Ancient China · Official

Bi Gan 比干

Bigan

Attested BC 1100 - BC 1046

Passages: 15
Chapters: 9
Histories: 4

Overview

The translated histories identify Bi Gan as a named individual, official, and royal family member. This record brings together 15 passages from 9 chapters across 4 histories, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Bi Gan	比干	Bigan
Personal name	Bi Gan	比干	Bǐ Gān
Personal	Bi Gan	比幹	Bǐ Gàn
Personal name	Bi Gan	比干	Bi Gan
Personal	Bigan	比干	Bigan
Personal name	Bigan	比干
Personal	Bigan	比干
Title	Prince Bigan	王子比干	Wangzi Bigan
Title	Prince Bigan	王子比干

Identity

Historicity: Uncertain
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Strongly inferred · hanshu:076:s0300, liangshu:016:s0176, shiji:023:s0078
Sex: male
Explicit · shiji:003:s0215, shiji:088:s0089
Value: male
Strongly inferred · hanshu:022:s0015
Value: male
Explicit · houhanshu:028:s0048

Roles

Named Individual
Official
Royal Family Member

Life and dates

Death

Manner: execution · Cause: heart cut out · Authority Person Id: King Zhou of Shang (紂)
Explicit · shiji:003:s0218
Manner: disembowelment · Authority Person Id: King Zhou of Shang (紂)
Explicit · shiji:023:s0078
Manner: killed / 殺 · Authority Person Id: King Zhou of Shang (紂)
Explicit · shiji:088:s0089
Cause: execution · Manner: executed for trying to do good with Jie and Zhou
Explicit · hanshu:022:s0015
Manner: heart-cut-open
Explicit · shiji:083:s0166

Attested activity

Qualitative: legendary antiquity
Explicit · hanshu:022:s0015, shiji:088:s0089
Source Date: Text: 商末 · Western Year: BC 1100
Explicit · liangshu:016:s0176
Source Date: Text: 武王克商之際 · Western Year: c. BC 1046
Explicit event contextual date · houhanshu:028:s0048
Source Date: Text: 比干 · Western Interval: Start: BC 1075 · End: BC 1046
Explicit event contextual date · shiji:003:s0202, shiji:003:s0218
Source Date: Text: 比干剖心 · Western Year: BC 1050
Explicit · shiji:083:s0166
Source Date: Text: 紂剖比干 · Western Year: BC 1046
Strongly inferred · shiji:023:s0078

Family

Kinship Role: descendants · Quantity: unspecified
Explicit · shiji:083:s0205

Origins and identity

As Stated: Prince / 王子
Explicit · hanshu:076:s0300

Career and standing

Status: execution · Action: suffered
Explicit · hanshu:022:s0015

Places and affiliations

Label: Shang / 商 · Relation: served
Strongly inferred · shiji:023:s0078
Polity: Shang / 商 · Relation: associated
Explicit · shiji:088:s0089

Events and relationships

Kind: political · Role: counselor · Action: sought-to-join-in-good · Other Person Ids: Jie (桀), King Zhou of Shang (紂) · Outcome: executed
Explicit · hanshu:022:s0015
Relation: minister-of · Person Id: King Zhou of Shang (紂)
Strongly inferred · shiji:023:s0078
Type: minister-of · Person Id: King Zhou of Shang (紂)
Explicit · hanshu:076:s0300

Assessments and attributes

Item: grave / 墓 · Relation: honored-by · Other Person Id: King Wu (武王)
Explicit · houhanshu:028:s0048

Source notes

Historicity: legendary
Explicit · shiji:088:s0089

References in the histories

Open any source group to read the Chinese and English passage in context.

Book of Han, Chapter 20Table of Ancient and Modern Persons · 1 passage

桀紂，龍逢、比干欲與之為善則誅，于莘、崇侯與之為惡則行。 By contrast, with Jie and Zhou, Long Feng and Bi Gan were executed for trying to do what was right with them, while Yu Xin and the Marquis of Chong were followed when they proposed evil.

Book of Han, Chapter 22Volume 20: Prominent People from the Past Until the Present · 1 passage

桀紂，龍逢、比干欲與之為善則誅，于莘、崇侯與之為惡則行。 By contrast, with Jie and Zhou, Long Feng and Bi Gan were executed for trying to do what was right with them, while Yuxin and the Marquis of Chong were followed when they proposed evil.

Book of Han, Chapter 76Volume 65: Dongfang Shuo · 2 passages

先生對曰：「昔者關龍逢深諫於桀，而王子比干直言於紂，此二臣者，皆極慮盡忠，閔王澤不下流，而萬民騷動，故直言其失，切諫其邪者，將以為君之榮，除主之禍也。 The gentleman replied, saying: "Formerly Guan Longpeng remonstrated deeply with Jie, and Prince Bigan spoke straight with Zhou—these two ministers both exhausted thought and fulfilled loyalty, pitied that the king's grace did not flow downward while the myriad people were restless; therefore they spoke straight of his faults and cut remonstrance of his wickedness, intending thereby to be the lord's glory and remove the ruler's disaster.

太公、伊尹以如此，龍逢、比干獨如彼，豈不哀哉！ The Grand Duke and Yi Yin met with such success, while Guan Longpeng and Bigan met with the opposite fate. Is that not tragic?

Book of Later Han, Chapter 28Volume 25: Biography of Zhuo, Lu, Wei, Liu · 1 passage

夫名冠天下，當受天下重賞，故武王誅紂，封比幹之墓，表商容之閭。 A reputation that towers over the empire deserves the empire's richest honors—King Wu slew Zhou yet honored Bi Gan's grave and marked Shang Rong's gate.

Book of Liang, Chapter 16Volume 16: Wang Liang; Zhang Ji; Wang Ying · 1 passage

陳吏部尚書姚察曰：孔子稱「殷有三仁：微子去之，箕子爲之奴，比干諫而死。」 Chen Minister of Personnel Yao Cha said: Confucius said, "Yin had three worthies: Weizi left; Jizi became a slave; Bigan remonstrated and died."

Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 3Annals of Yin · 4 passages

王子比干諫，弗聽。 Prince Bigan remonstrated; Zhou would not hear him.

比干曰：「為人臣者，不得不以死爭。」 Bigan said, "A minister who will not risk death is no minister."

剖比干，觀其心。 He cut Bigan open to look at his heart.

釋箕子之囚，封比干之墓，表商容之閭。 He freed Jizi, sealed Bigan's grave, and honored Shang Rong's lane.

Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 23Treatise on Ritual · 1 passage

紂剖比干，囚箕子，為炮格，刑殺無辜，時臣下懔然，莫必其命。 Zhou disemboweled Bi Gan, imprisoned Jizi, devised the heated-pillar torture, and punished and killed the innocent. At that time, the ministers below were terrified, and none were certain of their fate.

Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 83Biographies of Lu Zhonglian and Zou Yang · 3 passages

臣聞比干剖心，子胥鴟夷，臣始不信，乃今知之。 Your servant had heard that Bi Gan's heart was cut open and that Wu Zixu's body was sewn into a leather sack. I did not believe such things at first, but now I know they can happen.

封比干之後，修孕婦之墓，故功業復就於天下。 They enfeoffed the descendants of Bi Gan and restored the tombs of the innocent—and so their achievements were brought to fruition throughout the realm.

今夫天下布衣窮居之士，身在貧賤，雖蒙堯、舜之術，挾伊、管之辯，懷龍逢、比干之意，欲盡忠當世之君，而素無根柢之容，雖竭精思，欲開忠信，輔人主之治，則人主必有按劍相眄之跡，是使布衣不得為枯木朽株之資也。 Now consider the scholars of the realm who dwell in poverty and low estate. Though they may possess the arts of Yao and Shun, wield the eloquence of Yi Yin and Guan Zhong, and harbor the devotion of Long Pang and Bi Gan, wishing to devote their utmost loyalty to the ruler of their age—yet lacking anyone to introduce them or vouch for their worth—no matter how they exhaust their minds and seek to offer their faithfulness, the ruler will inevitably greet them with a hand on his sword and a suspicious glare. This is what prevents men of humble birth from gaining even the advantage of the gnarled log and the rotten stump.

Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 88Biography of Meng Tian · 1 passage

桀殺關龍逢，紂殺王子比干而不悔，身死則國亡。 The tyrant Jie killed the loyal Guan Longfeng, and the tyrant Zhou killed Prince Bigan without remorse. Both perished, and their kingdoms fell with them.