Ancient China · Legendary king of the Xia dynasty

Kong Jia 孔甲

Legendary antiquity

Passages: 10
Chapters: 4
Histories: 2

Overview

Kong Jia was a Legendary king of the Xia dynasty.

Life and dates

Death

died 崩
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 2, passage 250

Attested activity

legendary antiquity
Directly stated · Book of Han 20, passage 343; Records of the Grand Historian 2, passages 242-243, 250, 253; Records of the Grand Historian 13, passage 377

Family

Immediate relationships attested in the translated histories.

Child of Bujiang (不降)
father 父
son 子 · paternal line
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 2, passage 242; Records of the Grand Historian 13, passage 377
Parent of Gao (皋)
son 子
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 2, passage 250

Key source chapters

Career and standing

Second highest grade: men of benevolence 上中仁人
Nine grade table rank · Listed
Directly stated · Book of Han 20, passage 343
Emperor Kongjia
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 2, passage 242

Places and affiliations

Xia 夏
Relation Ruled
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 2, passage 242

Learning and skills

Belief occult spirit rites 方鬼神 · Relation Practiced
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 2, passage 243

Events and relationships

Received dragons unable to feed
Portent · Recipient
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 2, passage 245
Two dragons departed
Omen · Subject
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 13, passage 377

Assessments and attributes

Assessment debauched; Xia virtue declined · Mode historian-judgment
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 2, passages 243-244
Assessment dissolute and did not cherish virtue · Mode historian-judgment
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 13, passage 377

Source notes

Historicity legendary
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 2, passage 2
Historicity legendary
Strongly inferred · Records of the Grand Historian 2, passage 250
Value legendary
Directly stated · Book of Han 2, passage 367

References in the histories

Search passages

History

10 passages

Book of Han, Chapter 2Volume 1: Annals of Emperor Gaozu 2 · 1 passage

贊曰：春秋晉史蔡墨有言，陶唐氏既衰，其後有劉累，學擾龍，事孔甲，范氏其後也。 The appraisal says: Cai Mo, the Jin historian of the Spring and Autumn period, once said that after the House of Taotang declined, there was Liu Lei, who studied dragon-taming and served Kong Jia, and that the House of Fan descended from him.

Book of Han, Chapter 20Table of Ancient and Modern Persons · 1 passage

孔甲 Kong Jia

Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 2Annals of Xia · 7 passages

帝廑崩，立帝不降之子孔甲，是為帝孔甲。 Jin died and Bujiang's son Kongjia took the throne as Emperor Kongjia.

帝孔甲立，好方鬼神，事淫亂。 Kongjia turned to occult rites and sank into disorder.

天降龍二，有雌雄，孔甲不能食，未得豢龍氏。 Heaven sent down a pair of dragons, but Kongjia could not feed them and had no Dragon-keepers.

陶唐既衰，其后有劉累，學擾龍于豢龍氏，以事孔甲。 When the house of Taotang waned, a man named Liu Lei learned dragon-tending from the Dragon-keepers and served Kongjia.

孔甲賜之姓曰御龍氏，受豕韋之後。 Kongjia gave him the clan name Dragon-tamer and granted him the fief of the Shiwei line.

孔甲崩，子帝皋立。 Kongjia died and his son Gao ruled.

帝桀之時，自孔甲以來而諸侯多畔夏，桀不務德而武傷百姓，百姓弗堪。 Under Jie, lords had rebelled since Kongjia's day; Jie cultivated force, not virtue, until the people could bear no more.

Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 13Genealogical Tables of the Three Dynasties · 1 passage

帝孔甲，不降子。好鬼神，淫亂不好德，二龍去。 Emperor Kongjia, son of Bujiang, favored spirits and ghosts, was dissolute and did not cherish virtue, and the two dragons left.