Qin and Han · Official

Gongsun Hong 公孫弘

Died BC 121

Passages
97
Chapters
17
Histories
3

Overview

The translated histories identify Gongsun Hong as a diplomat, official, scholar, and statesman. This record brings together 97 passages from 17 chapters across 3 histories, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

TypeEnglishChinesePinyin
Personal Gongsun Hong 公孫弘 Gongsun Hong
Title Chancellor Gongsun 公孫丞相 Gongsun chengxiang
Surname Gongsun 公孫
Surname Gongsun 公孫 Gongsun
Personal Gongsun 公孫 Gongsun
Surname Gongsun 公孫 Gōngsūn
Personal Gongsun Hong 公孫弘
Personal name Gongsun Hong 公孫弘 Gongsun Hong
Personal Gongsun Hong 公孫弘 Gōngsūn Hóng
Personal name Gongsun Hong 公孫弘
Personal name Gongsun Hong 公孫弘 Gōngsūn Hóng
Personal Hong 弘
Given Hong 弘 Hong
Personal name Hong Hong
Given Hong 弘 Hóng
Given name Hong 弘
Title Imperial Clerk Hong 御史大夫弘 Yùshǐ dàfū Hóng
Title Imperial Counselor Gongsun Hong 御史大夫公孫弘
Title Marquis of Pingjin 平津侯 Pingjin Hou
Personal Sun Hong 孫弘 Sun Hong
Surname 公孫 Gongsun
Given 弘 Hong

Identity

Historicity
Historical
Identification
Named
Sex
Male

Roles

  • Diplomat
  • Official
  • Scholar
  • Statesman

Life and dates

Death

  • Manner: died in office as chancellor · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 終丞相位 · Western Year: BC 121
    Explicit · hanshu:068:s0139

Age

  • Age: 40 · Reckoning: sui · Qualifier: more-than
    Explicit · hanshu:068:s0005
  • Age: 60 · Reckoning: sui · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 武帝初即位…弘年六十 · Western Year: BC 141
    Explicit · hanshu:068:s0006
  • Age: 80 · Reckoning: sui · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 年八十，終丞相位 · Western Year: BC 121
    Explicit · hanshu:068:s0139

Attested activity

  • Source Date: Text: 丞相弘 · Western Year: BC 121
    Explicit · hanshu:069:s0031
  • Source Date: Text: 元光五年 · Western Year: BC 130
    Explicit · hanshu:068:s0008
  • Source Date: Text: 元始中 · Western Interval: Start: AD 1 · End: AD 5
    Explicit · hanshu:068:s0144
  • Source Date: Text: 元朔中 · Western Interval: Start: BC 128 · End: BC 123
    Explicit · hanshu:068:s0110
  • Source Date: Text: 元狩二年 · Western Year: BC 121
    Explicit · shiji:109:s0105
  • Source Date: Text: 夫藺先生收功於章台… · Western Year: BC 130
    Explicit event contextual date · hanshu:099:s0107
  • Source Date: Text: 孝武之世 · Western Interval: Start: BC 141 · End: BC 87
    Explicit event contextual date · hanshu:101:s0007
  • Source Date: Text: 年八十，終丞相位 · Western Year: BC 121
    Explicit · hanshu:068:s0139
  • Source Date: Text: 建元六年 · Western Year: BC 135
    Explicit event contextual date · shiji:116:s0018, shiji:116:s0039
  • Source Date: Text: 御史大夫公孫弘議曰 · Western Interval: Start: BC 124 · End: BC 121
    Explicit · shiji:124:s0117
  • Source Date: Text: 武帝 · Western Interval: Start: BC 141 · End: BC 87
    Explicit event contextual date · hanshu:059:s0169
  • Source Date: Text: 武帝初即位 · Western Year: BC 141
    Explicit · hanshu:068:s0006
  • Source Date: Text: 武帝時期 · Western Interval: Start: BC 140 · End: BC 121
    Explicit event contextual date · shiji:120:s0058, shiji:120:s0075
  • Source Date: Text: 漢武之世 · Western Interval: Start: BC 130 · End: BC 121
    Strongly inferred · houhanshu:032:s0004
  • Source Date: Text: 漢興六十餘載 · Western Interval: Start: BC 141 · End: BC 87
    Explicit event contextual date · hanshu:068:s0253, hanshu:068:s0254, hanshu:068:s0258

Family

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

  • Parent of Gongsun Du (度)
    Kinship Term: son / 子 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: father · Object Role: son
  • Child of Stepmother of Gongsun Hong
    Kinship Term: stepmother / 後母 · Parentage: step · Subject Role: stepson · Object Role: stepmother
  • Kinship Role: descendants · Quantity: unspecified · Qualifier: posterity and grandchildren
    Explicit · hanshu:068:s0147

Career and standing

  • Label: prison clerk / 獄吏
    Explicit · hanshu:068:s0003
  • Label: erudite / 博士 · Action: appointed · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 元光五年 · Western Year: BC 130
    Explicit event contextual date · hanshu:068:s0008, hanshu:068:s0066
  • Label: chancellor / 丞相 · Action: appointed · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 元朔中 · Western Interval: Start: BC 128 · End: BC 123
    Explicit · hanshu:068:s0110
  • Label: erudite / 博士 · Action: appointed · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 武帝初即位 · Western Year: BC 141
    Explicit · hanshu:068:s0006
  • Label: chancellor / 丞相 · Action: appointed
    Explicit · hanshu:059:s0183
  • Label: Chancellor / 丞相 · Action: appointed
    Explicit · shiji:120:s0063, shiji:120:s0075
  • Label: Left Metropolitan Superintendent / 左內史 · Action: appointed
    Explicit · hanshu:068:s0084
  • Label: Imperial Chancellor / 丞相 · Action: held
    Explicit · shiji:109:s0105
  • Label: Imperial Counselor / 御史大夫 · Action: held
    Explicit · shiji:124:s0117
  • Label: Imperial Secretary / 御史大夫 · Action: held
    Explicit · shiji:116:s0041
  • Label: imperial counselor / 御史大夫 · Action: promoted
    Explicit · hanshu:068:s0094
  • chancellor / 丞相
    Explicit · hanshu:074:s0006, hanshu:074:s0198
  • chancellor
    Explicit · hanshu:027:s0098, hanshu:027:s0101
  • Chancellor / 丞相
    Explicit · hanshu:076:s0226
  • Office: chancellor / 丞相
    Explicit · hanshu:069:s0031
  • Office: Imperial Clerk / 御史大夫
    Explicit · hanshu:102:s0110
  • Title: Imperial Counselor / 御史大夫
    Explicit · hanshu:104:s0108
  • Title: Marquis of Pingjin / 平津侯 · Action: enfeoffed · Place: Pingjin township in Gaocheng / 高成之平津鄉 · Households: 650
    Explicit · hanshu:068:s0112
  • Title: marquis / 侯 · Action: enfeoffed
    Explicit · shiji:120:s0075
  • Title: marquis / 侯 · Action: enfeoffed
    Explicit · hanshu:059:s0194
  • Title: Marquis of Pingjin / 平津侯 · Action: held
    Explicit · hanshu:068:s0112
  • Status: illness · Action: gravely ill
    Explicit · hanshu:068:s0120
  • Status: resignation · Action: pleaded illness and resigned
    Explicit · hanshu:068:s0007
  • Status: rose-from-humble-circumstances · Statement: swan's pinions among sparrows; tracks among sheep and pigs / 鴻漸之翼困於燕爵，遠跡羊豕之間
    Explicit · hanshu:068:s0253
  • Status: dismissal · Action: dismissed · Label: dismissed for an offense / 有罪，免
    Explicit · hanshu:068:s0003

Places and affiliations

Learning and skills

  • Subject: Spring and Autumn Annals and miscellaneous expositions / 《春秋》雜說 · Relation: studied
    Explicit · hanshu:068:s0005

Works and attributed material

Events and relationships

Assessments and attributes

References in the histories

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

Book of Han, Chapter 27Volume 24b: Treatise on Trade 2 · 2 passages
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Book of Han, Chapter 59Volume 50: Zhang, Feng, Ji and Zheng · 9 passages
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Book of Han, Chapter 65Volume 56: Dong Zhongshu · 3 passages
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Book of Han, Chapter 68Volume 58: Gongsun Hong, Bu Shi and Er Kuan · 48 passages
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先是，漢常以列侯為丞相，唯弘無爵，上於是下詔曰：「朕嘉先聖之道，開廣門路，宣招四方之士，蓋古者任賢而序位，量能以授官，勞大者厥祿厚，德盛者獲爵尊，故武功以顯重，而文德以行褒。 Before Hong, every Han chancellor had held a marquisate; Hong alone had none. The emperor therefore proclaimed: "I honor the teaching of the ancient sages, throw wide the doors, and call talent from every quarter. Antiquity appointed the worthy by rank and matched office to ability—great toil won rich pay, towering virtue a high title—so martial deeds were exalted and civil grace rewarded.
漢之得人，於茲為盛，儒雅則公孫弘、董仲舒、兒寬，篤行則石建、石慶，質直則汲黯、卜式，推賢則韓安國、鄭當時，定令則趙禹、張湯，文章則司馬遷、相如，滑稽則東方朔、枚皋，應對則嚴助、硃買臣，歷數則唐都、洛下閎，協律則李延年，運籌則桑弘羊，奉使則張騫、蘇武，將率則衛青、霍去病，受遺則霍光、金日磾，其餘不可勝紀。 Never did the dynasty gather talent so thickly: Hong, Dong, and Kuan for classical breadth; the Shi brothers for steadfast service; Ji An and Bu Shi for blunt loyalty; Han Anguo and Zheng Dangshi for lifting others; Zhao Yu and Zhang Tang for codifying law; Sima Qian and Xiangru for voice; jesters Dongfang Shuo and Mei Gao; debaters Yan Zhu and Zhu Maichen; calendar-makers Tang Du and Luoxia Hong; the harmonist Li Yan'nian; the reckoner Sang Hongyang; envoys Zhang Qian and Su Wu; blades Wei Qing and Huo Qubing; regents Huo Guang and Jin Midi—and a cloud of names besides.
Book of Han, Chapter 69Volume 59: Zhang Tang · 1 passage
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Book of Han, Chapter 74Volume 64a: Yan, Zhu, Wuqiu, Zhufu, Xu, Yan, Zhong, Wang, and Jia 1 · 9 passages
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Book of Han, Chapter 75Volume 64b: Yan, Zhu, Wuqiu, Zhufu, Xu, Yan, Zhong, Wang, and Jia 2 · 1 passage
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世稱公孫弘排主父，張湯陷嚴助，石顯譖捐之，察其行跡，主父求欲鼎亨而得族，嚴、賈出入禁門招權利，死皆其所也，亦何排陷之恨哉！ Posterity blames Gongsun Hong for sidelining Zhufu Yan, Zhang Tang for ruining Yan Zhu, and Shi Xian for destroying Jia Juanzhi—yet examine how these men lived. Zhufu Yan clawed after the honors of the high minister's tripod and instead won the execution of his entire kin; Yan Zhu and Jia Juanzhi used their passes through the forbidden gates to peddle influence and line their pockets. Each fell by his own doing; there is little cause to nurse a grudge against those who merely 'squeezed' or 'framed' them.
Book of Han, Chapter 76Volume 65: Dongfang Shuo · 3 passages
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是時，朝廷多賢材，上復問朔：「方今公孫丞相，兒大夫、董仲舒、夏侯始昌、司馬相如、吾丘壽王、主父偃、硃買臣、嚴助、汲黯、膠倉、終軍、嚴安、徐樂、司馬遷之倫，皆辯知閎達，溢於文辭，先生自視，何與比哉？」 The court at that time teemed with talent, and the emperor pressed Shuo again: "Consider Chancellor Gongsun Hong, Censor-in-Chief Er Kuan, Dong Zhongshu, Xiahou Shichang, Sima Xiangru, Wuqiu Shouwang, Zhufu Yan, Zhu Maichen, Yan Zhu, Ji An, Jiao Cang, Zhong Jun, Yan An, Xu Le, Sima Qian, and men of that stamp. They are learned, articulate, and prolific writers. How do you measure yourself against such company?"
時方外事胡、越，內興制度，國家多事，自公孫弘以下至司馬遷，皆奉使方外，或為郡國守相至公卿，而朔嘗至太中大夫，後常為郎，與枚皋、郭舍人俱在左右，詼啁而已。 While the empire was busy with the Xiongnu and the Yue on the frontier and with new institutions at home, everyone from Gongsun Hong down to Sima Qian was dispatched abroad or made a regional governor or rose to the highest offices. Shuo had briefly reached grand counselor of the palace, but he usually held only the modest rank of gentleman-attendant and, with Mei Gao and Guo Sheren, hovered at the ruler's elbow cracking jokes.
其餘《封泰山》、《責和氏璧》及《皇太子生禖》、《屏風》、《殿上柏柱》、《平樂觀賦獵》，八言、七言上下，《從公孫弘借車》，凡劉向所錄朔書具是矣。 The remainder—his pieces on the Feng sacrifice at Mount Tai, the rebuke to the He-family jade, the birth prayer for the crown prince, the screen, the hall cypress pillars, the Pingle hunt rhapsody, suites of eight- and seven-syllable lines, and the skit on borrowing a carriage from Gongsun Hong—comprise everything Liu Xiang catalogued under Dongfang Shuo's name.
Book of Han, Chapter 99Volume 87b: Yang Xiong 2 · 1 passage
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Book of Han, Chapter 101Volume 89: Upright Officials · 2 passages
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Book of Han, Chapter 102Volume 90: Cruel Officials · 1 passage
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Book of Han, Chapter 104Volume 92: Youxias · 1 passage
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Book of Later Han, Chapter 32Volume 28b: Biography of Feng Yan · 1 passage
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Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 109Biography of General Li · 1 passage
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Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 116Treatise on the Southwestern Yi People · 3 passages
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Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 120Biographies of Ji and Zheng · 10 passages
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而黯常毀儒，面觸弘等徒懷詐飾智以阿人主取容，而刀筆吏專深文巧詆，陷人於罪，使不得反其真，以勝為功。 Ji An was relentless in his criticism of the Confucians, confronting Gongsun Hong and others to their faces with the charge that they harbored nothing but deceit, dressing up their cleverness to flatter the Emperor. As for the legal clerks, he accused them of twisting the law and crafting specious accusations to entrap the innocent, denying them any chance of vindication—and counting each conviction as a triumph.
Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 124Biographies of Knight-errants · 1 passage
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