Qin and Han · General

Huo Qubing 霍去病

Attested BC 141 - BC 87

Passages: 2
Chapters: 2
Histories: 2

Overview

Huo Qubing was a general.

Life and dates

Attested activity

BC 123 to BC 117 去病辭家
Directly stated · Book of Zhou 18, passage 197
BC 141 to BC 87 自是之后
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 125, passages 66-67

Key source chapters

Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 125 Biographies of Flatterers 1 passage
Book of Zhou, Chapter 18 Volume 18 Biographies 10: Wang Pi; Wang Sizheng 1 passage

Career and standing

Held
Honored as outer relative
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 125, passage 67

Places and affiliations

Organization imperial consort families 外戚之家 · Relation Member of
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 125, passage 67

Events and relationships

Cited regarding leaving home while enemy remained
Literary allusion · Exemplar
Directly stated · Book of Zhou 18, passage 197

Assessments and attributes

Assessment advanced by talent as well as consort-family ties · Mode historian-judgment Speaker Sima Qian (司馬遷)
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 125, passage 67

References in the histories

Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 125Biographies of Flatterers · 1 passage

衛青、霍去病亦以外戚貴幸，然頗用材能自進。 Wei Qing and Huo Qubing likewise rose to prominence through their ties to the imperial consort's family, yet they owed much of their advancement to genuine talent and ability.

Book of Zhou, Chapter 18Volume 18 Biographies 10: Wang Pi; Wang Sizheng · 1 passage

及還，見而怒曰：「匈奴未滅，去病辭家，況大賊未平，何事產業！」 When he returned and saw it, he said in anger: "The Xiongnu were not yet destroyed when Huo Qubing left home—how much more now, with the great enemy still unbeaten, what business is there with estates!"