Qin and Han · Official

Du Qin 杜欽

Attested BC 36

Passages: 38
Chapters: 4
Histories: 1

Overview

The translated histories identify Du Qin as a named individual, official, and scholar. This record brings together 38 passages from 4 chapters across 1 history, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Du Qin	杜欽	Du Qin
Alternate	Blind Du Zixia	盲杜子夏	Mang Du Zixia
Surname	Du	杜	Dù
Personal	Du Qin	欽	Du Qin
Personal name	Du Qin	欽	Dù Qīn
Personal name	Du Qin	杜欽	Du Qin
Personal	Du Qin	杜欽	Dù Qīn
Alternate	Little-Cap Du Zixia	小冠杜子夏	Xiaoguan Du Zixia
Personal name	Qin	欽
Given name	Qin	欽
Given	Qin	欽	Qīn
Courtesy	Zixia	子夏	Zixia
Given		欽	Qin

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Strongly inferred · hanshu:070:s0214, hanshu:090:s0003, hanshu:096:s0236
Value: male
Strongly inferred · hanshu:070:s0077

Roles

Named Individual
Official
Scholar

Life and dates

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 奉世死後二年 · Western Year: BC 36
Strongly inferred · hanshu:090:s0106, hanshu:090:s0108

Career and standing

consultant grandee / 議郎
Explicit · hanshu:070:s0159
intendant of the arsenal on the general's staff / 大將軍軍武庫令
Explicit · hanshu:070:s0082

Places and affiliations

漢家
Explicit · hanshu:070:s0096

Works and attributed material

Kind: memorial · Role: author · About Person Id: Feng Fengshi (馮奉世)
Explicit · hanshu:090:s0108, hanshu:090:s0109, hanshu:090:s0110, hanshu:090:s0111, hanshu:090:s0112, hanshu:090:s0113, hanshu:090:s0114, hanshu:090:s0115, hanshu:090:s0116, hanshu:090:s0117, hanshu:090:s0118
Kind: memorial · Role: author · About Person Id: Feng Yewang (馮野王)
Explicit · hanshu:090:s0157, hanshu:090:s0158, hanshu:090:s0159, hanshu:090:s0160, hanshu:090:s0161, hanshu:090:s0162, hanshu:090:s0163, hanshu:090:s0164, hanshu:090:s0165, hanshu:090:s0166, hanshu:090:s0167

Events and relationships

Type: younger-brother · Person Local Id: Du Huan (緩)
Explicit · hanshu:070:s0077

References in the histories

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

Book of Han, Chapter 38Volume 29: Treatise on Rivers and Canals · 2 passages

杜欽說大將軍王鳳，以為「前河決，丞相史楊焉言延世受焉術以塞之，蔽不肯見。 Du Qin advised Grand General Wang Feng: "During the previous breach, Chancellor's Clerk Yang Yan said that Yanshi had used a technique learned from him to close it, but Yanshi suppressed his claim and refused to see him.

鳳如欽言，白遣焉等作治，六月乃成。 Wang Feng accepted Du Qin's advice, petitioned accordingly, and dispatched Yang Yan and the others. The work was completed by the sixth month.

Book of Han, Chapter 70Volume 60: Du Zhou · 29 passages

緩六弟，五人至大官，少弟熊歷五郡二千石、三州牧刺史，有能名，唯中弟欽官不至而最知名。 Huan had six younger brothers, five of whom rose to high rank. The youngest, Xiong, served as governor of five commanderies and shepherd or inspector of three provinces with a reputation for competence; only the fifth brother, Qin, never climbed so high yet became the most famous of the line.

緩弟欽 Huan's younger brother: Du Qin.

欽字子夏，少好經書，家富而目偏盲，故不好為吏。 Du Qin, courtesy Zixia, loved classical learning in his youth. His family was wealthy, but partial blindness in one eye left him unwilling to pursue a routine official career.

茂陵杜鄴與欽同姓字，俱以材能稱京師，故衣冠謂欽為「盲杜子夏」以相別。 Another Du Ye of Maoling shared his surname and courtesy name; both were known in Chang'an for their gifts, so the gentry dubbed our man "the blind Du Zixia" to tell the two apart.

欽惡以疾見詆，乃為小冠，高廣財二寸，由是京師更謂欽為「小冠杜子夏」，而鄴為「大冠杜子夏」云。 Qin resented the nickname, so he took to wearing a tiny cap barely two inches high and wide; thereafter Chang'an called him "Little-Cap Du Zixia" and the other "Big-Cap Du Zixia."

鳳父頃侯禁與欽兄緩相善，故鳳深知欽能，奏請欽為大將軍軍武庫令。 Wang Feng's late father, Marquis Qing Wang Jin, had been friendly with Du Huan, so Feng knew Qin's talents well and had him appointed intendant of the arsenal on the general's staff.

職閒無事，欽所好也。 The post was a sinecure—exactly what Qin wanted.

欽為人深博有謀。 Du Qin was deep, learned, and full of stratagem.

欽因是說大將軍鳳曰：「禮壹娶九女，所以極陽數，廣嗣重祖也； Qin used the occasion to persuade Grand General Wang Feng, saying, "Ritual prescribes one marriage to nine wives, to fulfill the yang number, extend the lineage, and honor ancestors;

欽復重言：「《詩》云：『殷監不遠，在夏後氏之世』。 Qin pressed his case again, quoting the Book of Odes: "Yin's mirror is not far off—it lies in the house of Xia.

會皇太后女弟司馬君力與欽兄子私通，事上聞，欽慚懼，乞骸骨去。 Then it came out that the empress dowager's younger sister Sima Junli had carried on an affair with Qin's nephew. Qin, mortified and terrified, resigned his post.

後有日蝕、地震之變，詔舉賢良方正能直言士，合陽侯梁放舉欽。 Later, after solar eclipses and earthquakes, the throne called for outspoken men of integrity. Liang Fang, the marquis of Heyang, nominated Du Qin.

欽上對曰：「陛下畏天命，悼變異，延見公卿，舉直言之士，將以求天心，跡得失也。 Du Qin answered the rescript: "Your Majesty stands in awe of Heaven, mourns these omens, has opened the court to ministers, and summoned blunt speakers because you wish to read the mind of Heaven and learn where government has erred.

臣欽愚戇，經術淺薄，不足以奉大對。 Your servant Du Qin is dull-witted and poorly versed in the classics—hardly fit to answer so weighty an examination.

臣欽愚戇，言不足采。」 Your foolish servant has said more than his deserts; whether any of it merits heed is for Your Majesty alone to judge."

欽對曰：「臣聞天道貴信，地道貴貞； Du Qin replied: "Heaven esteems good faith; earth esteems constancy.

欽以前事病，賜帛罷，後為議郎，復以病免。 After the scandal Du Qin pleaded illness, received a gift of silk, and left office. He was later made a consultant grandee but again resigned on grounds of ill health.

征詣大將軍莫府，國家政謀，鳳常與欽慮之。 He was then summoned to Grand General Wang Feng's headquarters, where Feng habitually discussed state strategy with him.

數稱達名士王駿、韋安世、王延世等，救解馮野王、王尊、胡常之罪過，及繼功臣絕世，填撫四夷，當世善政，多出於欽者。 He repeatedly praised worthy men such as Wang Jun, Wei Anshi, and Wang Yanshi to high office, cleared Feng Yewang, Wang Zun, and Hu Chang of unjust charges, restored titles to meritorious families whose lines had failed, and soothed the frontier tribes—most of the era's sound policies owed something to Du Qin.

見鳳專政泰重，戒之曰：「昔周公身有至聖之德，屬有叔父之親，而成王有獨見之明，無信讒之聽，然管、蔡流言而周公懼。 Seeing Wang Feng's grip on power grow oppressive, Du Qin warned him: "The Duke of Zhou was the paragon of sagehood and the king's uncle, and King Cheng was a discerning sovereign who refused slander—yet the rumor spread by Guan and Cai still struck terror into the duke.

鳳甚憂懼，欽令鳳上疏謝罪，乞骸骨，文指甚哀。 Feng was terrified. Du Qin had him memorialize an abject apology and offer to resign—the wording was heart-rending.

欽復說之曰：「將軍深悼輔政十年，變異不已，故乞骸骨，歸咎於身，刻己自責，至誠動眾，愚知莫不感傷。 Du Qin urged him again: "Your memorial blames yourself for ten years of ill omens under your regency and asks to retire—such self-reproach moves every heart, high or low.

欽欲救其過，復說鳳曰：「京兆尹章所坐事密，吏民見章素好言事，以為不坐官職，疑其以日蝕見對有所言也。 Du Qin, hoping to repair the damage, again urged Feng: "The charge against Metropolitan Governor Wang Zhang was never made public. The capital supposes that because he always spoke boldly on policy, he lost his life not for corruption but for what he said about the eclipse.

欽愚以為宜因章事舉直言極諫，並見郎從官展盡其章，加於往前，以明示四方，使天下咸知主上聖明，不以言罪下也。 I suggest you use this case to invite the harshest criticism: let every gentleman-attendant and staff officer air his views more freely than before, so the whole empire will see that the sage Son of Heaven does not punish men for speaking out.

欽之補過將美，皆此類也。 Du Qin's habit of covering others' missteps while advancing what was right ran in this vein.

欽子及昆弟支屬至二千石者且十人。 Nearly ten of his sons, brothers, and cousins rose to the rank of two thousand piculs.

欽兄緩前免太常，以列侯奉朝請，成帝時乃薨，子業嗣。 His elder brother Du Huan had earlier been removed as Grand Master of ceremonies but kept his column marquis title with permission to attend court; he died under Emperor Cheng, and his son Du Ye inherited.

欽子業 Du Qin's son: Du Ye.

及欽浮沉當世，好謀而成，以建始之初深陳女戒，終如其言，庶幾乎《關雎》之見微，非夫浮華博習之徒所能規也。 Du Qin moved with his times, relished intrigue, and carried his plans through. At the opening of the Jianshi era he laid out the peril of the harem with frightening clarity, and events bore him out—close to the moral discernment of the "Guanju" ode, and far beyond the compass of shallow rhetoricians.

Book of Han, Chapter 90Volume 79: Feng Fengshi · 2 passages

於是杜欽上疏，追訟奉世前功曰：「前莎車王殺漢使者，約諸國背畔。 Du Qin then memorialized, retrospectively pleading Fengshi's earlier merit, saying, "Formerly the king of Shache killed Han's envoy and bound the states in rebellion.

杜欽時在大將軍莫府，欽素高野王父子行能，奏記於鳳，為野王言曰：「竊見令曰，吏二千石告，過長安謁，不分別予賜。 Du Qin, in Feng's staff, argued the statute: two-thousand-bushel men passing through the capital on leave were not split between "ordinary" and "granted" sick leave;

Book of Han, Chapter 96Volume 85: Gu Yong and Du Ye · 5 passages

其夏，皆令諸方正對策，語在《杜欽傳》。 That summer every candidate of square integrity was examined in debate; the details appear in Du Qin's biography.

時，對者數十人，永與杜欽為上第焉。 Of the dozens who responded, Gu Yong and Du Qin ranked highest.

永於經書，泛為疏達，與杜欽、杜鄴略等，不能洽浹如劉向父子及揚雄也。 Gu Yong's learning in the classics was broad but superficial, roughly equal to that of Du Qin and Du Ye, though not as thorough as that of Liu Xiang and his son or Yang Xiong.

故杜鄴敢譏丁、傅，而欽、永不敢言王氏，其勢然也。 So Du Ye could mock the Ding and Fu, while Du Qin and Gu Yong kept silent on the Wangs—such was the force of circumstance.

及欽欲挹損鳳權，而鄴附會音、商。 When Du Qin tried to check Wang Feng, Du Ye curried Wang Yin and Wang Shang instead.