Gao Yuanhai (高元海)

Overview

The translated histories identify Gao Yuanhai as a courtier, official, and royal family member. This record brings together 29 passages from 2 chapters across 1 history, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Gao Yuanhai	高元海	Gāo Yuánhǎi
Personal name	Gao Yuanhai	高元海	Gāo Yuánhǎi
Personal	Yuanhai	元海
Given name	Yuanhai	元海	Yuánhǎi

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Strongly inferred · beiqishu:014:s0041
Sex: male
Explicit · beiqishu:047:s0200

Roles

Courtier
Official
Royal Family Member

Life and dates

Death

Manner: execution · Place: Ye / 鄴 · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 周建德七年 · Western Year: AD 578
Explicit · beiqishu:014:s0096

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 周建德七年 · Western Year: AD 578
Explicit · beiqishu:014:s0096
Source Date: Text: 皇建末 · Western Year: AD 561
Explicit · beiqishu:014:s0047
Source Date: Text: 高元海 · Western Interval: Start: AD 560 · End: AD 565
Explicit event contextual date · beiqishu:047:s0200

Family

Immediate source-linked family. Drag to pan, scroll or pinch to zoom, and select a person to open their record.

Spouse of Yuanhai’s later wife
Kinship Term: later wife / 後妻 · Union Category: marriage
Kinship Term: later wife / 後妻 · Union Category: marriage
Child of Sizong (思宗)
Kinship Term: son / 子 · Parentage: biological

Career and standing

Label: Director of the Masters of Writing / 尚書令 · Action: appointed · Date Context: Qualitative: as Ye was about to fall
Explicit · beiqishu:014:s0095
Label: Commander of the Army / 領軍 · Action: appointed
Explicit · beiqishu:014:s0046
Label: Palace Attendant, Opener of a Government Office Equal in Protocol to Three Imperators, Grand Tutor to the Crown Prince / 侍中、開府儀同三司、太子詹事 · Action: appointed
Explicit · beiqishu:014:s0084
Label: Regular Attendant of the Scattered Cavalry / 散騎常侍 · Action: held
Explicit · beiqishu:014:s0041
Label: Right Vice Minister / 右僕射 · Action: held
Explicit · beiqishu:014:s0099
Label: Governor of Zheng Province / 鄭州刺史 · Action: sent out as · Date Context: Qualitative: after being reported to the Empress Dowager Lu by Zu Ting
Explicit · beiqishu:014:s0094
Label: Governor of Yan Province / 兗州刺史 · Action: sent out as
Explicit · beiqishu:014:s0089
Status: executed · Action: plotted rebellion at Ye and was executed · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 周建德七年 · Western Year: AD 578
Explicit · beiqishu:014:s0096
Status: punished · Action: slandered by He Shikai and beaten sixty strokes with the horsewhip · Authority Person Id: He Shikai (和士開)
Explicit · beiqishu:014:s0085

Learning and skills

Belief: Buddhism / 釋典 · Relation: aspirant
Explicit · beiqishu:014:s0042

Works and attributed material

Kind: counsel · Role: speaker · Action: persuaded the Later Lord to forbid slaughter and cut off the sale of wine
Explicit · beiqishu:014:s0099
Kind: counsel · Role: speaker · Action: reassured Wucheng that the Empress Dowager and the emperor bore him no ill will
Explicit · beiqishu:014:s0061
Kind: rebuke · Role: addressee · Action: was rebuked for urging Wucheng to rebel against his elder brother and for troops resisting Bing Province
Explicit · beiqishu:014:s0086, beiqishu:014:s0087, beiqishu:014:s0088
Kind: counsel · Role: speaker · Action: when pressed, urged Wucheng to seize power by force, arguing the Prince of Ji’nan was the legitimate heir wrongly displaced · Other Person Id: Prince of Ji’nan (濟南王)
Explicit · beiqishu:014:s0074, beiqishu:014:s0075

Events and relationships

Kind: political · Role: advisor · Action: devised three stratagems overnight for Wucheng to secure himself, citing the precedent of Prince Xiao of Liang · Other Person Id: Prince Zhan of Changguang (長廣王湛)
Explicit · beiqishu:014:s0063, beiqishu:014:s0065, beiqishu:014:s0066, beiqishu:014:s0067, beiqishu:014:s0068, beiqishu:014:s0069, beiqishu:014:s0070, beiqishu:014:s0071, beiqishu:014:s0072
Kind: religious · Role: retreatant · Action: entered Mount Linlu for two years to cultivate the Buddhist canon, then petitioned to return · Other Person Id: Gao Yang (高洋)
Explicit · beiqishu:014:s0043, beiqishu:014:s0044
Kind: political · Role: co-administrator · Action: jointly held court governance with Zu Ting in the Wuping era · Other Person Id: Zu Ting (祖珪)
Explicit · beiqishu:014:s0091
Kind: political · Role: advisor · Action: stayed behind at the capital to manage confidential affairs while Xiaozhao visited Jinyang and Wucheng remained on guard · Other Person Id: Emperor Xiaozhao (孝昭帝)
Explicit · beiqishu:014:s0047
Relation: rivalry-with · Person Id: Zu Ting (祖珪)
Explicit · beiqishu:014:s0093

Assessments and attributes

Assessment: his heart was not truly at peace, and in the end he brought on ruin · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
Explicit · beiqishu:014:s0100
Assessment: loved disorder and delighted in calamity, yet feigned benevolence, abstaining from wine and meat · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
Explicit · beiqishu:014:s0097
Kind: character · Statement: small in capacity but great in ambition, prided himself on clever stratagems
Explicit · beiqishu:014:s0046

Source notes

Statement: counseled Wenxuan to revere Buddhism and cease blood offerings at the ancestral temple in the last years of Tianbao
Explicit · beiqishu:014:s0098
Statement: often reported the Empress Dowager Lu’s confidential words to Zu Ting
Explicit · beiqishu:014:s0092

References in the histories

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

Book of Northern Qi, Chapter 14Volume 14 Biographies 6: Guangping Gongcheng; Yangzhou Gong Yongle; Di Zhangbi; Prince of Xiangle, Xiang Guo; Prince of Shangluo, Si Zong; Zi Yuanhai; Di Sihao; Prince of Pingqin, Guiyan; Prince Pu of Wuxing; Changle, Governor of Lingshan; Sizi Fuhu · 24 passages

Open chapter

廣平公盛陽州公永樂弟長弼襄樂王顯國上洛王思宗子元海弟思好平秦王歸彥武興王普長樂太守靈山嗣子伏護 Duke Sheng of Guangping; Duke Yongle of Yangzhou; younger brother Changbi; Prince Xianguo of Xiangle; Prince Sizong of Shangluo; son Yuanhai; younger brother Sihao; Prince Guiyan of Pingqin; Prince Pu of Wuxing; Lingshan, Governor of Changle; successor son Fuhu

子元海，累遷散騎常侍。 His son Yuanhai rose in succession to regular attendant of the scattered cavalry.

皇建末，孝昭幸晉陽，武成居守，元海以散騎常侍留典機密。 At the end of the Huangjian era, Gao Yan visited Jinyang while Gao Zhan remained on guard; Yuanhai, as regular attendant of the scattered cavalry, stayed behind to manage confidential affairs.

武成先咨元海，並問自安之計。 Gao Zhan first consulted Yuanhai and also asked for a plan to secure himself.

元海曰：「皇太后萬福，至尊孝性非常，殿下不須別慮。」 Yuanhai said, "The Empress Dowager enjoys boundless fortune; the emperor's filial nature is extraordinary — Your Highness need not worry otherwise."

元海乞還省一夜思之。 Yuanhai asked to return to his quarters and think on it one night.

武成卽留元海後堂。 Gao Zhan kept Yuanhai in the rear hall.

元海達旦不眠，唯繞床徐步。 Yuanhai went all night without sleep, only pacing slowly around the bed.

及孝昭崩，武成卽位，除元海侍中、開府儀同三司、太子詹事。 When Gao Yan died and Gao Zhan ascended the throne, Yuanhai was made palace attendant, opener of a government office equal in protocol to three imperators, and grand tutor to the crown prince.

河清二年，元海為和士開所譖，被捶馬鞭六十。 In the second year of Heqing, Yuanhai was slandered by He Shikai and was beaten sixty strokes with the horsewhip.

元海後妻，陸太姬甥也，故尋被追任使。 Yuanhai's later wife was a niece of Empress Dowager Lu; for this reason he was soon recalled and given employment again.