Ancient China · Family Member

Gu Sou 瞽叟

Dates uncertain

Passages: 11
Chapters: 1
Histories: 1

Overview

The translated histories identify Gu Sou as a family member. This record brings together 11 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	Gu Sou	瞽叟	Gu Sou
Descriptive kinship	blind father	盲者
Personal name	Gu Sou	瞽叟	Gu Sou

Identity

Historicity: Legendary
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Explicit · shiji:001:s0105

Roles

Family Member

Life and dates

Attested activity

Qualitative: legendary antiquity
Explicit · shiji:001:s0155, shiji:001:s0157

Family

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

Child of Qiaoniu (橋牛)
Kinship Term: father / 父 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: father · Object Role: son
Parent of Shun (舜)
Kinship Term: father / 父 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: father · Object Role: son
Parent of Xiang (象)
Kinship Term: fathered / 生 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: father · Object Role: son
Spouse of Stepmother of Shun (舜後母)
Kinship Term: remarried / 更娶妻 · Union Category: marriage · Relationship State: formed
Spouse of Birth mother of Shun (舜生母)
Kinship Term: wife / 妻 · Union Category: marriage · Relationship State: ended

Events and relationships

Kind: personal · Role: perpetrator · Action: attempted-to-kill · Other Person Id: Shun (舜)
Explicit · shiji:001:s0178, shiji:001:s0181

Assessments and attributes

Kind: physical-description · Statement: blind
Explicit · shiji:001:s0105, shiji:001:s0157

Source notes

Historicity: legendary
Explicit · shiji:001:s0155

References in the histories

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

Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 1Annals of the Five Emperors · 11 passages

嶽曰：「盲者子。 The Peaks answered, “He is the son of a blind father.

父頑，母嚚，弟傲，能和以孝，烝烝治，不至姦。」 The father is brutish, the mother spiteful, the half-brother overbearing, yet Shun has made peace in the house through filial duty and brotherly love, so that no evil takes root.”

重華父曰瞽叟，瞽叟父曰橋牛，橋牛父曰句望，句望父曰敬康，敬康父曰窮蟬，窮蟬父曰帝顓頊，顓頊父曰昌意：以至舜七世矣。 Chonghua’s father was Gu Sou, whose father was Qiaoniu, whose father was Gouwang, whose father was Jingkang, whose father was Qiongchan, whose father was Emperor Zhuanxu, whose father was Changyi—seven generations from Shun to Zhuanxu.

舜父瞽叟盲，而舜母死，瞽叟更娶妻而生象，象傲。 Shun’s father Gu Sou was blind; Shun’s mother had died; Gu Sou remarried and fathered Xiang, a proud and overbearing son.

瞽叟愛後妻子，常欲殺舜，舜避逃； Gu Sou doted on the second wife’s child and often plotted Shun’s death; Shun slipped away.

舜父瞽叟頑，母嚚，弟象傲，皆欲殺舜。 His father remained brutish, his stepmother spiteful, his brother Xiang arrogant; all three still schemed against his life.

瞽叟尚復欲殺之，使舜上涂廩，瞽叟從下縱火焚廩。 Gu Sou still plotted murder: he sent Shun to roof the high granary, then fired the stacks from below.

後瞽叟又使舜穿井，舜穿井為匿空旁出。 Later Gu Sou ordered him to dig a well; Shun cut a secret lateral tunnel and climbed out.

舜既入深，瞽叟與象共下土實井，舜從匿空出，去。 When Shun had gone deep, Gu Sou and Xiang dumped earth down the shaft; Shun slipped through the side passage and vanished.

瞽叟、象喜，以舜為已死。 Father and brother rejoiced, sure Shun was dead.

舜復事瞽叟愛弟彌謹。 Shun afterward served his father and cherished his brother with even greater care.