Ancient China · Official and Moral Exemplar

Liu Xiahui 惠

Hui

Attested BC 720 - BC 650

Passages: 2
Chapters: 1
Histories: 1

Overview

Liu Xiahui was an official and Moral Exemplar.

Other names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal name	Liuxia Hui	柳下惠	Liǔxià Huì

Life and dates

Attested activity

BC 720 to BC 650 夷、惠舛而齊聲
Strongly inferred · Book of Han 117, passage 204
BC 720 to BC 680 惠降志于辱仕
Dated from the passage context · Book of Han 117, passage 262

Career and standing

a humiliating / dishonorable post 辱仕
Accepted
Directly stated · Book of Han 117, passage 262

Events and relationships

Humbled his aspirations to accept a humiliating post
Career · Actor
Directly stated · Book of Han 117, passage 262

Assessments and attributes

Assessment differed in conduct from Bo Yi yet shared one moral voice · Mode historian-judgment
Directly stated · Book of Han 117, passage 204
Assessment true exemplar · Mode speaker-judgment Speaker Host (主人)
Directly stated · Book of Han 117, passage 262

References in the histories

Book of Han, Chapter 117Volume 100a: Afterword and Family History 1 · 2 passages

三仁殊而一致兮，夷、惠舛而齊聲。 The three benevolent worthies walked different paths to the same goal; Yi and Hui clashed in style yet harmonized in purpose.

若乃夷抗行於首陽，惠降志於辱仕，顏耽樂於簞瓢，孔終篇於西狩，聲盈塞於天淵，真吾徒之師表也。 Then there were Boyi, who upheld his conduct on Mount Shouyang; Liuxia Hui, who humbled his aspirations to take a dishonorable post; Yan Hui, who delighted in his basket of rice and gourd of water; and Confucius, who brought his classic to an end with the hunt in the west. Their fame fills the space between heaven and the abyss; they are truly exemplars for men such as us.