Xiao Zhalaci (蕭劄剌)

Overview

The translated histories identify Xiao Zhalaci as an aristocrat, hermit, and official. This record brings together 5 passages from 1 chapter across 1 history, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Xiao Zhalaci	蕭劄剌	Xiao Zhalaci
Epithet	Old Man of Jie Mountain	頡山老人
Surname	Xiao	蕭
Personal name	Xiao Zhalaci	蕭劄剌	Xiao Zhalaci
Courtesy name	Xunian	虛輦
Given name	Zhalaci	劄剌

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Explicit · liaoshi:106:s0005

Roles

Aristocrat
Hermit
Official

Life and dates

Death

Explicit · liaoshi:106:s0018

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 統和末 · Reign Id: liao-tonghe · Western Interval: Start: AD 1010 · End: AD 1012
Explicit event contextual date · liaoshi:106:s0009, liaoshi:106:s0013
Source Date: Text: 保寧間 · Western Interval: Start: AD 969 · End: AD 979
Explicit event contextual date · liaoshi:106:s0005, liaoshi:106:s0007

Family

Sibling of Paiya (排押)
Kinship Term: elder brother / 兄 · Subject Relative Age: elder · Shared Parentage: uncertain
Kinship Term: younger brother / 弟 · Subject Relative Age: younger · Shared Parentage: uncertain

Origins and identity

Label: Xiao clan / 蕭
Explicit · liaoshi:106:s0002, liaoshi:106:s0005

Career and standing

Label: official / 官
Explicit · liaoshi:106:s0007
Label: Commander-in-Chief of Cavalry and Infantry at the Southern Capital / 南京馬步軍都指揮使 · Action: appointed · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 統和末 · Reign Id: liao-tonghe · Western Interval: Start: AD 1010 · End: AD 1012
Explicit event contextual date · liaoshi:106:s0009
Label: Military Commissioner of the Ningyuan Army / 寧遠軍節度使 · Action: appointed · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 保寧間 · Western Interval: Start: AD 969 · End: AD 979
Explicit event contextual date · liaoshi:106:s0007
Label: Yilijibi / 夷離畢 · Action: transferred · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 統和末 · Reign Id: liao-tonghe · Western Interval: Start: AD 1010 · End: AD 1012
Explicit event contextual date · liaoshi:106:s0010
Status: imperial-kinsman · Action: entered · Label: entered office through imperial kinship / 以戚屬進 · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 保寧間 · Western Interval: Start: AD 969 · End: AD 979
Explicit event contextual date · liaoshi:106:s0007

Places and affiliations

Polity Id: liao · Relation: served
Explicit · liaoshi:106:s0002, liaoshi:106:s0007
Place: home countryside / 裏 · Relation: resided-at
Explicit · liaoshi:106:s0008
Place: Jie Mountain / 頡山 · Relation: resided-at
Explicit · liaoshi:106:s0013
Place: Jie Mountain / 頡山 · Relation: withdrew-to
Explicit · liaoshi:106:s0012, liaoshi:106:s0013

Events and relationships

Kind: personal · Role: subject · Action: declined-worldly-affairs-while-accepting-social-invitations
Explicit · liaoshi:106:s0014, liaoshi:106:s0015
Kind: political · Role: subject · Action: requested-resignation-denied · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 統和末 · Reign Id: liao-tonghe · Western Interval: Start: AD 1010 · End: AD 1012
Explicit event contextual date · liaoshi:106:s0010
Kind: political · Role: subject · Action: resignation-granted
Explicit · liaoshi:106:s0011
Relation: esteemed-by · Person Id: Yelü Zizhong (耶律資忠)
Explicit · liaoshi:106:s0017

Assessments and attributes

Assessment: admired for resolve in withdrawal · Provenance: Mode: named-source-report
Explicit · liaoshi:106:s0013
Assessment: outstanding conduct; knew boundary of public and private life · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
Explicit · liaoshi:106:s0048, liaoshi:106:s0049, liaoshi:106:s0050
Kind: character · Statement: reserved and unconventional; took no interest in making a living
Explicit · liaoshi:106:s0006
Kind: character · Statement: spoke all day without touching worldly affairs; spent more than half of each year in the mountains
Explicit · liaoshi:106:s0014, liaoshi:106:s0016

Source notes

Historicity: historical
Explicit · liaoshi:106:s0005

References in the histories

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

History of Liao, Chapter 106Volume 106 Biographies 36: Outstanding Conduct · 5 passages

Open chapter

卓行 ○蕭劄剌耶律官奴蕭蒲離不 Outstanding Conduct ○ Xiao Zhalaci, Yelü Guannu, Xiao Pulibu

蕭劄剌，字虛輦，北府宰相排押之弟。 Xiao Zhalaci, whose style was Xunian, was the younger brother of Paiya, Chancellor of the Northern Administration.

上嘉其志，不復征，劄剌自是家於頡山。 The emperor admired his resolve and summoned him no more; from that time Zhalaci made his home on Jie Mountain.

耶律資忠重之，目曰頡山老人。 Yelü Zizhong held him in high regard and called him the Old Man of Jie Mountain.

若劄剌謝職不談時務，官奴兩辭節鎮，蒲離不召而不赴，雖未足謂之隱，然在當時能知內外之分，甘於肥遁，不猶愈於求富貴利達而為妻妾羞者哉？ Zhalaci resigned his post and would not discuss current affairs; Guannu twice declined regional commands; Pulibu was summoned but did not go — though these do not fully qualify as reclusion, in their own day they knew the boundary between public duty and private life and were content to withdraw from the world. Are they not still preferable to those who scrambled for wealth, rank, and advancement and brought shame upon their households?