Ancient China · Official

Ximen Bao 西門豹

Attested c. BC 400

Passages: 6
Chapters: 3
Histories: 3

Overview

The translated histories identify Ximen Bao as an engineer and official. This record brings together 6 passages from 3 chapters across 3 histories, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Ximen Bao	西門豹	Ximen Bao
Given	Bao	豹	Bao
Surname	Ximen	西門	Ximen
Personal name	Ximen Bao	西門豹	Ximen Bao

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Explicit · shiji:029:s0017
Sex: male
Strongly inferred · weishu:110:s0107

Roles

Engineer
Official

Life and dates

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 西門豹引漳水溉鄴 · Western Year: c. BC 400
Explicit · shiji:029:s0017
Source Date: Text: 西門豹祠 · Western Year: AD 546
Explicit event contextual date · weishu:110:s0107

Career and standing

Label: canal engineer / 引漳水
Explicit · shiji:029:s0017
Name: Magistrate of Ye / 鄴令
Explicit · hanshu:038:s0016

Places and affiliations

Polity: Wei / 魏 · Relation: served
Explicit · shiji:029:s0017
Place: He Nei / 河內 · Relation: associated-with
Explicit · shiji:029:s0017
Place: Ye / 鄴 · Relation: worked-at
Explicit · shiji:029:s0017

Events and relationships

Kind: hydraulic · Role: director · Action: diverted-Zhang-to-irrigate-Ye · Place: Ye / 鄴
Explicit · shiji:029:s0017

References in the histories

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

Book of Han, Chapter 38Volume 29: Treatise on Rivers and Canals · 4 passages

魏文侯時，西門豹為鄴令，有令名。 Under Marquis Wen of Wei, Ximen Bao governed Ye and earned an excellent reputation.

至文侯曾孫襄王時，與群臣飲酒，王為群臣祝曰：「今吾臣皆西門豹之為人臣也！」 By the reign of King Xiang, Marquis Wen's great-grandson, the king drank with his court and toasted his ministers: "Would that all my ministers served as Ximen Bao did!"

漳水在其旁，西門豹不知用，是不智也。 The Zhang River lies right beside it, and Ximen Bao did not exploit it. That was not wisdom.

仁智豹未之盡，何足法也！」 So Bao did not fully realize either wisdom or benevolence. Why should he be our standard?"

Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 29Treatise on Rivers and Canals · 1 passage

西門豹引漳水溉鄴，以富魏之河內。 Ximen Bao diverted the Zhang River to irrigate Ye, thereby enriching Wei’s He Nei commandery.

Book of Wei, Chapter 110Volume 104: Author's Preface · 1 passage

四年，獻武於西門豹祠宴集，謂司馬子如曰：「魏收為史官，書吾善惡。 In the fourth year Xianwu hosted a banquet at the Shrine of Ximen Bao and said to Sima Ziru: "Wei Shou, as historiographer, will record my virtues and faults.