Ancient China · Royal Family Member

Gong Liu 公劉

Attested BC 1200 - BC 1100

Passages: 5
Chapters: 4
Histories: 2

Overview

Gong Liu was a Royal Family Member.

Life and dates

Attested activity

legendary antiquity
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 13, passage 280; Records of the Grand Historian 99, passage 12
BC 1200 to BC 1100 公劉發跡於西戎
Strongly inferred · Book of Han 67, passage 192

Family

Immediate relationships attested in the translated histories.

Descendant of Hou Ji (后稷)
ancestor 先 · paternal line
ancestral founder before Gong Liu 後稷 · paternal line
Strongly inferred · Records of the Grand Historian 99, passages 11-12; Book of Han 67, passage 192
Parent of Qingjie (慶節)
fathered 生 · paternal line
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 13, passage 288
Child of Ju (鞠)
fathered 生 · paternal line
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 13, passage 280
Ancestor of King Wen of Zhou (周文王)
Zhou ancestral line · paternal line
Strongly inferred · Book of Han 67, passage 192

Key source chapters

Source notes

Historicity legendary
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 99, passage 15

References in the histories

Book of Han, Chapter 67Volume 57b: Sima Xiangru · 1 passage

後稷創業於唐，公劉發跡於西戎，文王改制，爰周郅隆，大行越成，而後陵遲衰微，千載亡聲，豈不善始善終哉！ Houji began the work under Tang, Gong Liu raised the clan among the western Rong, King Wen reshaped the rites, and Zhou climbed to its zenith; their grand achievement was fulfilled, then slowly waned until a thousand years of silence followed—yet that is still what we call beginning well and ending well!

Book of Han, Chapter 74Volume 64a: Yan, Zhu, Wuqiu, Zhufu, Xu, Yan, Zhong, Wang, and Jia 1 · 1 passage

臣聞周德始乎後稷，長於公劉，大於大王，成於文、武，顯於周公，德澤上昭，天下漏泉，無所不通。 The virtue of Zhou began with Hou Ji, swelled through Duke Liu and the Great King, ripened under Wen and Wu, and shone through the Duke of Zhou until grace soaked the realm like water from a spring.

Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 13Genealogical Tables of the Three Dynasties · 2 passages

鞠生公劉。 Ju fathered Gong Liu.

公劉生慶節。 Gong Liu fathered Qingjie.

Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 99Biographies of Liu Jing and Shusun Tong · 1 passage

公劉避桀居豳。 Duke Liu fled from Jie and settled at Bin.