, No. 1, p. 7-28). It was used in China from _c._ 600 B.C. on in form of coins or bars, but disappeared almost completely from A.D. 200 on, i.e. the period of economic decline (see L. S. Yang, Kato Shigeru).--The payment to border tribes occurs many times again in Chinese history down to recent times; it has its parallel in British payments to tribes in the North-West Frontier Province in India which continued even after the Independence.

p. 88: According to later sources, one third of the tributary gifts was used in the Imperial ancestor temples, one third in the Imperial mausolea, but one third was used as gifts to guests of the Emperor.--The trade aspect of the tributes was first pointed but by E. Parker, later by O. Lattimore, recently by J. K. Fairbank.--The importance of Chang Ch'ien for East-West contacts was systematically studied by B. Laufer; his _Sino-Iranica_, Chicago 1919 is still a classic.

p. 89: The most important trait which points to foreign trade, is the occurrence of glass in Chinese tombs in Indo-China and of glass in China proper from the fifth century B.C. on; it is assumed that this glass was imported from the Near East, possibly from Egypt (O. Janse, N. Egami, Seligman).

p. 91: Large parts of the "Discussions" have been translated by Esson M. Gale, _Discourses on Salt and Iron_, Leiden 1931; the continuation of this translation is in _Jour. Royal As. Society, North-China Branch_ 1934.--The history of eunuchs in China remains to be written. They were known since at least the seventh century B.C. The hypothesis has been made that this custom had its origin in Asia Minor and spread from there (R. F. Spencer in _Ciba Symposia_, vol. 8, No. 7, 1946 with references).

p. 92: The main source on Wang Mang is translated by C. B. Sargent, _Wang Mang, a translation_, Shanghai 1950 and H. H. Dubs, _History of the Former Han Dynasty_, vol, 3, Baltimore 1955.

p. 93: This evaluation of the "Old character school" is not generally accepted. A quite different view is represented by Tjan Tjoe Som and R. P. Kramers and others who regard the differences between the schools as of a philological and not a political kind. I follow here most strongly the Chinese school as represented by Ku Chieh-kang and his friends, and my own studies.

p. 93: Falsification of texts refers to changes in the Tso-chuan. My interpretation relies again upon Ku Chieh-kang, and Japanese astronomical studies (Ijima Tadao), but others, too, admit falsifications (H. H. Dubs); B. Karlgren and others regard the book as in its main body genuine. The other text mentioned here is the _Chou-li_ which is certainly not written by Wang Mang (_Jung-chai Hsue-pi_ 16), but heavily mis-used by him (in general see S. Uno).

p. 94: I am influenced here by some of H. H. Dubs's studies. For this and the following period, the work by H. Bielenstein, _The Restoration of the Han Dynasty_, Stockholm 1953 and 1959 is the best monograph.--The "equalization offices" and their influence upon modern United States has been studied by B. Bodde in the _Far Eastern Quarterly_, vol. 5, 1946.

p. 95: H. Bielenstein regards a great flood as one of the main reasons for the breakdown of Wang Mang's rule.

p. 98: For the understanding of Chinese military colonies in Central Asia as well as for the understanding of military organization, civil administration and business, the studies of Lao Kan on texts excavated in Central Asia and Kansu are of greatest importance.

p. 101: Mazdaistic elements in this rebellion have been mentioned mainly by H. H. Dubs. Zoroastrism (Zoroaster born 569 B.C.) and Mazdaism were eminently "political" religions from their very beginning on. Most scholars admit the presence of Mazdaism in China only from 519 on (Ishida Mikinosuke, O. Franke). Dubs's theory can be strengthened by astronomical material.--The basic religious text of this group, the "Book of the Great Peace" has been studied by W. Eichhron, H. Maspero and Ho Ch'ang-ch'uen.

p. 102: For the "church" I rely mainly upon H. Maspero and W. Eichhorn.

p. 103: I use here concepts developed by Cheng Chen-to and especially by Jung Chao-tsu.

p. 104: Wang Ch'ung's importance has recently been mentioned again by J. Needham.

p. 105: These "court poets" have their direct parallel in Western Asia. This trend, however, did not become typical in China.--On the general history of paper read A. Kroeber, _Anthropology_, New York 1948, p. 490f., and Dard Hunter, _Paper Making_, New York 1947 (2nd ed.).