Ancient China · General

Pang Juan 龐涓

Páng Juān

Died BC 341

Passages: 10
Chapters: 2
Histories: 1

Overview

The translated histories identify Pang Juan as a general and strategist. This record brings together 10 passages from 2 chapters across 1 history, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Pang Juan	龐涓	Páng Juān
Personal name	Pang Juan	龐涓	Páng Juān
Personal name	Pang Juan	龐涓	Pang Juan

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Explicit · shiji:065:s0037
Value: male
Explicit · shiji:068:s0104

Roles

General
Strategist

Life and dates

Death

Manner: killed in battle / 殺 · Place: Ma Ling / 馬陵 · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 殺將軍龐涓 · Western Year: BC 341
Explicit · shiji:068:s0104
Manner: suicide by cutting throat / 自剄
Explicit · shiji:065:s0072

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 殺將軍龐涓 · Western Year: BC 341
Explicit · shiji:068:s0104
Source Date: Text: 為惠王將軍…自剄 · Western Interval: Start: BC 354 · End: BC 341
Explicit event contextual date · shiji:065:s0038, shiji:065:s0072

Career and standing

Label: general / 將軍 · Action: appointed
Explicit · shiji:065:s0038

Places and affiliations

Polity: Wei / 魏 · Relation: served
Explicit · shiji:065:s0038

Learning and skills

Subject: military strategy / 兵法 · Relation: studied
Explicit · shiji:065:s0037

Works and attributed material

Kind: speech · Role: speaker
Explicit · shiji:065:s0065, shiji:065:s0072

Events and relationships

Kind: military · Role: commander · Action: defeated and died at Maling · Place: Maling / 馬陵 · Other Person Id: Sun Bin (孫臏) · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 龐涓死于此樹之下 · Western Year: BC 341
Explicit event contextual date · shiji:065:s0072
Kind: military · Role: general · Action: defeated-and-killed · Place: Ma Ling / 馬陵
Explicit · shiji:068:s0104

References in the histories

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

Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 65Biographies of Sun Tzu and Wu Qi · 9 passages

孫臏嘗與龐涓俱學兵法。 Sun Bin had once studied military strategy together with Pang Juan.

龐涓既事魏，得為惠王將軍，而自以為能不及孫臏，乃陰使召孫臏。 After Pang Juan entered Wei's service and became a general under King Hui of Wei, he considered himself no match for Sun Bin and secretly summoned him.

臏至，龐涓恐其賢於己，疾之，則以法刑斷其兩足而黥之，欲隱勿見。 When Bin arrived, Pang Juan feared that he was the better man, resented him, and had him punished by amputating his feet and branding his face, intending to keep him hidden from sight.

魏將龐涓聞之，去韓而歸，齊軍既已過而西矣。 When the Wei general Pang Juan heard this, he left Han and returned, but the Qi army had already passed by and gone west.

龐涓行三日，大喜，曰：「我固知齊軍怯，入吾地三日，士卒亡者過半矣。」 After Pang Juan had marched for three days, he was delighted and said: “I knew the Qi army was cowardly. After only three days in our territory, more than half their soldiers have deserted.”

馬陵道陜，而旁多阻隘，可伏兵，乃斫大樹白而書之曰「龐涓死于此樹之下」。 The Maling road was narrow, with many obstacles and defiles on the sides, suitable for ambushing troops. They stripped a large tree white and wrote on it: “Pang Juan dies beneath this tree.”

龐涓果夜至斫木下，見白書，乃鉆火燭之。 Pang Juan indeed arrived beneath the stripped tree at night, saw the pale writing, and lit a torch to read it.

龐涓自知智窮兵敗，乃自剄，曰：「遂成豎子之名！」 Pang Juan knew his stratagems were exhausted, and his army was defeated, so he cut his own throat, saying, “Now I have made that boy famous!”

孫子籌策龐涓明矣，然不能蚤救患於被刑。 Sun Bin clearly outplotted Pang Juan, yet he could not escape early from the disaster of mutilation.

Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 68Biography of Lord Shang · 1 passage

其明年，齊敗魏兵於馬陵，虜其太子申，殺將軍龐涓。 The next year, Qi defeated Wei troops at Ma Ling, captured their crown prince Shen, and killed general Pang Juan.