Ban Chao, a renowned general of the Han Dynasty, first proved his military brilliance while serving under Dou Gu in a campaign against the Northern Xiongnu. His battlefield successes earned him imperial recognition, and he was soon ordered on a diplomatic mission to the Western Regions.
Ban Chao spent over 30 years traversing the Western Regions, overcoming countless hardships to pacify and stabilize more than 50 kingdoms, bringing them under Han rule as tributary states. For his extraordinary achievements, Emperor He of Han, Liu Zhao, decreed him the title Marquis of Dingyuan, granting him a fief of a thousand households as a reward for his service to the empire.
Having spent many years in a foreign land, Ban Chao's homesickness grew increasingly intense. As he aged and weakened, this feeling only strengthened. He resolved to petition the emperor, requesting a transfer back to his homeland. His letter read:
"Your Majesty," the official said, "I have spent decades in the Western Regions, never ceasing to long for home. I recall that Jiang Ziya served as an official in Qi, yet his royal descendants were buried in Zhou, for their ancestral roots lay there. It is like the fox, who when dying, turns its head toward its birthplace; or the horses of Dai, who never forget their homeland and yearn for the northern wind. Zhou and Qi are both in the Central Plains, barely a thousand li apart, yet they still feel this pull—how much more so for me, stranded in the distant Western Regions, without such longing for home? The customs here revere the strong and bully the weak. I am now old, my teeth have fallen, and I fear that with each passing year, I may suddenly die, leaving my lonely soul forever in this land. Su Wu stayed among the Xiongnu for only nineteen years; I have been fortunate to serve here by imperial decree. If I could die peacefully at my post, I would have no regrets, but I dread being killed by the locals. I dare not hope to return to Jiuquan; if I could but live to enter Yumen Pass, that would fulfill my wish..."
Ban Chao's sister Ban Zhao also wrote a petition pleading for her brother. She wrote in the letter:
"My elder brother Ban Chao, blessed by imperial favor, has fought in this vast desert for nearly thirty years, earning repeated military merits. Now at seventy, he is old and frail, his ears dim and eyes blurred. Though he exhausts every effort with utmost devotion to repay the emperor's grace, should a rebellion erupt, I fear he would lack the strength to handle it. That would harm the nation's and the court's interests, and the achievements built over generations would crumble in an instant. Your Majesty governs the realm with filial piety, deeply loved by the people, so I risk death to plead for my brother: let him return alive to his homeland. He gave his prime to the country and this desert—must he also sacrifice his life in a foreign land?"
After Ban Zhao submitted her memorial, Emperor He of Han felt both deep respect for the nation's hero and was moved by Ban Zhao's sisterly devotion, personally issuing an imperial decree to recall Ban Chao. In 102 AD, Ban Chao finally returned to his long-missed hometown of Luoyang, where he spent his final days.
Later, the idiom "Longing for the First Hill" came to symbolize nostalgia for one's hometown or the desire to be buried in one's native soil.
Source: *Book of the Later Han*, "Biography of Ban Chao"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "首丘之思" came to describe how nostalgia for one's hometown or the desire to be buried in one's native soil.