Qin and Han · Scholar

Gongsun Chen 公孫臣

Gōngsūn Chén

Attested BC 209 - BC 141

Passages: 4
Chapters: 3
Histories: 2

Overview

The translated histories identify Gongsun Chen as an official and scholar. This record brings together 4 passages from 3 chapters across 2 histories, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Gongsun Chen	公孫臣	Gōngsūn Chén
Given	Chen	臣
Surname	Gongsun	公孫	Gongsun
Surname	Gongsun	公孫
Personal name	Gongsun Chen	公孫臣	Gongsun Chen

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Explicit · hanshu:051:s0153

Roles

Official
Scholar

Life and dates

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 孝文時 · Western Interval: Start: BC 180 · End: BC 157
Explicit event contextual date · shiji:026:s0044
Source Date: Text: 漢初 · Western Interval: Start: BC 209 · End: BC 141
Explicit event contextual date · hanshu:051:s0153

Places and affiliations

Polity: Han · Relation: served
Explicit · shiji:026:s0044
Place: Lu / 魯
Explicit · hanshu:051:s0153, shiji:026:s0044

Works and attributed material

Kind: memorial · Role: author · Quoted: true
Explicit · hanshu:051:s0153, shiji:026:s0044, shiji:026:s0045

Events and relationships

Kind: intellectual · Role: memorialist · Action: proposed-earth-virtue-calendar-reform
Explicit · shiji:026:s0044, shiji:026:s0045

References in the histories

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

Book of Han, Chapter 5Volume 4: Annals of Emperor Wen · 1 passage

公孫臣明服色，新垣平設五廟。 Gongsun Chen clarified the ritual vestments and colors, while Xin Yuanping established the five ancestral temples.

Book of Han, Chapter 51Volume 42: Zhang, Zhou, Zhao, Ren and Shentu · 2 passages

蒼為丞相十餘年，魯人公孫臣上書，陳終始五德傳，言「漢土德時，其符黃龍見，當改正朔，易服色」。 Zhang Cang had been chancellor for more than ten years when Gongsun Chen of Lu submitted a memorial on the cycle of the Five Phases, saying, "When Han enters the era of Earth, the omen will be the appearance of a yellow dragon; the calendar and court colors must be changed."

其後黃龍見成紀，於是文帝召公孫臣以為博士，草立土德時曆制度，更元年。 Later, when a yellow dragon was sighted at Chengji, Emperor Wen summoned Gongsun Chen, appointed him an erudite, and had him draft the calendar and institutions for the Earth era and proclaim a new inaugural year.

Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 26Treatise on the Calendar · 1 passage

至孝文時，魯人公孫臣以終始五德上書，言「漢得土德，宜更元，改正朔，易服色。 By the time of Emperor Xiaowen, Gongsun Chen of Lu memorialized on the succession of the Five Virtues, saying, “Han has obtained earth virtue. It should change the era, reform the calendar, and alter the clothing colors.