Fan Li 蠡

Other names

Family

• Parent of Eldest son of Fan Li
  eldest son 長男
  Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 41, passage 190
• Parent of Middle son of Fan Li
  middle son 中男
  Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 41, passage 185
• Spouse of Wife of Fan Li
  mother of his sons 其母 · Marriage
  Strongly inferred · Records of the Grand Historian 41, passage 193
• Parent of Youngest son of Fan Li
  youngest son 少子
  Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 41, passage 184

• Kinship Role brothers · poor friends and elder and younger brothers received gifts · Count 2
  Directly stated · Book of Han 103, passage 41
• Kinship Role sons-and-grandsons · handed business to descendants · Count 2
  Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 129, passage 68
• Kinship Role sons-and-grandsons · Count 2
  Directly stated · Book of Han 103, passage 42

Career and standing

• merchant managing estates 治產積居
  Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 129, passage 63
• prime minister of Qi 相
  Appointed
  Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 41, passage 176
• Supreme General 上將軍
  Held
  Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 41, passage 165
• prime minister of Qi 相
  Resigned and returned seal
  Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 41, passage 179
• Designated as revenue fief
  At Mount Kuaiji 會稽山 · Authority Goujian (勾踐)
  Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 41, passage 173
• Entered
  Hostage in Wu
  Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 41, passage 49

Places and affiliations

• Polity Qi 齊 · Relation Served
  Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 41, passage 174
• Polity Yue 粵 · Relation Served
  Directly stated · Book of Han 65, passage 333
• Polity Yue 越 · Relation Served
  Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 41, passage 13; Records of the Grand Historian 129, passages 41, 59
• At Qi 齊 · Relation Migrated to
  Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 129, passage 61
• At Tao 陶 · Relation Resided at
  Directly stated · Book of Han 103, passages 38-39; Records of the Grand Historian 129, passages 61-62

Learning and skills

• Skill strategy 策 · Level model
  Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 126, passage 190

Works and attributed material

• Letter · Author · With Goujian (勾踐) · Speech Act resignation
  Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 41, passages 166-168
• Letter · Author · With Wen Zhong (種) · Speech Act warning
  Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 41, passages 117-120
• Speech · Speaker · With Goujian (勾踐) · Speech Act advice
  Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 41, passages 22-23
• Speech · Speaker · With Goujian (勾踐) · Speech Act recommendation
  Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 41, passages 47-48
• Speech · Speaker · With Goujian (勾踐) · Speech Act remonstrance
  Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 41, passages 13-15, 99-104
• Speech · Speaker · With Goujian (勾踐) · Speech Act strategic approval
  Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 41, passage 87

Events and relationships

• Amassed fortune thrice
  BC 473 to BC 454 十九年之間 · Commercial · Merchant
  Directly stated · Book of Han 103, passage 41
• Beat the drums, advanced the army, and dismissed the Wu envoy
  Military · Commander
  Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 41, passages 106-107
• Credited with the method by which Yue destroyed Wu
  Historical exemplar · Statesman · Mode quoted-allusion Speaker He Chen (賀琛)
  Directly stated · Book of Liang 38, passage 193
• Departed Yue by sea with private followers and never returned
  Travel · Emigrant
  Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 41, passage 172
• Distributed wealth, moved to Tao, traded, and became very rich
  Economic · Benefactor and merchant
  Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 41, passages 179, 181-182
• Farmed by the Qi seashore and accumulated tens of thousands with his son
  Economic · Farmer and household manager
  Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 41, passages 174-175

Assessments and attributes

• Assessment Goujian could share hardship but not joy · Mode named-person-judgment Source Person Id Fan Li (蠡)
  Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 41, passage 119
• Assessment his three migrations all brought lasting fame · Mode historian-judgment Source Person Id Sima Qian (司馬遷)
  Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 41, passages 241-242
• Assessment name transmitted for ten thousand years · Mode commentator-judgment
  Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 104, passage 136
• Assessment predicted that the eldest son's attachment to wealth would cause the middle son's death · Mode self-report Speaker Fan Li (蠡)
  Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 41, passages 227-233
• Assessment stratagems rivaled by later recluses · Mode quoted-speech Speaker Dongfang Shuo (東方朔)
  Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 126, passage 190
• Assessment wealthy and delighting in practicing virtue · Mode historian-judgment
  Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 129, passage 67

Source notes

• Value historical
  Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 126, passage 190
• Self assumed
  From Chiyi Zipi 鴟夷子皮 · To Tao Zhu Gong 陶朱公
  Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 41, passage 180
• Self assumed
  From Fan Li 范蠡 · To Chiyi Zipi 鴟夷子皮
  Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 41, passage 174
• To Chiyi Zipi 鴟夷子皮 · At Qi 齊
  Directly stated · Book of Han 103, passage 38; Records of the Grand Historian 129, passage 61
• To Lord Zhu 硃公 · At Tao 陶
  Directly stated · Book of Han 103, passage 38
• To Tao Zhugong 陶朱公 · At Tao 陶
  Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 129, passage 61