Guanyinnu (觀音奴) | 24 Histories

Overview

The translated histories identify Guanyinnu as an administrator, judge, and official. This record brings together 8 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	Guanyinnu	觀音奴	Guānyīnnú
Courtesy	Zhineng	志能	Zhìnéng

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Strongly inferred · yuanshi:192:s0097

Roles

Administrator
Judge
Official

Life and dates

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 泰定四年 · Western Year: AD 1327
Explicit · yuanshi:192:s0098

Origins and identity

Ethnicity: Tangut / 唐兀人氏
Explicit · yuanshi:192:s0097

Career and standing

Label: prefect of Guide Prefecture / 知歸德府 · Action: appointed
Explicit · yuanshi:192:s0099
Label: principal clerk in the Ministry of Revenue / 戶部主事 · Action: held
Explicit · yuanshi:192:s0099
Label: office in the Directorate of Waterways / 都水監官 · Action: promoted
Explicit · yuanshi:192:s0115

Places and affiliations

Polity Id: yuan · Relation: served
Explicit · yuanshi:192:s0098
Place: Xin Prefecture / 新州 · Relation: resided-in
Explicit · yuanshi:192:s0097

Learning and skills

Credential: Presented Scholar / 進士 · Action: earned · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 泰定四年 · Western Year: AD 1327
Explicit · yuanshi:192:s0098

Events and relationships

Kind: legal · Role: judge · Action: cleared-Ren-Jia-homicide-case · Other Person Id: Ren Jia (任甲)
Explicit · yuanshi:192:s0102, yuanshi:192:s0103, yuanshi:192:s0104, yuanshi:192:s0105, yuanshi:192:s0106
Kind: ritual · Role: official · Action: drank-locusts-averted-disaster · Place: Bozhou / 亳州
Explicit · yuanshi:192:s0114
Kind: legal · Role: judge · Action: restored-Wang-fields-from-Yang-Jia · Other Person Id: Yang Jia (楊甲)
Explicit · yuanshi:192:s0107, yuanshi:192:s0108, yuanshi:192:s0109, yuanshi:192:s0110, yuanshi:192:s0112, yuanshi:192:s0113

Assessments and attributes

Assessment: incorrupt-clear-sighted-resolute · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
Explicit · yuanshi:192:s0100

References in the histories

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

History of Yuan, Chapter 192Volume 192 Biographies 79: Virtuous Officials 2 · 8 passages

Open chapter

觀音奴，字志能，唐兀人氏，居新州。 Guanyinnu, courtesy name Zhineng, was of Tangut descent and lived in Xin Prefecture.

民有銜冤不直者，雖數十年前事，皆千里奔走來訴，觀音奴立為剖決，旬日悉清。 People with old grievances that had never been redressed—even cases from decades past—would travel hundreds of miles to bring suit; Guanyinnu would hear them at once, and within ten days every backlog was cleared.

王來訴冤，觀音奴立破械出孫於獄，呼府胥語之曰：「吾為文具香幣，若為吾以郄事禱諸城隍神，令神顯於吾。」 Lady Wang came to plead her case; Guanyinnu at once had Sun released from prison, summoned a clerk, and said, "Prepare incense and offerings; go pray to the City God about Qie's death, and let the god reveal the truth to me."

有睢陽小吏，亦預郄事，畏觀音奴嚴明，且懼神顯其事，乃以任所賂鈔陳首曰：「郄實傷死，任賂上下匿其實，吾亦得賂，敢以首。」 A petty clerk of Suiyang who had been involved in the case, fearing Guanyinnu's severity and that the god would expose the truth, presented the bribe money he had taken from Ren and confessed: "Qie truly died of the beating; Ren bribed officials up and down to cover it up, and I took a bribe as well—I come forward to confess."

觀音奴令王妻挽楊，同就崔府君神祠質之。 Guanyinnu had Wang's wife take Yang by the arm and go with him to the shrine of Lord Cui to settle the dispute before the god.

觀音奴疑之，召巫詰問，巫吐其實曰：「楊以羊酒浼我囑神曰：'我實據王田，幸神勿洩也。 Guanyinnu grew suspicious and questioned the shaman, who confessed: "Yang bribed me with sheep and wine to tell the god, 'I have in fact seized Wang's land—please do not expose me.'

'」觀音奴因訊得其實，坐楊罪，歸其田王氏，責神而撤其祠。 Through further inquiry Guanyinnu established the facts, punished Yang, restored the fields to the Wang family, rebuked the shrine, and had it torn down.

亳州有蝗食民禾，觀音奴以事至亳，民以蝗訴，立取蝗向天祝之，以水研碎而飲，是歲蝗不為災。 When locusts were devouring the grain in Bozhou, Guanyinnu happened to be there on business; the people appealed to him; he took locusts at once, prayed heavenward over them, ground them in water and drank the mixture, and that year the locusts did no harm.