Five Dynasties · Physician

Liu Sou 劉叟

Attested AD 884 - AD 926

Passages: 7
Chapters: 1
Histories: 1

Overview

Liu Sou was a Physician.

Other names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Alternate name	rustic old man	田舍翁

Life and dates

Attested activity

AD 884 to AD 908 太祖攻魏州，取成安
Strongly inferred · Old History of the Five Dynasties 49, passages 34, 43
AD 923 to AD 926 莊宗
Dated from the passage context · Old History of the Five Dynasties 49, passages 39-40, 44

Family

Immediate relationships attested in the translated histories.

Parent of Empress Shenminjing Liu (劉氏)
father 父
Directly stated · Old History of the Five Dynasties 49, passages 39-40, 43

Career and standing

physician and diviner 醫卜
Directly stated · Old History of the Five Dynasties 49, passage 44
Magistrate Liu 劉衙推
Held
Directly stated · Old History of the Five Dynasties 49, passage 45

Places and affiliations

At Cheng'an 成安
Directly stated · Old History of the Five Dynasties 49, passage 39
At Ye palace 鄴宮 · Relation Visited
Directly stated · Old History of the Five Dynasties 49, passage 39

Events and relationships

Audience · Petitioner · With Emperor Zhuangzong (莊宗) · At Ye palace 鄴宮 · Outcome Claimed paternity then flogged
Directly stated · Old History of the Five Dynasties 49, passages 39, 43

References in the histories

Old History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 49Volume 49 Book of Later Tang 25: Biographies 1: Empresses and Consorts · 7 passages

他日，成安人劉叟詣鄴宮見上，稱夫人之父。 One day a man of Cheng'an named Liu Sou came to the Ye palace to see the emperor and claimed to be the empress's father.

有內臣劉建豐認之，即昔日黃須丈人，後之父也。 The inner attendant Liu Jianfeng recognized him as the yellow-bearded old man of former days—he was indeed the empress's father.

劉氏方與嫡夫人爭寵，皆以門族誇尚，劉氏恥為寒家，白莊宗曰：「妾去鄉之時，妾父死於亂兵，是時環屍而哭。 The empress was then contending for favor with the principal wife, each boasting of her family status. Ashamed of her humble origins, she told Zhuangzong, "When I left my home district, my father was killed by disorderly soldiers. I wept over his body where it lay.

妾固無父，是何田舍翁詐偽及此！」 I truly have no father. What rustic old man is this, to deceive us so brazenly!"

乃於宮門笞之，其實後即叟之長女也。 She then had him flogged at the palace gate. In truth the empress was the old man's eldest daughter.

莊宗好俳優，宮中暇日，自負蓍囊藥篋，令繼岌相隨，以後父劉叟以醫卜為業也。 Zhuangzong loved actors. On idle days in the palace he would carry a diviner's bag and medicine case on his back, with Jiji following along, impersonating the empress's father Liu Sou, who made his living as a physician and diviner.

後方晝眠，及造其臥內，自稱劉衙推訪女，後大恚，笞繼岌。 The empress was napping when he entered her bedchamber, calling himself Magistrate Liu come to visit his daughter. She was furious and had Jiji flogged.