Gongyi Xiu (公儀休) | 24 Histories

Overview

The translated histories identify Gongyi Xiu as an official and scholar. This record brings together 9 passages from 2 chapters across 2 histories, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Gongyi Xiu	公儀休	Gongyi Xiu
Alternate	Gongyi zi	公儀子	Gongyi zi
Alternate	Gongyi Zi	公儀子	Gongyi Zi

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Value: male
Strongly inferred · shiji:119:s0037

Roles

Official
Scholar

Life and dates

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 公儀休者，魯博士也 · Western Year: BC 415
Strongly inferred · shiji:119:s0037, shiji:119:s0038

Family

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

Spouse of Wife of Gongyi Xiu
Kinship Term: wife / 家婦 · Union Category: marriage · Subject Role: husband · Object Role: wife · Relationship State: ended
Kinship Term: wife / 家婦 · Union Category: marriage · Subject Role: wife · Object Role: husband · Relationship State: ended

Career and standing

Label: scholar-official / Erudite / 博士
Explicit · shiji:119:s0037
Label: Chancellor of Lu / 魯相 · Action: appointed
Explicit · shiji:119:s0038
Office: Minister of Lu / 相魯
Explicit · hanshu:065:s0312, hanshu:065:s0324

Places and affiliations

Place: Lu / 魯 · Relation: served-in
Explicit · shiji:119:s0037

Learning and skills

Credential: distinguished disciple / 高弟 · Action: earned
Explicit · shiji:119:s0038

Works and attributed material

Kind: speech · Role: speaker
Explicit · shiji:119:s0043, shiji:119:s0044, shiji:119:s0045, shiji:119:s0046, shiji:119:s0049

Events and relationships

Kind: policy · Role: chancellor · Action: barred salaried officials from competing with commoners for profit
Explicit · shiji:119:s0040
Kind: personal · Role: recipient · Action: refused a gift of fish
Explicit · shiji:119:s0041, shiji:119:s0042, shiji:119:s0043, shiji:119:s0044, shiji:119:s0045, shiji:119:s0046
Kind: personal · Role: actor · Action: sent away his wife and burned her loom after seeing fine household cloth · Other Person Id: Wife of Gongyi Xiu
Explicit · shiji:119:s0049, shiji:119:s0079
Kind: administration · Role: chancellor · Action: upheld law and principle without arbitrary changes; officials corrected themselves
Explicit · shiji:119:s0039
Kind: personal · Role: actor · Action: uprooted and discarded delicious garden mallows
Explicit · shiji:119:s0048

Assessments and attributes

Assessment: refused competing with farmers and weaving women for livelihood · Provenance: Mode: self-report · Speaker Person Id: Gongyi Xiu (公儀休)
Explicit · shiji:119:s0049
Item: garden mallows / 園葵 · Relation: discarded
Explicit · shiji:119:s0048
Item: loom / 機 · Relation: destroyed
Explicit · shiji:119:s0049

References in the histories

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

Book of Han, Chapter 65Volume 56: Dong Zhongshu · 2 passages

Open chapter

故公儀子相魯，之其家見織帛，怒而出其妻，食於舍而茹葵，慍而拔其葵，曰：「吾已食祿，又奪園夫紅女利乎！」 When Gongyi Xiu served as chancellor of Lu, he returned home and saw his wife weaving silk. Angered, he sent her away. Later, while dining at his residence, he ate mallow greens; in indignation he uprooted the mallow plants, saying, "I already live on a state stipend. Am I also to take the profits of gardeners and women who weave?"

若居君子之位，當君子之行，則捨公儀休之相魯，亡可為者矣。 For an officeholder to live as his station requires, Gongyi Xiu's conduct as chancellor of Lu is the complete model; nothing more is needed.

Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 119Biographies of Upright Officials · 7 passages

Open chapter

公儀休者，魯博士也。 Gongyi Xiu was a scholar-official of the state of Lu.

以高弟為魯相。 Because he was a distinguished disciple, he was appointed Chancellor of Lu.

客有遺相魚者，相不受。 A visitor once presented the Chancellor with a gift of fish, but the Chancellor refused to accept it.

客曰：「聞君嗜魚，遺君魚，何故不受也？」 The visitor said, 'I have heard that you are fond of fish, so I brought you some. Why do you refuse?'

相曰：「以嗜魚，故不受也。 The Chancellor replied, 'It is precisely because I am fond of fish that I refuse.

今為相，能自給魚； As Chancellor, I can provide my own fish;

公儀子見好布而家婦逐。 When Gongyi Xiu saw fine cloth in his home, he expelled his wife.