Zhong Chuan (鍾傳) | 24 Histories

Overview

The translated histories identify Zhong Chuan as a merchant, military officer, official, and warlord. This record brings together 22 passages from 2 chapters across 2 histories, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Zhong Chuan	鍾傳	Zhōng Chuán
Given	Chuan	傳	Chuán
Title	Prince of Nanping	南平王
Surname	Zhong	鍾
Personal name	Zhong Chuan	鍾傳	Zhōng Chuán

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:017:s0050
Sex: male
Strongly inferred · xinwudaishi:041:s0044

Roles

Merchant
Military Officer
Official
Warlord

Life and dates

Death

Place: Jiangxi / 江西 · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 天祐三年 · Western Year: AD 906
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:017:s0065, jiuwudaishi:017:s0067
Date Context: Source Date: Text: 天祐三年 · Western Year: AD 906
Explicit · xinwudaishi:041:s0055

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 中和三年至天祐三年 · Western Interval: Start: AD 883 · End: AD 906
Explicit event contextual date · jiuwudaishi:017:s0053, jiuwudaishi:017:s0067
Source Date: Text: 唐末 · Western Interval: Start: AD 880 · End: AD 907
Explicit event contextual date · xinwudaishi:041:s0045
Source Date: Text: 天祐三年 · Western Year: AD 906
Explicit event contextual date · xinwudaishi:041:s0055
Source Date: Text: 居江西三十餘年 · Western Interval: Start: AD 875 · End: AD 906
Explicit event contextual date · xinwudaishi:041:s0054

Family

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

Parent of Yan Gui (延規)
Kinship Term: adopted son / 養子 · Parentage: adoptive · Subject Role: adoptive father · Object Role: adopted son
Parent of Zhong Yangui (鍾延規)
Kinship Term: adopted son / 養子 · Parentage: adoptive · Subject Role: father · Object Role: son
Parent of Zhong Kuangshi (鍾匡時)
Kinship Term: son / 子 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: father · Object Role: son
Parent of Zhong Kuangshi (鍾匡時)
Kinship Term: son / 子 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: father · Object Role: son

Career and standing

Label: trader / 商販
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:017:s0072
Label: Zhennan military commissioner / 鎮南節度使 · Action: appointed · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 中和三年 · Western Year: AD 883
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:017:s0053
Label: Grand Guardian / 太保 · Action: appointed
Explicit · xinwudaishi:041:s0054
Label: military commissioner of Pacify-the-South / 鎮南軍節度使 · Action: appointed
Explicit · xinwudaishi:041:s0047
Label: Secretariat Director / 中書令 · Action: appointed
Explicit · xinwudaishi:041:s0054
Label: acting military governor / 留後 · Action: claimed
Explicit · xinwudaishi:041:s0046
Title: Prince of Nanping / 南平王 · Action: enfeoffed
Explicit · xinwudaishi:041:s0054

Places and affiliations

Label: Tang / 唐 · Relation: served
Explicit · xinwudaishi:041:s0047
Place: Gao'an in Hong Prefecture / 洪州高安
Explicit · xinwudaishi:041:s0044
Place: Yuzhang / 豫章
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:017:s0048
Place: Jiangxi / 江西 · Relation: held
Explicit · xinwudaishi:041:s0054

Works and attributed material

Kind: speech · Role: speaker · Provenance: Mode: direct-speech · Speaker Person Id: Zhong Chuan (鍾傳) · Other Person Id: Shanglan monk (上藍和尚)
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:017:s0077
Kind: speech · Role: speaker · Provenance: Mode: direct-speech · Speaker Person Id: Zhong Chuan (鍾傳)
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:017:s0074
Kind: speech · Role: speaker · Quoted: true
Explicit · xinwudaishi:041:s0051, xinwudaishi:041:s0052

Events and relationships

Kind: military · Role: commander · Action: besieged · Other Person Id: Wei Quanfeng (危全諷)
Explicit · xinwudaishi:041:s0050, xinwudaishi:041:s0051, xinwudaishi:041:s0052
Kind: military · Role: commander · Action: seized-Hong-prefecture
Explicit · xinwudaishi:041:s0046

Assessments and attributes

Assessment: gentleman who would not press a man in peril · Provenance: Mode: self-report
Explicit · xinwudaishi:041:s0051
Assessment: loved learning, honored scholars, and was called enlightened · Provenance: Mode: named-work-report · Source Work: Supplement to the History of the Five Dynasties
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:017:s0072

References in the histories

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

Old History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 17Volume 17 Book of Later Liang 17: Biographies 7: Cheng Rui, Du Hong, Tian Yun, Zhao Kuangning, Zhang Ji, Lei Man · 13 passages

Open chapter

鍾傳者，豫章小校。 Zhong Chuan was a low officer in Yuzhang.

洪、傳各為部校，因戰立威，逐其廉使，自稱留後，朝廷因而命之。 Hong and Chuan rose as unit commanders, fought their way to power, expelled their superiors, declared themselves acting governors, and won court recognition.

中和三年，傳逐江西觀察使高茂卿，遂有洪州，僖宗擢傳江西團練使，俄拜鎮南節度使。）〉 (In Zhonghe 3 Chuan expelled Gao Maoqing from Jiangxi, took Hongzhou, and was made training commissioner, then Zhennan military commissioner.)〉

及為楊行密所攻，洪、傳首尾相應，皆遣求援於太祖； When Yang Xingmi attacked them, Hong and Chuan backed each other and both appealed to the Founder;

先是，鍾傳卒於江西，其子繼之， Earlier Zhong Chuan had died in Jiangxi and his son succeeded him,

〈（《九國誌·秦裴傳》：天祐三年，洪州鍾傳卒，州人立其子匡時。 (The 《Nine States Chronicle》 says that in Tianyou 3 Zhong Chuan died at Hongzhou and the people set up his son Kuangshi.)

江州刺史延規，傳之養子，忿不得立，以其郡納款，因授裴西南面行營招討使，攻匡時。 Yan Gui, Chuan's adopted son and Jiangzhou prefect, resenting his exclusion, surrendered his prefecture; Qin Pei was sent to attack Kuangshi.

〈（《五代史補》：鍾傳雖起於商販，尤好學重士，時江西上流有名第者，多因傳薦，四遠騰然，謂之曰英明。 (The 《Supplement》 says Chuan began as a trader but prized learning and patronized scholars; eminent Jiangxi families often owed their posts to him, and men far and wide called him "the enlightened."

諸葛浩素有詞學，嘗為泗州管驛巡官，仰傳之風，因擇其所行事赫赫可稱者十條，列於啟事以投之。 Zhuge Hao, a man of letters once posted at a Sizhou relay station, admired Chuan and sent a memorial listing ten of his finest deeds.

十啟凡五千字，皆文理典贍，傳覽之驚歎，謂賓佐曰：「此啟事每一字可以千錢酬之。」 Ten sections, five thousand characters, all polished; Chuan read them in wonder and told his staff, "Every character in this is worth a thousand cash."

上藍和尚，失其名，居於洪州上藍院，精究術數，大為鍾傳所禮。 A monk of Shanglan Monastery in Hongzhou, name forgotten, was a master of divination whom Chuan treated with great respect.

一旦疾篤，往省之，且曰：「老夫於和尚可謂無間矣，和尚或不諱，得無一言相付耶！」 When the monk fell gravely ill Chuan visited him and said, "I have held nothing back from you—won't you leave me one word before you go?"

傳得之，不能測。 Chuan could not make sense of it.

New History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 41Volume 41 Miscellaneous Biographies 21: Lu Guangchou, Tan Quanbo, Lei Man, Zhong Chuan, Zhao Kuangning · 9 passages

Open chapter

鍾傳，洪州高安人也。 Zhong Chuan came from Gao’an in Hong Prefecture.

傳以州兵擊賊，頻勝，遂逐觀察使，自稱留後。 Chuan beat the bandits again and again with prefectural troops, drove out the observation commissioner, and called himself acting governor.

唐以洪州為鎮南軍，拜傳節度使。 Tang made Hong the Pacify-the-South circuit and named Chuan its commissioner.

江夏伶人杜洪者，亦據鄂州，楊行密屢攻之，洪頗倚傳為首尾。 Du Hong, a Jiangxia player turned warlord, held Ezhou. Yang Xingmi struck him again and again, and Hong counted on Chuan to guard his back.

是時，危全諷、韓師德等分據撫、吉諸州，傳皆不能節度，以兵攻之，稍聽命，獨全諷不能下，乃自率兵圍之。 Wei Quanfeng, Han Shide, and others held Fu and Ji. Chuan could not rule them from afar; he marched on them until most bent the knee. Only Quanfeng held out, so Chuan went in person to besiege him.

城中夜火起，諸將請急攻之，傳曰：「吾聞君子不迫人之危。」 Night fires flared inside the walls. His generals begged to storm the city. Chuan said: “A gentleman does not kick a man when he is down.”

全諷聞之，明日乃亦聽命，請以女妻傳子匡時。 Quanfeng heard the prayer. The next day he submitted and offered his daughter to Chuan’s son Kuangshi.

傳居江西三十餘年，累拜太保、中書令，封南平王。 Chuan held Jiangxi for more than thirty years, rose to Grand Guardian and Secretariat Director, and was made Prince of Nanping.

天祐三年，傳卒，子匡時自稱留後，請命於唐。 In Tianyou 3 (906) Chuan died. His son Kuangshi called himself acting governor and bowed to Tang.