Xu Fu (許負) | 24 Histories

Overview

The translated histories identify Xu Fu as a diviner and named individual. This record brings together 9 passages from 5 chapters across 4 histories, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Xu Fu	許負	Xu Fu
Given	Fu	負	Fù
Surname	Xu	許	Xǔ
Personal name	Xu Fu	許	Xu Fu
Personal name	Xu Fu	許負	Xǔ Fù
Personal	Xu Fu	許負

Identity

Historicity: Uncertain
Identification: Named
Sex: Uncertain

Sex: female
Explicit · sanguozhi:031:s0119
Sex: female
Strongly inferred · shiji:124:s0051
Sex: male
Strongly inferred · jiuwudaishi:071:s0172, shiji:057:s0116

Roles

Diviner
Named Individual

Life and dates

Attested activity

Qualitative: legendary antiquity
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:071:s0172
Source Date: Text: 善相人者許負外孫也 · Western Interval: Start: BC 200 · End: BC 170
Explicit event contextual date · shiji:124:s0051
Source Date: Text: 條侯亞夫自未侯為河內守時 · Western Year: BC 171
Explicit event contextual date · shiji:057:s0116
Source Date: Text: 許負 · Western Year: BC 205
Explicit · sanguozhi:031:s0118, sanguozhi:031:s0119

Family

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

Ancestor of Guo Xie (郭解)
Kinship Term: maternal grandson / 外孫 · Line: maternal · Generation Distance: 2
Parent of Mother of Guo Jie (郭解母)
Kinship Term: parent / 親 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: parent · Object Role: child
Kinship Term: daughter / 女 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: daughter · Object Role: parent

Career and standing

Label: physiognomist / 善相人者
Explicit · shiji:124:s0051
Title: Village Mistress of Mingci / 明雌亭侯 · Action: enfeoffed · Authority Person Id: Emperor Gaozu (高祖) · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 漢高祖封為明雌亭侯 · Western Year: BC 202
Explicit · sanguozhi:031:s0119

Places and affiliations

Place: Wen County in Henei / 河內溫縣
Explicit · sanguozhi:031:s0119

Works and attributed material

Kind: speech · Role: speaker · Other Person Id: Zhou Yafu (周亞夫) · Quoted: true
Explicit · shiji:057:s0116, shiji:057:s0117, shiji:057:s0118, shiji:057:s0122

Events and relationships

Relation: adviser-of · Person Id: Wei Bao (魏豹) · Note: Wei Bao heard Xu Fu's words
Explicit · sanguozhi:031:s0118

Source notes

Field: enfeoffment · Statement: Pei Songzhi doubts Han Gaozu enfeoffed Xu Fu as Mingci village mistress, since Gaozu only created full marquises, not village-hamlet ranks · Witness Person Id: Pei Songzhi (裴松之)
Explicit · sanguozhi:031:s0120
Field: sex · Statement: Pei notes eastern dialects call mother fu, so Kong Yan's taking Xu Fu as a woman may be only resemblance, not certainty · Witness Person Id: Pei Songzhi (裴松之)
Explicit · sanguozhi:031:s0120

References in the histories

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Book of Han, Chapter 104Volume 92: Youxias · 1 passage

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郭解，河內軹人也，溫善相人許負外孫也。 Guo Xie of Zhi in Henei was the maternal grandson of Xu Fu, the famous face-reader from Wen.

Old History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 71Volume 71 Book of Later Tang 47: Biographies 23: Ma Yu, Si Kongting, Cao Tingyin, Xiao Xifu, Yao Zongzhi, Jia Fu, Ma Gao, Luo Guan, Chun Yuyan, Zhang Ge, Xu Ji, Zhou Xuanbao · 2 passages

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元豹少為僧，其師有知人之鑒，從遊十年餘，苦辛無憚，師知其可教，遂以袁、許之術授之。 As a youth Yuanbao became a monk; his teacher, skilled at reading men, trained him for more than ten years of hard service and then taught him the physiognomy of Yuan Tian gang and Xu Fu.

趙鳳奏曰：「袁、許之事，元豹所長者，以陛下貴不可言，今既驗矣，餘無可問。 Zhao Feng objected, "Yuanbao excels at the arts of Yuan and Xu; he said Your Majesty's destiny was beyond words, and that has been proved—there is nothing left to ask.

Records of the Three Kingdoms, Chapter 31Volume 31: Book of Shu 1: Biographies of the Two Governor Lius · 3 passages

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評曰：昔魏豹聞許負之言則納薄姬於室， The historian’s judgment runs: Long ago Wei Bao listened to the soothsayer Xu Fu and welcomed Lady Bo into his harem,

〈孔衍《漢魏春秋》曰：許負，河內溫縣之婦人，漢高祖封為明雌亭侯。〈Kong Yan’s Springs and Autumns of Han and Wei identifies Xu Fu as a woman of Wen county in Henei whom Han Gaozu supposedly ennobled as mistress of Mingci village.

臣松之以為今東人呼母為負，衍以許負為婦人，如為有似，然漢高祖時封皆列侯，未有鄉亭之爵，疑此封為不然。〉 Pei Songzhi notes that eastern dialects used fu for “mother,” which may explain Kong Yan’s treating Xu Fu as a woman—yet Gaozu’s reign ennobled only full marquises, never mere village titles, so that fief is almost certainly wrong.

Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 57House of Zhou Bo, Marquis of Jiang · 2 passages

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條侯亞夫自未侯為河內守時，許負相之，曰：「君後三歲而侯。 When the Marquis of Tiao, Yafu, was not yet a marquis and was still serving as Governor of Henei, the physiognomist Xu Fu read his face and said: "In three years you will become a marquis.

許負指其口曰：「有從理入口，此餓死法也。」 Xu Fu pointed to his mouth and said: "There is a vertical crease running into the mouth. This is the mark of death by starvation."

Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 124Biographies of Knight-errants · 1 passage

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郭解，軹人也，字翁伯，善相人者許負外孫也。 Guo Jie was a native of Zhi, with the courtesy name Wengbo. He was the maternal grandson of the famous physiognomist Xu Fu.