Qin and Han · Statesman and Official

Wang Shang 王商

Wáng Shāng

Attested BC 30 - BC 25

Passages
40
Chapters
1
Histories
1

Overview

Wang Shang was a statesman and Official.

IdentityHistorical · Male
Found inBook of Han

Other names

TypeEnglishChinesePinyin
Courtesy name Ziwei 子威 Zǐwēi

Life and dates

Death

  • fell ill, vomited blood, and died three days after dismissal
    Cause Illness following dismissal
    Directly stated · Book of Han 93, passage 117

Attested activity

Family

Immediate relationships attested in the translated histories.

  • Kinship Role paternal half-brothers · Quantity multiple; exact count unstated · Shared Parentage Paternal half
    Directly stated · Book of Han 93, passage 91
  • Kinship Role sons, younger brothers, and kinsmen in court office · Quantity multiple; exact count unstated
    Directly stated · Book of Han 93, passage 118

Career and standing

Show 8 more source-backed claims

Places and affiliations

Works and attributed material

Events and relationships

Assessments and attributes

References in the histories

40 passages

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.