Zhou Yuanbao (周元豹)

Overview

The translated histories identify Zhou Yuanbao as a diviner, monk, named individual, and official. This record brings together 13 passages from 3 chapters across 1 history, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Zhou Yuanbao	周元豹	Zhou Yuanbao
Title	adept Zhou Yuanbao	方士周元豹
Given name	Yuanbao	元豹	Yuanbao
Given	Yuanbao	元豹	Yuanbao
Personal name	Zhou Yuanbao	周元豹	Zhou Yuanbao

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Strongly inferred · jiuwudaishi:054:s0164, jiuwudaishi:071:s0171
Sex: male
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:072:s0023

Roles

Diviner
Monk
Named Individual
Official

Life and dates

Death

Place: Taiyuan / 太原
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:071:s0195

Age

Stated Age: 八十餘 · Reckoning: sui
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:071:s0195

Attested activity

Western Interval: Start: AD 908 · End: AD 922 · Source Date: Text: 元豹歸晉陽，張承業信重之，言事數中。
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:071:s0180
Source Date: Text: 即位之明年 · Western Year: AD 927
Explicit event contextual date · jiuwudaishi:071:s0190
Source Date: Text: 同光 · Western Interval: Start: AD 923 · End: AD 926
Explicit event contextual date · jiuwudaishi:071:s0189
Source Date: Text: 同光三年 · Western Year: AD 925
Explicit event contextual date · jiuwudaishi:054:s0164
Source Date: Text: 天祐中 · Western Year: AD 913
Explicit event contextual date · jiuwudaishi:072:s0023

Career and standing

Label: Grand Master for Splendid Happiness / 光祿卿 · Action: appointed
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:071:s0194
Label: touring officer of the Northern Capital / 北京巡官 · Action: appointed
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:071:s0189

Places and affiliations

Place: Yan / 燕 · Relation: native
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:071:s0171

Learning and skills

Skill: physiognomy of Yuan and Xu / 袁許之術 · Level: mastered
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:071:s0172
Skill: judging character / 人倫鑒 · Level: skilled
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:072:s0023

Works and attributed material

Kind: prediction · Role: speaker · Other Person Id: Lu Cheng (盧程)
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:071:s0176, jiuwudaishi:071:s0177
Kind: speech · Role: speaker · Other Person Id: Zhang Chengye (張承業) · Quoted: true
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:072:s0023
Kind: speech · Role: speaker · Other Person Id: Wang Du (王都)
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:054:s0164

Events and relationships

Kind: divination · Role: diviner · Action: identified · Other Person Id: Li Siyuan (李嗣源)
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:071:s0181
Kind: divination · Role: diviner · Action: predicted-death · Other Person Id: Sima Kui (司馬揆)
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:071:s0187

Source notes

Historicity: historical
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:054:s0164

References in the histories

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

Old History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 54Volume 54 Book of Later Tang 30: Biographies 6: Wang Rong, Wang Zhaohui, Wang Chuzhi · 1 passage

Open chapter

時周元豹見之曰：「形若鯉魚，難免刀機。」 At that time Zhou Yuanbao saw him and said, "His form is like a carp—hard to escape the knife."

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 · 10 passages

Open chapter

周元豹者，本燕人，世為從事。 Zhou Yuanbao came from Yan; for generations his family had served as staff officers.

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.

元豹謂鄉人張殷袞曰：「適二君子，明年花發，俱為故人。 Yuanbao told his townsman Zhang Yingun, "Those two visitors—when the flowers bloom next year they will both be dead.

元豹歸晉陽，張承業信重之，言事數中。 Yuanbao returned to Jinyang, where Zhang Chengye trusted him and found his predictions often accurate.

承業俾明宗易衣列於諸校之下，以他人詐之，而元豹指明宗於末綴言曰：「骨法非內衙太保歟！」 Chengye had Mingzong change clothes and stand among the junior officers, substituting another man to test him; Yuanbao pointed to Mingzong at the rear and said, "Isn't that the bone-structure of the Inner Palace Grand Guardian?!"

元豹見之曰：「此人有藩侯夫人之位，當生貴子。」 Yuanbao saw it and said, "This woman is destined to be a feudal lord's wife and will bear an exalted son."

太原判官司馬揆謁元豹，謂揆曰：「公五日之中，奉使萬里，未見回期。」 Sima Kui, secretary at Taiyuan, visited Yuanbao, who told him, "Within five days you will go on a mission ten thousand li away, with no return in sight."

莊宗署元豹北京巡官。 Zhuangzong appointed him touring officer of the Northern Capital.

明宗即位之明年，一日，謂侍臣曰：「方士周元豹，昔曾言朕諸事有征，可詔北京津置赴闕。」 The year after Mingzong took the throne he told his attendants, "The adept Zhou Yuanbao once predicted many things about me that came true—summon him from the Northern Capital to court."

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.

Old History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 72Volume 72 Book of Later Tang 48: Biographies 24: Zhang Chengye, Zhang Juhan, Ma Shaohong, Meng Hangqiong · 2 passages

Open chapter

時有周元豹者，善人倫鑒，與道不合，謂承業曰：「馮生無前程，公不可過用。」 At the time there was a Zhou Yuanbao, skilled at reading men, who disliked Feng and told Chengye, "Feng has no future — you must not promote him too far."

管書記盧質聞之曰：「我曾見杜黃裳司空寫真圖，道之狀貌酷類焉，將來必副大用，元豹之言，不足信也。」 Chief secretary Lu Zhi heard this and said, "I once saw the portrait of Minister Du Huangshang. Feng looks remarkably like him and will surely prove fit for high office — Yuanbao's words are not to be trusted."