Xu Xiaosu (徐孝肅) | 24 Histories

Overview

The translated histories identify Xu Xiaosu as a family member and named individual. This record brings together 7 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	Xu Xiaosu	徐孝肅	Xu Xiaosu
Given	Xiaosu	孝肅	Xiaosu
Surname	Xu	徐	Xu
Personal name	Xu Xiaosu	徐孝肅	Xu Xiaosu

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Explicit · suishu:072:s0244

Roles

Family Member
Named Individual

Life and dates

Death

Manner: died at the grave site after more than forty years of mourning residence
Explicit · suishu:072:s0251

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: Sui-period chapter header context · Western Interval: Start: AD 581 · End: AD 618
Derived · suishu:072:s0243
Source Date: Text: undated Sui-period biography · Western Interval: Start: AD 581 · End: AD 618
Explicit event contextual date · suishu:072:s0244, suishu:072:s0245, suishu:072:s0246, suishu:072:s0247, suishu:072:s0248, suishu:072:s0249, suishu:072:s0250, suishu:072:s0251, suishu:072:s0252

Family

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

Child of Father of Xu Xiaosu (徐孝肅父)
Kinship Term: father / 父 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: son · Object Role: father
Child of Mother of Xu Xiaosu (徐孝肅母)
Kinship Term: mother / 母 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: son · Object Role: mother
Sibling of Debei (德備)
Kinship Term: younger brother / 弟 · Subject Role: elder-brother · Object Role: younger-brother · Subject Relative Age: elder · Shared Parentage: full

Kinship Role: grandparents · Count: 2
Explicit · suishu:072:s0251

Places and affiliations

Polity: Sui / 隋 · Relation: subject-of
Strongly inferred · suishu:072:s0244
Place: Ji commandery / 汲郡
Explicit · suishu:072:s0244
Place: grave site of grandparents and parents / 墓所 · Relation: resided-at
Explicit · suishu:072:s0251

Works and attributed material

Kind: narrative · Role: subject · Note: silent-subject continuation of Xiaosu biography
Explicit · suishu:072:s0248, suishu:072:s0251

Events and relationships

Kind: ritual · Role: builder · Action: carried-earth-to-build-grandparents-and-parents-tombs
Explicit · suishu:072:s0251
Kind: ritual · Role: commissioner · Action: had-father-portrait-painted-and-enshrined
Explicit · suishu:072:s0247
Kind: legal · Role: arbiter · Action: judged-clan-disputes · Place: within the clan / 宗黨
Explicit · suishu:072:s0246
Kind: ritual · Role: mourner · Action: lived-at-graves-over-forty-years-unbound-hair-barefoot
Explicit · suishu:072:s0251
Kind: ritual · Role: mourner · Action: morning-evening-attendance-and-new-and-full-moon-sacrifice
Explicit · suishu:072:s0247
Kind: personal · Role: caregiver · Action: nursed-ill-mother-for-years
Explicit · suishu:072:s0249
Kind: ritual · Role: mourner · Action: severe-mourning-diet-and-dress-after-mother-death
Explicit · suishu:072:s0250

Assessments and attributes

Assessment: famed for filial devotion to kin · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
Explicit · suishu:072:s0245
Kind: character · Statement: frugal by nature amid a clan that competed in luxury
Explicit · suishu:072:s0245
Item: portrait of his father / 形像 · Relation: commissioned
Explicit · suishu:072:s0247
Item: shrine for father's portrait / 廟 · Relation: built
Explicit · suishu:072:s0247

References in the histories

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

Book of Sui, Chapter 72Volume 72 Biographies 37: Filial Piety · 7 passages

Open chapter

○徐孝肅 Xu Xiaosu

徐孝肅，汲郡人也。 Xu Xiaosu was from Ji commandery.

宗族數千家，多以豪侈相尚，唯孝肅性儉約，事親以孝聞。 His clan numbered thousands of households, most of whom competed in luxury; only Xiaosu was frugal by nature and famed for serving his kin with filial devotion.

雖在幼齒，宗黨間每有爭訟，皆至孝肅所平論之，為孝肅所短者，無不引咎而退。 Even as a child, whenever disputes arose within the clan everyone came to Xiaosu for judgment; whoever was found at fault by Xiaosu invariably admitted blame and withdrew.

孝肅早孤，不識父，及長，問其母父狀，因求畫工，圖其形像，構廟置之而定省焉，朔望享祭。 Xiaosu was orphaned early and never knew his father; when he grew up he asked his mother what his father had been like, engaged a painter to draw his likeness, built a shrine and placed the portrait there for morning and evening attendance, and offered sacrifice at the new and full moon.

及母老疾，孝肅親易燥濕，憂悴數年，見者無不悲悼。 When his mother grew old and fell ill, Xiaosu personally tended her bedding for dryness and damp, was wasted with care for years, and all who saw him were moved to grief.

母終，孝肅茹蔬飲水，盛冬單縗，毀瘠骨立。 When his mother died, Xiaosu ate only vegetables and drank only water, wore a single layer of mourning hemp in the depth of winter, and his grief wasted him until only bone remained.