Qin and Han · General and Aristocrat

Wang Shang 王商

Attested BC 33 - BC 7

Passages
42
Chapters
3
Histories
1

Overview

The translated histories identify Wang Shang as an aristocrat, general, official, and statesman. This record brings together 42 passages from 3 chapters across 1 history, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Found inBook of Han

Names

TypeEnglishChinesePinyin
Personal Wang Shang 王商 Wang Shang
Title Marquis of Lechang 樂昌侯
Title Marquis of Yuechang 樂昌侯 Yuechang Hou
Personal name Wang Shang 王商 Wang Shang
Personal Wang Shang 王商 Wáng Shāng
Courtesy Ziwei 子威 Zǐwēi

Identity

Historicity
Historical
Identification
Named
Sex
Male

Roles

  • Aristocrat
  • General
  • Official
  • Statesman

Life and dates

Death

  • Statement: fell ill, vomited blood, and died three days after dismissal · Cause: illness following dismissal
    Explicit · hanshu:093:s0117

Attested activity

  • Source Date: Text: 建始三年秋至河平四年 · Western Interval: Start: BC 30 · End: BC 25
    Explicit event contextual date · hanshu:093:s0009, hanshu:093:s0022
  • Source Date: Text: 成帝時 · Western Interval: Start: BC 33 · End: BC 7
    Explicit · hanshu:090:s0104

Family

Immediate source-linked family. Drag to pan, scroll or pinch to zoom, and select a person to open their record.

  • Kinship Role: paternal half-brothers · Quantity: multiple; exact count unstated · Shared Parentage: paternal-half
    Explicit · hanshu:093:s0091
  • Kinship Role: sons, younger brothers, and kinsmen in court office · Quantity: multiple; exact count unstated
    Explicit · hanshu:093:s0118

Career and standing

  • Label: chancellor / 丞相 · Action: appointed
    Explicit · hanshu:093:s0020
  • Label: General of the Left / 左將軍 · Action: appointed
    Explicit · hanshu:093:s0006
  • Label: General of the Right / 右將軍 · Action: appointed
    Explicit · hanshu:093:s0094
  • Label: Grand Master of the Household / 光祿大夫 · Action: appointed
    Explicit · hanshu:093:s0094
  • Label: leader of the palace gentlemen / 中郎將 · Action: appointed
    Explicit · hanshu:093:s0093
  • Label: official in the various bureaus / 諸曹 · Action: appointed
    Explicit · hanshu:093:s0093
  • Label: palace attendant to the crown prince / 太子中庶子 · Action: appointed
    Explicit · hanshu:093:s0090
  • Label: palace attendant / 侍中 · Action: appointed
    Explicit · hanshu:093:s0093
  • Label: chancellor / 丞相 · Action: succeeded · Predecessor Person Id: Kuang Heng (匡衡) · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 明年 · Western Year: BC 29
    Explicit · hanshu:093:s0020
  • 侍中駙馬都尉
    Explicit · hanshu:075:s0213
  • Action: fief-increased · Households: 1000 · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 明年 · Western Year: BC 29
    Explicit · hanshu:093:s0020
  • Title: Marquis of Lechang / 樂昌侯 · Action: inherited
    Explicit · hanshu:093:s0091
  • Title: Marquis Li / 戾侯 · Action: received-posthumously
    Explicit · hanshu:093:s0117
  • 樂昌侯
    Explicit · hanshu:075:s0213
  • Action: accused · Allegations: sexual relations with his father's concubine, ordering a slave to kill his sister's lover · Provenance: Mode: allegation · Source Person Id: Geng Ding (耿定)
    Uncertain · hanshu:093:s0099
  • Action: pardoned-then-dismissed · Authority Person Id: Emperor Cheng (成帝)
    Explicit · hanshu:093:s0042, hanshu:093:s0043

Places and affiliations

Works and attributed material

Events and relationships

Assessments and attributes

  • Assessment: exemplary conduct and righteousness · Provenance: Mode: court-recommendation
    Explicit · hanshu:093:s0092
  • Assessment: had firm principle; was unjustly dismissed and died of grief · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
    Explicit · hanshu:093:s0083
  • Assessment: solemn, respectful, and steadfast · Provenance: Mode: contemporary-reputation
    Explicit · hanshu:093:s0090
  • Kind: physical-description · Statement: more than eight chi tall, massively built, and exceptionally imposing
    Explicit · hanshu:093:s0021

References in the histories

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

Book of Han, Chapter 75Volume 64b: Yan, Zhu, Wuqiu, Zhufu, Xu, Yan, Zhong, Wang, and Jia 2 · 1 passage
Open chapter
上使侍中駙馬都尉樂昌侯王商詰問捐之曰：「珠崖內屬為郡久矣，今背畔逆節，而云不當擊，長蠻夷之亂，虧先帝功德，經義何以處之？」 The emperor ordered Wang Shang, the marquis of Yuechang, who served as palace attendant and commandant of household cavalry, to confront Jia Juanzhi. 'Zhuya has been an internal commandery for ages,' he said. 'Now it breaks faith. To refuse a campaign is to encourage barbarian revolt and blot the achievement of the late emperor. What do the classics say to that?'
Book of Han, Chapter 90Volume 79: Feng Fengshi · 1 passage
Open chapter
Book of Han, Chapter 93Volume 82: Wang Shang, Shi Dan and Fu Xi · 40 passages
Open chapter
下朝者左將軍丹等問匡，對曰：「竊見丞相商作威作福，從外制中，取必於上，性殘賊不仁，遣票輕吏微求人罪，欲以立威，天下患苦之。 After court, General of the Left Shi Dan and others questioned Zhang Kuang. He answered, "I have observed Chancellor Wang Shang wielding arbitrary power, controlling the court from outside, and extracting whatever he wants from the throne. He is cruel and ruthless, sending out swift minor officials to hunt for crimes in order to terrify the realm, and the people suffer greatly under him.
商不盡忠納善以輔至德，知聖主崇孝，遠別不親，後庭之事皆受命皇太后，太后前聞商有女，欲以備後宮，商言有固疾，後有耿定事，更詭道因李貴人家內女，執左道以亂政，誣罔悖大臣節，故應是而日蝕。 Wang Shang has not served with full loyalty or accepted good counsel to support your supreme virtue. Knowing that a sage ruler honors filial piety and that the empress dowager governs the inner palace, he refused when the empress dowager earlier asked for his daughter for the harem, pleading chronic illness. After the Geng Ding affair he tried again through the household of the newly favored Lady Li to smuggle a daughter inside. He practices heterodox ways that corrupt government and violates every standard of a chief minister—hence the eclipse.
於是左將軍丹等奏：「商位三公，爵列侯，親受詔策為天下師，不遵法度以翼國家，而回辟下媚以進其私，執左道以亂政，為臣不忠，罔上不道，《甫刑》之辟，皆為上戮，罪名明白。 General of the Left Shi Dan and his colleagues then memorialized: 'Wang Shang ranks among the Three Excellencies and holds a marquisate; he was personally commissioned to guide the realm. Instead of upholding the law to support the state, he courts favor below and pursues private ends, peddling heterodox practices that corrupt government. Such disloyalty and deceit of the throne violate the standards of the Fu Xing and merit execution; his offenses are plain.