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Ji Bu
Ji Bu ( 200s BC) was a Chinese military general of the early Western Han dynasty. He was from Xiaxiang (下相; present-day Sucheng District, Suqian, Jiangsu). He previously served under Xiang Yu, a warlord who engaged Liu Bang (Emperor Gao), the founder of the Han dynasty, in a four-year-long power struggle historically known as the Chu–Han Contention (206–202 BC). After Xiang Yu's defeat and death, Ji Bu became a fugitive of the Han Empire and had a price placed on his head by Emperor Gaozu. However, the emperor eventually pardoned him after being persuaded by Xiahou Ying and recruited him to serve in the Han government as a "Palace Assistant" (). He was promoted to the position of "General of the Household" () after Emperor Hui ascended the throne, and was appointed as the Administrator () of Hedong Commandery during the reign of Emperor Wen. Anecdote The Chinese idiom ''yi nuo qian jin'' (), which is used to describe a situation where a promise is kept, was derived ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ji (surname 季)
Jì is the Mandarin pinyin romanization of the Chinese surname written in Chinese character. It is romanized as Chi in Wade–Giles, and Gwai in Cantonese. Ji is the 142nd most common surname in China, with a population of 960,000. It is listed the 134th in the Song dynasty classic text ''Hundred Family Surnames''. Etymology In ancient usage, the characters of ''meng'' (孟), '' zhong'' (仲), '' shu'' (叔) and ''ji'' (季) were used to denote the first, second, third and fourth eldest sons in a family. The Chinese character Ji 季 is composed of two parts: 禾 (grain) and 子 (son), and originally means "young grain". Later it acquired the meaning of "the youngest", and was frequently used in the name or title of the youngest son (or daughter) of a family. It is from this usage that the character became a surname. According to analysis based on the early 11th-century dictionary ''Guangyun'', in Middle Chinese the character was pronounced wi Demographics As of 2008, Ji 季 is t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emperor Hui Of Han
Emperor Hui of Han (Liu Ying 劉盈; 210 BC – 26 September 188 BC) was the second emperor of the Chinese Han dynasty. He is also known as Han Huidi (Chinese: 漢惠帝 ''Hàn Huìdì''). He was the second son of Emperor Gaozu (Liu Bang, of the Liu family), the first Han emperor, and Empress Lü from the powerful Lü clan (House of Lü). Han Huidi is generally remembered as a somewhat weak character dominated and terrorized by his mother, Lü (Lu Hou, who became Empress Dowager after she encouraged her husband to command personally a war in which he died from an arrow wound). Huidi was personally kind and generous, but unable to escape the impact of Lu Hou's viciousness. However he did end the laws of Burning of books and burying of scholars. He tried to protect Ruyi, Prince Yin of Zhao, his younger half-brother, from being murdered by Empress Dowager Lü, but failed. After that, he indulged himself in drinking and sex, and died at a relatively young age. Emperor Hui's wife wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Records Of The Grand Historian
''Records of the Grand Historian'', also known by its Chinese name ''Shiji'', is a monumental history of China that is the first of China's 24 dynastic histories. The ''Records'' was written in the early 1st century by the ancient Chinese historian Sima Qian, whose father Sima Tan had begun it several decades earlier. The work covers a 2,500-year period from the age of the legendary Yellow Emperor to the reign of Emperor Wu of Han in the author's own time, and describes the world as it was known to the Chinese of the Western Han dynasty. The ''Records'' has been called a "foundational text in Chinese civilization". After Confucius and the First Emperor of Qin, "Sima Qian was one of the creators of Imperial China, not least because by providing definitive biographies, he virtually created the two earlier figures." The ''Records'' set the model for all subsequent dynastic histories of China. In contrast to Western historical works, the ''Records'' do not treat history as "a cont ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sima Qian
Sima Qian (; ; ) was a Chinese historian of the early Han dynasty (206AD220). He is considered the father of Chinese historiography for his ''Records of the Grand Historian'', a general history of China covering more than two thousand years beginning from the rise of the legendary Yellow Emperor and the formation of the first Chinese polity to the reigning sovereign of Sima Qian's time, Emperor Wu of Han. As the first universal history of the world as it was known to the ancient Chinese, the ''Records of the Grand Historian'' served as a model for official history-writing for subsequent Chinese dynasties and the Chinese cultural sphere (Korea, Vietnam, Japan) up until the 20th century. Sima Qian's father Sima Tan first conceived of the ambitious project of writing a complete history of China, but had completed only some preparatory sketches at the time of his death. After inheriting his father's position as court historian in the imperial court, he was determined to fulfill ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Catty
The catty, kati or , pronounced as jin in Mandarin and gan in Cantonese, is a traditional Chinese unit of mass used across East and Southeast Asia, notably for weighing food and other groceries in some wet markets, street markets, and shops. Related units include the picul, equal to 100 catties, and the tael (also spelled ''tahil'', in Malay/Indonesian), which is of a catty. A stone is a former unit used in Hong Kong equal to 120 catties and a ''gwan'' (鈞) is 30 catties. Catty or ''kati'' is still used in Southeast Asia as a unit of measurement in some contexts especially by the significant Overseas Chinese populations across the region, particularly in Malaysia and Singapore. The catty is traditionally equivalent to around pound avoirdupois, formalised as 604.78982 grams in Hong Kong, 604.79 grams in Malaysia and 604.8 grams in Singapore. In some countries, the weight has been rounded to 600 grams (Taiwan, Japan, Korea and Thailand). In mainland China, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chengyu
''Chengyu'' () are a type of traditional Chinese idiomatic expression, most of which consist of four characters. ''Chengyu'' were widely used in Classical Chinese and are still common in vernacular Chinese writing and in the spoken language today. According to the most stringent definition, there are about 5,000 ''chéngyǔ'' in the Chinese language, though some dictionaries list over 20,000. ''Chéngyǔ'' are considered the collected wisdom of the Chinese culture, and contain the experiences, moral concepts, and admonishments from previous generations of Chinese. Nowadays, ''chéngyǔ'' still play an important role in Chinese conversations and education. Chinese idioms are one of four types of formulaic expressions (熟语/熟語, ''shúyǔ''), which also include collocations (惯用语/慣用語 ''guànyòngyǔ''), two-part allegorical sayings (歇后语/歇後語 ''xiēhòuyǔ''), and proverbs (谚语/諺語 ''yànyǔ''). They are often referred to as Chinese idioms or fou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emperor Wen Of Han
Emperor Wen of Han (; 203/202 – 6 July 157 BCE), born Liu Heng (), was the fifth emperor of the Western Han dynasty in China from 180 to his death in 157 BCE. The son of Emperor Gao and Consort Bo, his reign provided a much needed stability after the unstable and violent regency of Empress Lü. The prosperous reigns of Wen and his son Emperor Jing are highly regarded by historians, being referred to as the Rule of Wen and Jing. When Emperor Gaozu suppressed the rebellion of Dai, he made Liu Heng Prince of Dai. Since Emperor Gaozu's death, power had been in the hands of his wife, Empress Lü, who became the empress dowager. After Empress Dowager Lü's death, the officials eliminated the powerful Lü clan, and deliberately chose the Prince of Dai as the emperor, since his mother, Consort Bo, had no powerful relatives, and her family was known for its humility and thoughtfulness. His reign brought a much needed political stability that laid the groundwork for prosperity under ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hedong Commandery
Hedong Commandery () was a historical region in the Qin and Han dynasties of ancient China. Hedong was located to the east of the Yellow River in Shanxi (around present-day Yuncheng). History Hedong Commandery was established by the Qin state during the Warring States Period. Its seat was Anyi, the former capital of Wei. During the Western Han dynasty, It administered 24 counties: Anyi (安邑), Dayang (大陽), Yishi (猗氏), Xie (解), Puban (蒲反), Hebei (河北), Zuoyi (左邑), Fenyin (汾陰), Wenxi (聞喜), Huoze (濩澤), Duanshi (端氏), Linfen (臨汾), Yuan (垣), Pishi (皮氏), Changxiu (長脩), Pingyang (平陽), Xiangling (襄陵), Zhi (彘), Yang (楊), Beiqu (北屈), Puzi (蒲子), Jiang (絳), Hunie (狐讘) and Qi (騏). In 2 AD, the commandery had a population of 962,912, in 236,896 households. During the Cao Wei dynasty, a separate Pingyang Commandery was formed from several counties of Hedong. In early Jin dynasty, Hedong administered nine counties, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Xiahou Ying
Xiahou Ying (died 172 BC), posthumously known as Marquis Wen of Ruyin, was a Chinese official who served as Minister Coachman () during the early Han dynasty. He served under Liu Bang (Emperor Gaozu), the founding emperor of the Han dynasty, and fought on Liu Bang's side during the Chu–Han Contention (206–202 BC) against Liu Bang's rival, Xiang Yu. He is also sometimes referred to as the Duke of Teng in historical records. Early life Xiahou Ying was from Pei County in present-day Jiangsu. He started his career as a minor officer in charge of horses, chariots and carriages in the county office. Whenever he passed by Sishui Village (), one of the villages in Pei County, he would visit his friend Liu Bang, a low-ranking officer in the village, and spend a long time chatting with him. On one occasion, Liu Bang played a prank on Xiahou Ying and caused him to be injured. The county magistrate found out about the incident and ordered an investigation. Under the law of the Qin d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Han Dynasty
The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warring interregnum known as the ChuHan contention (206–202 BC), and it was succeeded by the Three Kingdoms period (220–280 AD). The dynasty was briefly interrupted by the Xin dynasty (9–23 AD) established by usurping regent Wang Mang, and is thus separated into two periods—the #Western Han, Western Han (202 BC – 9 AD) and the #Eastern Han, Eastern Han (25–220 AD). Spanning over four centuries, the Han dynasty is considered a golden age (metaphor), golden age in Chinese history, and it has influenced the identity of the History of China, Chinese civilization ever since. Modern China's majority ethnic group refers to themselves as the "Han Chinese, Han people", the Sinitic langu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chu–Han Contention
The Chu–Han Contention ( zh, , lk=on) or Chu–Han War () was an interregnum period in ancient China between the fallen Qin dynasty and the subsequent Han dynasty. After the third and last Qin ruler, Ziying, unconditionally surrendered to rebel forces in 206 BCE, the former Qin Empire was divided by rebel leader Xiang Yu into the Eighteen Kingdoms, which were ruled by various rebel leaders and surrendered Qin generals. A civil war soon broke out, most prominently between two major contending powers – Xiang Yu's Western Chu and Liu Bang's Han. Some of the other kingdoms also waged war among themselves but these were largely insignificant compared to the main conflict between Chu and Han. The war ended in 202 BCE with a total Han victory at the Battle of Gaixia, where Xiang Yu fled to Wujiang and committed suicide after a violent last stand. Liu Bang subsequently proclaimed himself Emperor and established the Han dynasty as the ruling dynasty of China. Background In 22 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emperor Gaozu Of Han
Emperor Gaozu of Han (256 – 1 June 195 BC), born Liu Bang () with courtesy name Ji (季), was the founder and first emperor of the Han dynasty, reigning in 202–195 BC. His temple name was "Taizu" while his posthumous name was Emperor Gao, or Gaodi; "Gaozu of Han", derived from the ''Records of the Grand Historian'', is the common way of referring to this sovereign even though he was not accorded the temple name "Gaozu", which literally means "High Founder". Liu Bang was one of the few dynasty founders in Chinese history who was born into a peasant family. Prior to coming to power, Liu Bang initially served for the Qin dynasty as a minor law enforcement officer in his home town Pei County, within the conquered state of Chu. With the First Emperor's death and the Qin Empire's subsequent political chaos, Liu Bang renounced his civil service position and became an anti-Qin rebel leader. He won the race against fellow rebel leader Xiang Yu to invade the Qin heartlan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
