Jing Xinmo (敬新磨) | 24 Histories

Overview

The translated histories identify Jing Xinmo as a courtier and musician. This record brings together 10 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	Jing Xinmo	敬新磨	Jing Xinmo
Personal	Xinmo	新磨	Xinmo

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Explicit · xinwudaishi:037:s0041

Roles

Courtier
Musician

Life and dates

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 同光 · Western Interval: Start: AD 923 · End: AD 926
Explicit event contextual date · xinwudaishi:037:s0041, xinwudaishi:037:s0056

Learning and skills

Skill: buffoonery / comic performance / 俳 · Level: renowned
Explicit · xinwudaishi:037:s0059

Works and attributed material

Kind: speech · Role: speaker · Other Person Id: Emperor Zhuangzong of Later Tang (後唐莊宗)
Explicit · xinwudaishi:037:s0050, xinwudaishi:037:s0052, xinwudaishi:037:s0054, xinwudaishi:037:s0055, xinwudaishi:037:s0056, xinwudaishi:037:s0057
Kind: speech · Role: speaker
Explicit · xinwudaishi:037:s0041, xinwudaishi:037:s0042, xinwudaishi:037:s0043, xinwudaishi:037:s0044

Events and relationships

Kind: political · Role: intercessor · Action: saved-magistrate-by-jest · Other Person Id: Emperor Zhuangzong of Later Tang (後唐莊宗)
Explicit · xinwudaishi:037:s0041, xinwudaishi:037:s0045, xinwudaishi:037:s0046
Kind: performance · Role: actor · Action: slapped-emperor · Other Person Id: Emperor Zhuangzong of Later Tang (後唐莊宗)
Explicit · xinwudaishi:037:s0048, xinwudaishi:037:s0049, xinwudaishi:037:s0050, xinwudaishi:037:s0051

Assessments and attributes

Assessment: skilled at jest without other known faults · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
Explicit · xinwudaishi:037:s0059

Source notes

Historicity: historical
Explicit · xinwudaishi:037:s0041

References in the histories

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

New History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 37Volume 37 Biographies 17: · 10 passages

Open chapter

伶人敬新磨知其不可，乃率諸伶走追縣令，擒至馬前責之曰：「汝為縣令，獨不知吾天子好獵邪？ Jing Xinmo saw the danger and rallied the actors to chase the magistrate down, drag him before the horse, and scold him: “You hold office under Heaven’s Son—do you not know he loves to hunt?

新磨遽前以手批其頰。 Xinmo darted up and struck him across the face.

莊宗失色，左右皆恐，羣伶亦大驚駭，共持新磨詰曰：「汝奈何批天子頰？」 Zhuangzong went pale; his attendants froze in terror; the actors cried out and seized Xinmo: “How dare you strike the emperor’s face?”

新磨對曰：「李天下者，一人而已，復誰呼邪！」 Xinmo answered: “There is only one Li Who Owns the World—who else did you mean?”

於是左右皆笑，莊宗大喜，賜與新磨甚厚。 The court burst into laughter; Zhuangzong was delighted and heaped gifts on Xinmo.

新磨嘗奏事殿中，殿中多惡犬，新磨去，一犬起逐之，新磨倚柱而呼曰：「陛下毋縱兒女嚙人！」 Reporting to the throne one day, Xinmo was set upon by the palace dogs. He clung to a pillar and yelled: “Your Majesty—control your children! They bite!”

莊宗家世夷狄，夷狄之人諱狗，故新磨以此譏之。 Zhuangzong’s line was Turkic; Turkic peoples shun talk of dogs—so Xinmo was needling his origin.

莊宗大怒，彎弓注矢將射之，新磨急呼曰：「陛下無殺臣！ Zhuangzong snatched up his bow to shoot him; Xinmo screamed: “Do not kill me, Majesty!

且同，銅也，若殺敬新磨，則同無光矣。」 Tong also means bronze—kill Jing Xinmo and you snuff out the guang in Tongguang!”

然時諸伶，獨新磨尤善俳，其語最著，而不聞其佗過惡。 Of all the actors, only Xinmo was a true master of the jest—his lines are still remembered, and no other scandal attaches to his name.