Zhao Guo (趙過) | 24 Histories

Overview

Zhao Guo was an official and Inventor.

PeriodQin and Han

IdentityHistorical · Male

Roles

Found in

Life and dates

Attested activity

BC 90 to BC 87 武帝末年
Dated from the passage context · Book of Han 26, passages 244, 247
BC 140 to BC 87 趙過
Directly stated · History of Jin 50, passage 187

Key source chapters

Book of Han, Chapter 26 Volume 24a: Treatise on Trade 1 6 passages
History of Jin, Chapter 50 Volume 50 Treatises 31: Finance and Economics 5: Monopoly Markets, State Purchase of Grain, Rice Fields, Agricultural Land Administration, Buying of Titles or Pardons With Grain and Selling of Ordination Certificates 1 passage

Career and standing

Commandant for Grain Collection 搜粟都尉
BC 90 to BC 87 武帝末年 · Appointed
Directly stated · Book of Han 26, passage 247

Places and affiliations

Polity Western Han · Relation Served
Directly stated · Book of Han 26, passage 247

Learning and skills

Skill plot / alternate-furrow farming method 一畝三甽之法 · Level innovator
Directly stated · History of Jin 50, passage 187

Events and relationships

Devised three furrow per mu method
Agricultural · Innovator
Directly stated · History of Jin 50, passage 187
Introduced alternating fields
Agricultural · Reformer
Directly stated · Book of Han 26, passages 248-249
Recommended as assistant
Administrative · Recommender · With Guang (光)
Directly stated · Book of Han 26, passage 262
Taught alternating fields
Agricultural · Instructor
Directly stated · Book of Han 26, passages 259-260, 265-266
Relation Recommended · Person Guang (光)
Directly stated · Book of Han 26, passage 262

References in the histories

Book of Han, Chapter 26Volume 24a: Treatise on Trade 1 · 6 passages

Open chapter

以趙過為搜粟都尉。 He appointed Zhao Guo as Commandant for Grain Collection.

過能為代田，一畝三甽。 Zhao Guo introduced the three-furrow alternating-field technique.

過使教田太常、三輔，大農置工巧奴與從事，為作田器。 Zhao Guo coordinated central and regional agencies to mass-produce appropriate agricultural implements.

民或苦少牛，亡以趨澤，故平都令光教過以人輓犁。 Some people suffered from too few oxen and had no way to hurry cultivation, so Pingdu magistrate Guang taught Guo human-drawn plowing.

過奏光以為丞，教民相與庸輓犁。 Guo recommended Guang as assistant and taught the people to hire one another to pull plows.

過試以離宮卒田其宮壖地，課得穀皆多其旁田畝一斛以上。 Controlled trials on palace lands showed consistent yield advantage over adjacent plots.

History of Jin, Chapter 50Volume 50 Treatises 31: Finance and Economics 5: Monopoly Markets, State Purchase of Grain, Rice Fields, Agricultural Land Administration, Buying of Titles or Pardons With Grain and Selling of Ordination Certificates · 1 passage

Open chapter

見嵇康《養生論》，自是歷代未有天下通用如趙過一畝三甽之法者。 See Ji Kang's Treatise on Nourishing Life; no method since has been applied empire-wide like Zhao Guo's three-furrow-per-mu system.