Qin and Han · Scholar

Jing Fang 京房

Attested BC 77 - BC 33

Passages
24
Chapters
13
Histories
6

Overview

The translated histories identify Jing Fang as an administrator, astrologer, commentator, and diviner. This record brings together 24 passages from 13 chapters across 6 histories, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

TypeEnglishChinesePinyin
Personal Jing Fang 京房 Jing Fang
Given Fang 房 Fang
Surname Jing 京 Jing
Personal Jing Fang 京房 Jīng Fáng
Personal name Jing Fang 京房 Jīng Fáng
Personal name Jing Fang 京房 Jing Fang
Personal name Jing Fang 京房

Identity

Historicity
Historical
Identification
Named
Sex
Male

Roles

  • Administrator
  • Astrologer
  • Commentator
  • Diviner
  • Musician
  • Official
  • Scholar
  • Scientist
  • Writer

Life and dates

Death

Attested activity

Career and standing

  • Label: commandery governor / 郡守 · Action: appointed
    Explicit · hanshu:091:s0060
  • Label: Governor of Wei Commandery / 魏郡太守 · Action: held
    Explicit · hanshu:010:s0215
  • Title: governor of Wei commandery
    Explicit · hanshu:105:s0087
  • Label: leaked palace secrets / 漏洩省中語 · Action: committed
    Explicit · hanshu:091:s0061
  • Status: executed · Action: marketplace-execution · Label: executed in the marketplace / 棄市
    Explicit · hanshu:010:s0215

Places and affiliations

Learning and skills

Works and attributed material

Events and relationships

Source notes

  • Statement: Stated the moon has form but no light of its own and shines only when lit by the sun
    Explicit · songshi:080:s0310

References in the histories

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Book of Han, Chapter 10Volume 9: Annals of Emperor Yuan · 1 passage
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Book of Han, Chapter 91Volume 80: The Six Sons of Emperors Xuan and Yuan · 5 passages
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博常欲誑耀淮陽王，即具記房諸所說災異及召見密語，持予淮陽王以為信驗，詐言：「已見中書令石君求朝，許以金五百斤。 Bo had long wanted to impress the King of Huaiyang, so he wrote down everything Jing Fang had said about disasters and anomalies, along with confidential remarks from imperial audiences, and brought the notes to the king as proof. He falsely claimed, “I have already gone to Palace Secretary Shi to ask for an audience; he agreed in exchange for five hundred jin of gold.
Book of Han, Chapter 96Volume 85: Gu Yong and Du Ye · 1 passage
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Book of Han, Chapter 105Volume 93: Flatterers · 2 passages
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Book of Later Han, Chapter 115Volume 104: Five Elements Part Two · 3 passages
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Book of Later Han, Chapter 116Volume 105: Five Elements Part Three · 1 passage
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Book of Later Han, Chapter 117Volume 106: Five Elements Part Four · 2 passages
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Book of Later Han, Chapter 118Volume 107: Five Elements Part Five · 2 passages
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Old History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 141Volume 141: Treatises 3 Five Elements · 1 passage
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Old History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 145Volume 145: Treatises 7 Music 2 · 3 passages
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樞密使王樸，采京房之準法，練梁武之通音，考鄭譯、寶常之七均，校孝孫、文收之九變，積黍累以審其度，聽聲詩以測其情，依權衡嘉量之前文，得備數和聲之大旨，施於鐘虡，足洽《簫韶》。 Privy Council Commissioner Wang Pu drew on Jing Fang's pitch standard, mastered Emperor Wu of Liang's universal tones, studied the seven keys of Zheng Yi and Wan Baochang and the nine transformations of Zu Xiaosun and Zhang Wenshou, calibrated measures with millet grains, tested pitches against the Sound Poems, followed ancient standards of weight and measure, recovered the principle of numbered harmony, and applied it to bells and stands until it matched the legendary Xiao-Shao music.
Records of the Three Kingdoms, Chapter 63Volume 63: Book of Wu 18: Biographies of Wu Fan, Liu Dun, and Zhao Da · 1 passage
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History of Song, Chapter 80Volume 80 Treatises 33: Measures and Calendar 13 · 1 passage
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New History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 31Volume 31 Later Zhou Biographies 11: Wang Pu, Zheng Renhui, Hu Zai · 1 passage
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六年，又詔朴考正雅樂，朴以謂十二律管互吹，難得其真，乃依京房為律準，以九尺之弦十三，依管長短寸分設柱，用七聲為均，樂成而和。 Year six brought another edict: rectify court music. Pu argued that cross-blowing the twelve pitch pipes never yields true pitch. Following Jing Fang, he built a pitch standard, strung thirteen nine-foot strings, set bridges to each pipe’s length in inches and fractions, tuned to the seven-tone scale—and the music, finished, rang true.