Person
Ban Gu
Chinese historian and poet
Ban Gu (32–92), courtesy name Mengjian, is a 1st century Chinese historian and poet best known for his part in compiling the Book of Han.
He also writes in the main poetic genre of the Han era, a kind of poetry interspersed with prose called fu.
Some are anthologized by Xiao Tong in his Selections of Refined Literature in the 6th century.
He is the compiler of the Bo hu tong, commissioned by Emperor Zhang of Han, a record of the proceedings of the so called White Tiger conference initiated by Dong Zhongshu, involving leading Confucian intellectuals of the time.
The name is derived from the White Tiger pavilion in the north of Luoyang (the capital) where the debates took place.