Qin and Han · Chancellor of Zhao

Guan Gao 貫高

Attested BC 200 - BC 198

Passages: 20
Chapters: 4
Histories: 2

Overview

The translated histories identify Guan Gao as an official, rebel, and statesman. This record brings together 20 passages from 4 chapters across 2 histories, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Guan Gao	貫高	Guan Gao
Personal name	Guan Gao	貫高	Guan Gao

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Explicit · hanshu:041:s0167, hanshu:046:s0099
Sex: male
Strongly inferred · shiji:104:s0012

Roles

Official
Rebel
Statesman

Life and dates

Death

Manner: suicide by cutting throat
Explicit · hanshu:041:s0208

Age

Age: 60 · Reckoning: over sixty · Source Text: 年六十餘
Explicit · hanshu:041:s0167

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 七年 · Western Year: BC 200
Explicit event contextual date · hanshu:041:s0167
Source Date: Text: 九年 · Western Year: BC 198
Explicit event contextual date · hanshu:041:s0183
Source Date: Text: 漢七年 · Western Year: BC 200
Explicit event contextual date · shiji:104:s0007, shiji:104:s0012
Source Date: Text: 貫高…謀弒上 · Western Interval: Start: BC 200 · End: BC 198
Explicit event contextual date · hanshu:046:s0099

Family

Kinship Role: three-clans · Count: 3 · Note: 三族皆以論死
Explicit · hanshu:041:s0200

Career and standing

Status: arrested · Action: entered
Explicit · shiji:104:s0015
Label: pardoned / 赦 · Action: pardoned
Explicit · hanshu:041:s0204
Label: tortured in interrogation / 榜笞 · Action: tortured
Explicit · hanshu:041:s0190

Works and attributed material

Kind: speech · Role: speaker · Other Person Id: Zhang Ao (張敖)
Explicit · hanshu:041:s0168
Kind: speech · Role: speaker
Explicit · hanshu:041:s0172, hanshu:041:s0173, hanshu:041:s0174, hanshu:041:s0175, hanshu:041:s0176, hanshu:041:s0205, hanshu:041:s0206, hanshu:041:s0207
Kind: testimony · Role: speaker
Explicit · hanshu:041:s0189, hanshu:041:s0199, hanshu:041:s0200, hanshu:041:s0201, hanshu:041:s0202

Events and relationships

Kind: assassination-plot · Role: conspirator · Action: plotted to kill Gaozu at Bairen · Other Person Id: Gaozu (高祖)
Explicit · hanshu:041:s0178
Kind: conspiracy · Role: conspirator · Action: plotted-regicide
Explicit · hanshu:046:s0099
Kind: political · Role: conspirator · Action: secretly plotted to assassinate Gaozu · Other Person Id: Emperor Gaozu (高祖)
Explicit · shiji:104:s0013
Kind: legal · Role: witness · Action: testimony cleared Zhang Ao
Explicit · shiji:104:s0018
Relation: former-retainer-of · Person Id: Zhang Er (張耳)
Explicit · hanshu:041:s0167

Assessments and attributes

Assessment: strong man who kept his pledged word · Provenance: Mode: named-person-judgment · Speaker Person Id: Gaozu (高祖)
Explicit · hanshu:041:s0193, hanshu:041:s0204

References in the histories

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

Book of Han, Chapter 2Volume 1: Annals of Emperor Gaozu 2 · 2 passages

還過趙，趙相貫高等恥上不禮其王，陰謀欲弒上。 On the return, as the emperor passed through Zhao, Zhao Chancellor Guan Gao and the others were ashamed that he had shown no courtesy to their king, and secretly plotted to assassinate him.

貫高等謀逆發覺，逮捕高等，并捕趙王敖下獄。 Guan Gao and the others' treasonous plot was discovered. Gao and the others were arrested, and Zhang Ao, King of Zhao, was also arrested and imprisoned.

Book of Han, Chapter 41Volume 32: Zhang Er and Chen Yu · 12 passages

趙相貫高、趙午年六十餘，故耳客也，怒曰：「吾王孱王也！」 Zhao's chancellor Guan Gao and Zhao Wu, both over sixty and former retainers of Zhang Er, grew angry and said, "Our king is a weakling!"

貫高等十餘人相謂曰：「 "Guan Gao and more than ten others then discussed the matter among themselves.

貫高等乃壁人柏人，要之置廁。 Guan Gao's group secretly placed men at Bairen to strike him in a latrine.

九年，貫高怨家知其謀，告之。 In year nine, an enemy of Guan Gao learned of the plot and reported it.

趙午等十餘人皆爭自剄，貫高獨怒罵曰：「誰令公等為之？ Zhao Wu and more than ten others all vied to cut their own throats. Guan Gao alone cursed them in anger, saying, "Who told you gentlemen to do this?

高對獄曰：「獨吾屬為之，王不知也。」 "In interrogation, Guan Gao said only his own group had acted and the king knew nothing."

廷尉以貫高辭聞，上曰：「壯士！ When the chief justice reported Guan Gao's testimony, the emperor said, "What a strong man!

上使泄公持節問之箯輿前。 The emperor sent Xie Gong with tally-staff credentials to question Guan Gao before his prison litter.

卬視泄公，勞若如平生歡。 Guan Gao raised his head, recognized Xie Gong, and greeted him as warmly as in earlier days.

高曰：「人情豈不各愛其父母妻子哉？ Guan Gao said, "Does not every man love his parents, wife, and children?

上賢高能自立然諾，使泄公赦之，告曰：「張王已出，上多足下，故赦足下。」 The emperor admired Guan Gao for holding to his pledged word. He ordered Xie Gong to release him and tell him: "Zhang Wang has already been released; the emperor greatly values you, so you are pardoned."

高曰：「所以不死，白張王不反耳。 Guan Gao said, "The reason I did not die was to clear the King of Zhao of rebellion.

Book of Han, Chapter 46Volume 37: Ji Bu, Luan Bu and Tian Shu · 2 passages

會趙午、貫高等謀弒上，事發覺，漢下詔捕趙王及群臣反者。 Then Zhao Wu, Guan Gao, and their circle plotted regicide; when the plot was uncovered, the Han court ordered the arrest of King Zhang and every minister implicated.

叔叩頭曰：「夫貫高等謀反，天子下明詔，趙有敢隨張王者罪三族，然孟舒自髡鉗，隨張王，以身死之，豈自知為雲中守哉！ Tian Shu kowtowed and said, "When Guan Gao and his fellow plotters rose against the throne, the Son of Heaven decreed death for three generations of any Zhao official who followed King Zhang—yet Meng Shu shaved his head, took the collar, and followed his lord to the grave. How could he have dreamed he would one day govern Yunzhong?

Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 104Biography of Tian Shu · 4 passages

於是貫高等曰：「王長者，不倍德。」 At this, Guan Gao and the others said among themselves: "The king is a man of honor who would never repay kindness with treachery."

於是趙午等皆自殺，唯貫高就系。 Zhao Wu and the other conspirators all took their own lives. Only Guan Gao submitted himself to arrest.

貫高事明白，趙王敖得出，廢為宣平侯，乃進言田叔等十餘人。 When Guan Gao's testimony cleared the king's name, King Ao of Zhao was released but demoted to the rank of Marquis of Xuanping. He then put forward the names of Tian Shu and more than ten others.

夫貫高等謀反，上下明詔，趙有敢隨張王，罪三族。 When Guan Gao and the others plotted their rebellion, the throne issued a clear decree that anyone in Zhao who dared follow King Zhang Ao would be punished along with all three branches of their clan.