Abstract: The three rumors recorded in the “preface” of “The Biography of the Disasters of Partisan Prohibitions” in FAN Ye’s History of the Later Han Dynasty, are not cumbersome meaningless words at all since they aimed at retrospecting to the cause of the Disasters of Partisan Prohibitions. The rumor in Ganling County was targeted on the supreme ruler Emperor Huan of Han. This actually heralded the “controversy of partisans” which “abused the imperial court”. Ganling county was divided into “the north and the south” parts and behind this was, the severe political competition between the powerful official LIANG Ji and notable bureaucrats LI and DU. They were also connected closely with the opposition of the evil and the just in the Disasters of Partisan Prohibitions. The rumors in Runan and Nanyang prefectures unveiled deeply the local social background and their institutional origin. Rumors in schools marked the formation of the public opinion in national intellectual circles. The systematization of well--known scholars based on the public opinion (all the scholars nationwide were called with names in sequence) showed that scholars were very self--organized and highly prestigious in society, which was regarded as the important characteristics of the noble family system later. The narrative of the three rumors in the “preface” of “The Biography of the Disasters of Partisan Prohibitions” conveyed FAN Ye’s understanding and interpretation of the cause of the Disasters of Partisan Prohibitions.

Key words: rumors, the Disasters of Partisan Prohibitions, the cause, well--known scholars