Qin and Han · Diplomat

Lu Jia 陸賈

Lù Jiǎ

Attested BC 200 - BC 179

Passages: 14
Chapters: 7
Histories: 3

Overview

The translated histories identify Lu Jia as a diplomat, envoy, named individual, and official. This record brings together 14 passages from 7 chapters across 3 histories, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Lu Jia	陸賈	Lù Jiǎ
Personal
Title	Grand Master Lu	陸大夫	Lu dafu
Personal name	Lu Jia	陸賈	Lu Jia
Personal	Lu Jia	陸賈	Lu Jia
Personal	Lu Jia	陸子	Lu Zi
Personal name	Lu Jia	陸賈	Lù Jiǎ
Personal	Master Lu	陸子	Lù Zǐ
Title	Master Lu	陸子
Title	Master Lu	陸子	Lu Zi
Surname		陸	Lu

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Explicit · liangshu:014:s0229, shiji:113:s0013

Roles

Diplomat
Envoy
Named Individual
Official
Scholar
Writer

Life and dates

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 孝文帝元年 · Western Year: BC 179
Explicit · shiji:113:s0025, shiji:113:s0026
Source Date: Text: 漢十一年 · Western Year: BC 196
Explicit · shiji:113:s0013
Source Date: Text: 漢興 · Western Year: BC 200
Explicit event contextual date · hanshu:025:s0105
Source Date: Text: 西都 · Western Year: c. BC 196
Explicit event contextual date · liangshu:014:s0229

Career and standing

Label: Grand Palace Grandee / 太中大夫 · Action: appointed
Explicit · shiji:113:s0026

Places and affiliations

Place: Haozhi / 好畤
Explicit · shiji:113:s0025

Works and attributed material

Text: 陸賈造新語
Explicit · hanshu:002:s0364
Title: New Discourses / 新語
Explicit · hanshu:117:s0258

Events and relationships

Kind: social · Role: host · Action: feasted · Place: western capital / 西都
Explicit · liangshu:014:s0229
Kind: diplomatic · Role: envoy · Action: installed-king · Other Person Id: Zhao Tuo (趙佗)
Explicit · shiji:113:s0013
Kind: diplomatic · Role: envoy · Action: reproached · Other Person Id: Zhao Tuo (趙佗)
Explicit · shiji:113:s0027, shiji:113:s0028
Relation: employed-by · Person Id: Emperor Gaozu of Han (高祖) · Function: persuasion
Explicit · hanshu:025:s0105

Assessments and attributes

Assessment: prized by nobles; gentry envied his ascent among immortals · Provenance: Mode: quoted-source · Speaker Person Id: Liu Jun (劉峻)
Explicit · liangshu:014:s0229

References in the histories

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

Book of Han, Chapter 1Volume 1: Annals of Emperor Gaozu 1 · 2 passages

願先遣人益張旗幟於山上為疑兵，使酈食其、陸賈往說秦將，啗以利。」 I would first send men to set up more banners on the mountains as decoy troops, while Li Yiji and Lu Jia go to persuade the Qin generals and entice them with advantage."

漢遣陸賈說羽，請太公，羽弗聽。 Han sent Lu Jia to persuade Xiang Yu to return the Duke of Tai. Xiang Yu did not listen.

Book of Han, Chapter 2Volume 1: Annals of Emperor Gaozu 2 · 2 passages

使陸賈即授璽綬。 He sent Lu Jia to personally confer the seal and tassels.

天下既定，命蕭何次律令，韓信申軍法，張蒼定章程，叔孫通制禮儀，陸賈造新語。 After the world was settled, he commanded Xiao He to arrange the statutes and commands, Han Xin to explain military law, Zhang Cang to establish procedures, Shusun Tong to create rituals and ceremonies, Lu Jia to compose new discourses.

Book of Han, Chapter 25Volume 23: Treatise on Punishment and Law · 1 passage

任蕭、曹之文，用良、平之謀，騁陸、酈之辯，明叔孫通之儀，文武相配，大略舉焉。 Gaozu employed Xiao He and Cao Shen in civil administration, used Zhang Liang and Chen Ping for strategy, gave free rein to Lu Jia and Li Yiji in persuasion, and established Shusun Tong’s ceremonial system; civil and military complemented each other, and the broad program was realized.

Book of Han, Chapter 96Volume 85: Gu Yong and Du Ye · 1 passage

竊慕倉唐、陸子之義，所白声內，唯深察焉。」 I admire the righteousness of Cang Tang and Master Lu; in what I report here, may you deeply examine it."

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

近者陸子優繇，新語以興； Lu Jia, calm and unhurried, raised the New Discourses;

Book of Liang, Chapter 14Volume 14: Jiang Yan; Ren Fang · 1 passage

陸大夫燕喜西都，郭有道人倫東國，公卿貴其籍甚，搢紳羨其登仙。 Grand Master Lu feasted in the western capital; Guo the Worthy ranked men in the eastern state; nobles prized his fame, gentry envied his ascent among immortals.

Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 113Treatise on the Nanyue · 6 passages

漢十一年，遣陸賈因立佗為南越王，與剖符通使，和集百越，毋為南邊患害，與長沙接境。 In the eleventh year of the Han dynasty, the emperor dispatched Lu Jia to formally install Tuo as the King of Nanyue. The two sides exchanged tallies and established diplomatic relations, with the goal of pacifying the various Yue peoples so they would not cause trouble along the southern border, where Nanyue adjoined the Kingdom of Changsha.

詔丞相陳平等舉可使南越者，平言好畤陸賈，先帝時習使南越。 The emperor ordered Chancellor Chen Ping and others to recommend a suitable envoy to Nanyue. Chen Ping put forward Lu Jia of Haozhi, who had previously served as envoy to Nanyue under the former emperor.

乃召賈以為太中大夫，往使。 Lu Jia was accordingly summoned, appointed to the rank of Grand Palace Grandee, and dispatched as envoy.

因讓佗自立為帝，曾無一介之使報者。 Lu Jia also reproached Tuo for having proclaimed himself emperor without ever sending so much as a single envoy to inform the Han court.

陸賈至南越，王甚恐，為書謝，稱曰：「蠻夷大長老夫臣佗，前日高后隔異南越，竊疑長沙王讒臣，又遙聞高后盡誅佗宗族，掘燒先人冢，以故自棄，犯長沙邊境。 When Lu Jia reached Nanyue, the king was deeply alarmed. He composed a letter of apology, which read: "Your humble barbarian subject, the Great Elder Tuo: when Empress Dowager Gao cut off relations with Nanyue, I privately suspected the King of Changsha of slandering me at court. Then I heard from afar that the Empress Dowager had executed all of my kinsmen and dug up and burned the ancestral tombs. In my despair, I cast aside all restraint and raided the Changsha border.

陸賈還報，孝文帝大說。 When Lu Jia returned with this report, Emperor Wen was greatly pleased.