Ancient China · Official

Ji 稷

Dates uncertain

Passages
41
Chapters
21
Histories
8

Overview

The translated histories identify Ji as an administrator, clan leader, farmer, and named individual. This record brings together 41 passages from 21 chapters across 8 histories, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

TypeEnglishChinesePinyin
Personal Ji 稷 Ji
Personal Hou Ji 後稷 Hou Ji
Personal Hou Ji 稷 Hou Ji
Personal Hou Ji 后稷 Hòujì
Personal name Hou Ji 稷
Personal name Hou Ji 稷 Jì
Personal Hou Ji 后稷 Hou Ji
Title Hou Ji 后稷
Personal name Hou Ji 后稷 Hou Ji
Personal Hou Ji 後稷
Personal name Houji 后稷 Hòujì
Personal Houji 后稷 Houji
Personal name Houji 後稷 Houji
Personal name Houji 黎
Personal name Ji 稷 Jì
Personal name Ji 稷
Personal name Ji 稷 Ji
Alternate Ji 稷 Ji
Surname Ji 姬 Ji
Personal name Lord Millet 稷 Ji
Title Lord of Millet 后稷 Hòujì
Epithet Prince Millet
Personal Zhou's Hou Ji 後稷 Hou Ji
Personal name Zhouqi 周棄 Zhōu Qì

Identity

Historicity
Legendary
Identification
Named
Sex
Male

Roles

  • Administrator
  • Clan Leader
  • Farmer
  • Named Individual
  • Official
  • Royal Family Member
  • Ruler

Life and dates

Attested activity

Family

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

  • Ancestor of Gong Liu (公劉)
    Kinship Term: ancestor / 先 · Line: paternal
    Kinship Term: ancestral founder before Gong Liu / 後稷 · Line: paternal
  • Child of Emperor Ku (帝嚳)
    Kinship Term: father / 父 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: father · Object Role: child
    Kinship Term: fathered / 生 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: father · Object Role: child · Line: paternal
  • Parent of Buzhuo (不窋)
    Kinship Term: fathered / 生 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: father · Object Role: child · Line: paternal
  • Child of Jiang Yuan (姜原)
    Kinship Term: mother / 母 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: mother · Object Role: child
  • Kinship Role: fathers · Quantity: traditions disagree: one account says he had a father, another says none · Note: Traditions disagree whether he had a father / 一言有父，一言無父
    Explicit · shiji:013:s0043

Origins and identity

Career and standing

  • Label: agricultural minister / 后稷
    Explicit · hanshu:026:s0008
  • Label: Great Farmer / 大農 · Action: appointed
    Explicit · shiji:013:s0059
  • Label: minister of agriculture / 稷 · Action: appointed
    Explicit · jinshi:127:s0009
  • Title: added fief of a hundred li / 益封之百里 · Action: enfeoffed · Authority Person Id: Yao (堯)
    Explicit · shiji:013:s0045

Events and relationships

Assessments and attributes

Source notes

References in the histories

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

Book of Han, Chapter 20Table of Ancient and Modern Persons · 1 passage
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Book of Han, Chapter 22Volume 20: Prominent People from the Past Until the Present · 1 passage
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Book of Han, Chapter 26Volume 24a: Treatise on Trade 1 · 2 passages
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Book of Han, Chapter 65Volume 56: Dong Zhongshu · 1 passage
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Book of Han, Chapter 67Volume 57b: Sima Xiangru · 2 passages
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Book of Han, Chapter 74Volume 64a: Yan, Zhu, Wuqiu, Zhufu, Xu, Yan, Zhong, Wang, and Jia 1 · 1 passage
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Book of Han, Chapter 75Volume 64b: Yan, Zhu, Wuqiu, Zhufu, Xu, Yan, Zhong, Wang, and Jia 2 · 1 passage
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故世平主聖，俊艾將自至，若堯、舜、禹、湯、文、武之君，獲稷、契、皋陶、伊尹、呂望，明明在朝，穆穆列布，聚精會神，相得益章。 Thus, in an age of peace under a sage ruler, outstanding elders come of their own accord. Yao, Shun, Yu, Tang, Kings Wen and Wu obtained the service of Hou Ji, Xie, Gao Yao, Yi Yin, and Lü Wang. Brilliant at court and solemn in their ranks, they joined their finest insights and magnified the glory of ruler and minister alike.
Book of Han, Chapter 76Volume 65: Dongfang Shuo · 1 passage
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譬若以周、邵為丞相，孔丘為御史大夫，太公為將軍，畢公高拾遺於後，弁嚴子為衛尉，皋陶為大理，後稷為司農，伊尹為少府，子贛使外國，顏、閔為博士，子夏為太常，益為右扶風，季路為執金吾，契為鴻臚，龍逢為宗正，伯夷為京兆，管仲為馮翊，魯般為將作，仲山甫為光祿，申伯為太僕，延陵季子為水衡，百里奚為典屬國，柳下惠為大長秋，史魚為司直，蘧伯玉為太傅，孔父為詹事，孫叔敖為諸侯相，子產為郡守，王慶忌為期門，夏育為鼎官，羿為旄頭，宋萬為式道候。」 Imagine the Duke of Zhou and the Duke of Shao as your chancellors; Confucius as chief censor; the Grand Duke as commander; Duke Bi Gao as court remonstrant; Bian Zhuangzi as captain of the guard; Gao Yao as chief judge; Hou Ji as minister of agriculture; Yi Yin as palace treasurer; Zigong as foreign envoy; Yan Hui and Min Ziqian as court scholars; Zixia as master of rites; Yi as western capital intendant; Zilu as capital commandant; Xie as master of guest ceremonies; Guan Longpeng as keeper of the imperial genealogy; the minister Boyi as metropolitan governor; Guan Zhong as northern capital intendant; Lu Ban as chief engineer; Zhong Shanfu as palace chamberlain; the Earl of Shen as master of the horse; Prince Jizi of Yanling as keeper of parks and waters; Baili Xi as commissioner for dependent peoples; Liuxia Hui as chamberlain to the empress; Shi Yu as censor of conduct; Qu Boyu as grand tutor; Kong Fu as supervisor of the heir apparent's household; Sunshu Ao as chancellor to the feudal lords; Zichan as commandery governor; Prince Qingji as a palace gate guard; Xia Yu as cauldron officer; Yi the Archer as vanguard officer; and Song Wan as road-clearing scout."
Book of Han, Chapter 82Volume 71: Jun, Shu, Yu, Xue, Ping and Peng · 1 passage
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夫孝子善述人之志，周公既成文、武之業而製作禮樂，修嚴父配天之事，知文王不欲以子臨父，故推而序之，上極於後稷而以配天。 A true son carries on his forebears' purpose. The Duke of Zhou, having finished the work of Kings Wen and Wu, composed the rites and music and set his father King Wen beside heaven; knowing that a living son must not overshadow his father, he pushed the line back through the ancestors to Hou Ji so that Hou Ji might share heaven's honor.
Book of Han, Chapter 99Volume 87b: Yang Xiong 2 · 1 passage
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天下之士，雷動雲合，魚鱗雜襲，鹹營於八區，家家自以為稷、契，人人自以為咎繇，戴縰垂纓而談者皆擬於阿衡，五尺童子羞比晏嬰與夷吾，當塗者入青雲，失路者委溝渠，旦握權則為卿相，夕失勢則為匹夫； Scholars swarm like thunderheads—layer on layer they crowd the eight circuits, every house fancying itself the line of Ji and Xie, every man a second Gao Yao; anyone in cap and ribbons plays at being Yi Yin, and boys barely five feet tall scorn to mention Yan Ying or Guan Zhong. Catch favor and you ride the clouds; miss your footing and you lie in the gutter—minister at dawn, nobody at dusk.
Book of Han, Chapter 117Volume 100a: Afterword and Family History 1 · 1 passage
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Book of Later Han, Chapter 32Volume 28b: Biography of Feng Yan · 2 passages
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History of Jin, Chapter 127Volume 127 Biographies 65: Xiao You, Wendihanwolubu, Chen Yan, Liu Yu, Meng Xing, Wang Zhen, Liu Zheng, Yin Yi, Chu Chengliang, Wang Qufei, Zhao Zhi, Du Shisheng, Hao Tianting, Xue Jiyuan, Gao Zhongzhen, Zhang Qian, Wang Rumei, Song Ke, Xin Yuan, Wang Yuke · 1 passage
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然以唐、虞之世，「黎民阻饑」不免以命稷，「百姓不親、五品不遜」不免以命契，以是知順成之不可必，猶孝友之不易得也。 Even in the age of Tang and Yu, when "the people were beset by hunger," Ji had to be put in charge of agriculture; when "the common folk were estranged and the five bonds of kinship were in disorder," Qi had to be entrusted with education — which shows that a bountiful harvest cannot be taken for granted any more than filial piety and brotherly devotion can be secured at will.
Old History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 143Volume 143: Treatises 5 Rites 2 · 1 passage
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Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 2Annals of Xia · 4 passages
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Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 3Annals of Yin · 1 passage
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Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 13Genealogical Tables of the Three Dynasties · 14 passages
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Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 99Biographies of Liu Jing and Shusun Tong · 1 passage
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History of Song, Chapter 107Volume 107 Treatises 60: Rites 10 · 2 passages
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Book of Song, Chapter 55Volume 55 Biographies 15: Zang Dao, Xu Guang, F Long · 1 passage
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Book of Zhou, Chapter 23Volume 23 Biographies 15: Su Chuo · 1 passage
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誠能監前事之得喪，勞虛己於吐握，其知賢也必用，其授爵也勿疑，則舜禹湯武之德可連衡矣，稷契伊呂之流可比肩矣。 If rulers could truly weigh past success and failure, humble themselves as Duke of Zhou did when he "spit out his food and released his hair grip" to receive men, employ the worthy without fail, and grant office without hesitation, then the virtue of Shun, Yu, Tang, and Wu would stand in one line and men like Hou Ji, Xie, Yi Yin, and Lü Shang could walk shoulder to shoulder.