Grand Master Shangguan (上官大夫)

Overview

The translated histories identify Grand Master Shangguan as a courtier and official. This record brings together 4 passages from 1 chapter across 1 history, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Grand Master Shangguan	上官大夫	Shangguan dafu
Title	Grand Master Shangguan	上官大夫	Shàngguān dàfū
Surname	Shangguan	上官	Shàngguān

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Explicit · shiji:084:s0007

Roles

Courtier
Official

Life and dates

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 楚懷王 · Western Interval: Start: BC 328 · End: BC 299
Explicit event contextual date · shiji:084:s0007, shiji:084:s0002
Source Date: Text: 頃襄王 · Western Interval: Start: BC 298 · End: BC 278
Explicit event contextual date · shiji:084:s0067

Career and standing

Label: Grand Master / 大夫 · Action: held
Explicit · shiji:084:s0007

Works and attributed material

Kind: speech · Role: speaker · Other Person Id: King Huai (懷王)
Explicit · shiji:084:s0009

References in the histories

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

Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 84Biographies of Qu Yuan and Master Jia · 4 passages

Open chapter

上官大夫與之同列，爭寵而心害其能。 Grand Master Shangguan, who held the same rank, vied with him for the king's favor and secretly resented his abilities.

上官大夫見而欲奪之，屈平不與，因讒之曰：「王使屈平為令，眾莫不知，每一令出，平伐其功，（曰）以為『非我莫能為』也。」 Grand Master Shangguan saw the draft and wished to claim it for himself. When Qu Ping refused to hand it over, Shangguan slandered him before the king, saying: 'Your Majesty commissioned Qu Ping to draft these laws, and everyone knows it. Yet each time a new decree is issued, Ping boasts of the achievement, claiming that no one else could have done it.'

懷王以不知忠臣之分，故內惑於鄭袖，外欺於張儀，疏屈平而信上官大夫、令尹子蘭。 Because King Huai could not distinguish a loyal minister from a false one, he was beguiled within by Zheng Xiu and deceived without by Zhang Yi. He cast aside Qu Ping and placed his trust in Grand Master Shangguan and the Prime Minister Zi Lan.

令尹子蘭聞之大怒，卒使上官大夫短屈原於頃襄王，頃襄王怒而遷之。 When Prime Minister Zi Lan heard of this, he was enraged. He had Grand Master Shangguan speak against Qu Yuan before King Qingxiang. The king, in his anger, banished Qu Yuan.