Qin and Han · Judge

Yu Dingguo 于定國

Attested BC 100 - BC 40

Passages
31
Chapters
9
Histories
3

Overview

The translated histories identify Yu Dingguo as an aristocrat, judge, official, and scholar. This record brings together 31 passages from 9 chapters across 3 histories, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

TypeEnglishChinesePinyin
Personal Yu Dingguo 于定國 Yu Dingguo
Alternate Anguo 安國 Anguo
Title Chancellor 丞相
Title Commandant of Justice 廷尉
Given Dingguo 定國 Dingguo
Given Dingguo 定國
Personal Dingguo 定國
Courtesy Manqian 曼倩 Mànqiàn
Surname Yu 于 Yu
Surname Yu 於
Personal name Yu Dingguo 於定國 Yu Dingguo
Personal Yu Dingguo 于定國 Yú Dìngguó
Personal Yu Dingguo 於安國 Yu Dingguo
Personal name Yu Dingguo 于定國 Yú Dìngguó
Personal Yu Dingguo 於定國 Yu Dingguo
Personal name Yu Dingguo 于定國 Yu Dingguo
Given 定國 Dingguo
Surname 於 Yu

Identity

Historicity
Historical
Identification
Named
Sex
Male

Roles

  • Aristocrat
  • Judge
  • Official
  • Scholar
  • Statesman

Life and dates

Attested activity

  • Source Date: Text: BC 100-40 · Western Interval: Start: BC 100 · End: BC 40
    Explicit event contextual date · nanqishu:048:s0116
  • Source Date: Text: BC 100-40 · Western Interval: Start: BC 100 · End: BC 40
    Strongly inferred · xintangshu:113:s0231
  • Source Date: Text: 五鳳三年後 · Western Year: BC 55
    Explicit event contextual date · hanshu:085:s0213
  • Source Date: Text: 孝宣承統 · Western Interval: Start: BC 74 · End: BC 48
    Explicit · hanshu:068:s0260
  • Source Date: Text: 宣帝 · Western Interval: Start: BC 74 · End: BC 49
    Explicit event contextual date · hanshu:101:s0085
  • Source Date: Text: 宣帝即位 · Western Year: BC 74
    Explicit · hanshu:082:s0211
  • Source Date: Text: 宣帝時 · Western Year: BC 70
    Explicit event contextual date · hanshu:025:s0194
  • Source Date: Text: 於安國父子 · Western Year: BC 51
    Strongly inferred · hanshu:082:s0198
  • Source Date: Text: 昭帝崩 · Western Year: BC 74
    Explicit · hanshu:082:s0209
  • Source Date: Text: 永光元年 · Western Year: BC 43
    Explicit · hanshu:082:s0116, hanshu:082:s0138
  • Source Date: Text: 甘露中 · Western Interval: Start: BC 53 · End: BC 50
    Explicit · hanshu:082:s0214

Family

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

  • Child of Lord Yu (于公)
    Kinship Term: father / 父 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: son · Object Role: father
  • Parent of Yu Yong (于永)
    Kinship Term: father / 父 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: son · Object Role: father
  • Parent of Son of Yu Dingguo
    Kinship Term: father / 父 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: father · Object Role: son

Career and standing

  • Label: Commandant of Justice / 廷尉 · Action: appointed · Authority Person Id: Emperor Xuan of Han (宣帝)
    Explicit · hanshu:025:s0194
  • Office: Commandant of Justice / 廷尉 · Action: appointed · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 本始中 · Western Year: BC 71
    Explicit · hanshu:082:s0211, hanshu:082:s0096
  • Label: chancellor / 丞相 · Action: appointed
    Explicit · hanshu:085:s0219
  • Label: imperial censor / 御史大夫 · Action: appointed
    Explicit · hanshu:085:s0218
  • Label: Commandant of Justice / 廷尉 · Action: held
    Explicit · hanshu:085:s0213
  • Office: Chancellor / 丞相 · Action: promoted · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 甘露中 · Western Year: BC 51
    Explicit · hanshu:082:s0214
  • Office: Commandant of the Imperial Counselors / 御史大夫 · Action: promoted · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 甘露中 · Western Year: BC 52
    Explicit · hanshu:082:s0214
  • Title: Chancellor / 丞相
    Explicit · hanshu:075:s0250
  • Noble Title: Marquis of Xiping / 西平侯 · Action: enfeoffed · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 甘露中 · Western Year: BC 51
    Explicit · hanshu:082:s0214

Places and affiliations

Works and attributed material

Events and relationships

  • Kind: judicial · Role: judge · Action: wise-in-prison-cases
    Explicit · hanshu:082:s0198

Assessments and attributes

  • Assessment: general or chancellor (將相) · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
    Explicit · hanshu:068:s0260
  • Assessment: had achievements recounted in their age · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
    Explicit · hanshu:068:s0260
  • Assessment: showed mercy to the helpless and wisdom in judgment; a true minister for his post · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
    Explicit · hanshu:082:s0198

References in the histories

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

Book of Han, Chapter 25Volume 23: Treatise on Punishment and Law · 1 passage
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Book of Han, Chapter 68Volume 58: Gongsun Hong, Bu Shi and Er Kuan · 1 passage
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孝宣承統，纂修洪業，亦講論六藝，招選茂異，而蕭望之、梁丘賀、夏侯勝、韋玄成、嚴彭祖，尹更始以儒術進，劉向，王褒以文章顯，將相則張安世、趙充國、魏相、丙吉、於定國、杜延年，治民則黃霸、王成、龔遂、鄭弘、召信臣、韓延壽、尹翁歸、趙廣漢、嚴延年、張敞之屬，皆有功跡見述於世。 Emperor Xuan inherited the succession and carried forward the great enterprise. He too expounded the Six Arts and recruited outstanding men. Xiao Wangzhi, Liangqiu He, Xiahou Sheng, Wei Xuancheng, Yan Pengzu, and Yin Gengshi advanced through Confucian learning; Liu Xiang and Wang Bao gained distinction for their writing; among the generals and chancellors were Zhang Anshi, Zhao Chongguo, Wei Xiang, Bing Ji, Yu Dingguo, and Du Yannian; and among those who governed the people were Huang Ba, Wang Cheng, Gong Sui, Zheng Hong, Shao Xinchen, Han Yanshou, Yin Wengui, Zhao Guanghan, Yan Yannian, Zhang Chang, and others. All left achievements celebrated in their age.
Book of Han, Chapter 75Volume 64b: Yan, Zhu, Wuqiu, Zhufu, Xu, Yan, Zhong, Wang, and Jia 2 · 1 passage
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Book of Han, Chapter 82Volume 71: Jun, Shu, Yu, Xue, Ping and Peng · 20 passages
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定國少學法於父，父死，後定國亦為獄中、郡決曹，補廷尉史，以選與御史中丞從事治反者獄，以材高舉侍御史，遷御史中丞。 Dingguo studied law under his father as a youth. After his father died, Dingguo too served in the prison office and the commandery sentencing bureau, became a clerk of the commandant of justice, and by selection assisted the imperial counselor in treason cases. For his outstanding ability he was recommended as attendant imperial counselor and then promoted to imperial counselor.
Book of Han, Chapter 85Volume 74: Wei Xiang and Bing Ji · 3 passages
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Book of Han, Chapter 89Volume 78: Xiao Wangzhi · 2 passages
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初，匈奴呼韓邪單于來朝，詔公卿議其儀，丞相霸、御史大夫定國議曰：「聖王之制，施德行禮，先京師而後諸夏，先諸夏而後夷狄。 Earlier, when Huhanye Chanyu of the Xiongnu came to court, an edict ordered the dukes and ministers to discuss the proper ritual. Chancellor Huang Ba and Imperial Counselor Yu Dingguo proposed, "In the institutions of the sage kings, virtue is extended and ritual performed first in the capital, then among the central states; first among the central states, then among the Yi and Di peoples.
Book of Han, Chapter 101Volume 89: Upright Officials · 1 passage
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Book of Southern Qi, Chapter 48Volume 48 Biographies 29: Yuan Tuan, Kong Zhigui, Liu Hui · 1 passage
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New Book of Tang, Chapter 113Volume 113 Biographies 38: Tang, Zhang, Xu · 1 passage
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