{ "contentStorage": "postgres", "sameNames": [ { "id": "person_cn_q12476179", "type": "person", "title": "Bi Gan", "slug": "bi-gan-fengshen-q12476179", "aliases": [ "比干" ], "summary": "Bi Gan as a character in Investiture of the Gods, based on the historical Bi Gan.", "status": "published", "categories": [ "category-literature", "category-people", "category-fictional-characters" ], "tags": [ "tag-fictional-character", "tag-classics" ], "sources": [ { "id": "wikidata", "title": "Wikidata Q12476179", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q12476179" } ], "createdAt": "2026-10-25T00:00:00+08:00", "updatedAt": "2026-10-29T16:45:09+08:00", "updatedBy": "user:admin", "revision": 6, "body": "## Portrayal\n\nPortrayal in [[work_cn_q1336310|Investiture of the Gods]] of the historical person [[person_cn_q1051287|Bi Gan]][^wikidata].", "url": "/people/bi-gan-fengshen-q12476179.html", "lang": "en", "availableLangs": [ "zh", "en" ], "disambiguation": "Character in Investiture of the Gods", "isFictional": true, "personCategory": "literary character" } ], "title": "Bi Gan", "description": "Bi Gan, of the Zi clan, from Mei in Yin-Shang, was a son of Wen Ding and an uncle of King Zhou. He rose to junior preceptor. Confucius says he died for his remonstrance. The article also records a cut-out heart, death by drowning, death in the fighting, and stele texts that would put his death more than ten years after King Zhou. This entry gives no birth or death year.", "url": "/en/people/bi-gan.html", "entity": { "id": "person_cn_q1051287", "type": "person", "title": "Bi Gan", "slug": "bi-gan", "aliases": [ "比干" ], "summary": "Bi Gan, of the Zi clan, from Mei in Yin-Shang, was a son of Wen Ding and an uncle of King Zhou. He rose to junior preceptor. Confucius says he died for his remonstrance. The article also records a cut-out heart, death by drowning, death in the fighting, and stele texts that would put his death more than ten years after King Zhou. This entry gives no birth or death year.", "status": "published", "categories": [ "category-history", "category-people", "category-historical-figures" ], "tags": [ "tag-ancient-china" ], "sources": [ { "id": "wikidata", "title": "Wikidata Q1051287", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1051287" }, { "id": "zhwiki", "title": "比干（维基百科）", "url": "https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%AF%94%E5%B9%B2" } ], "createdAt": "2026-10-25T00:00:00+08:00", "updatedAt": "2026-10-29T17:19:26+08:00", "updatedBy": "user:admin", "revision": 7, "body": "Bi Gan was a prince of the Shang house. Wikidata names him Bi Gan. The record also has the later form Lord Lin the Grand Preceptor, which does not replace the title. The article says he was of the Zi clan, from Mei in Yin-Shang, which it identifies with present-day Weihui in Henan. He was a son of King Wen Ding, a younger brother of Di Yi, and an uncle of King Zhou. He was clever and hardworking as a child and rose to junior preceptor. Confucius names Weizi, Jizi, and Bi Gan the three benevolent men of Yin, and says Bi Gan died because he remonstrated. He is also treated as the ancestor of the Lin surname and as a god of wealth. This entry records no birth or death year and lists him as a political figure. The article likewise gives only question marks for the years.[^wikidata][^zhwiki]\n\n## Accounts of his death\n\nDeath for remonstrance is the early account. The article says the story that his heart was cut out is first recorded in the Spring and Autumn period, long after the event, and that the texts make King Zhou more cruel as time goes on, so later embroidery cannot be ruled out. A Hunan Television summary of the Xia-Shang-Zhou chronology project says some steles in Bi Gan temples put his death more than ten years after King Zhou, which would mean King Zhou did not kill him. The article calls this short of proof and still a doubt. In the Warring States period another account, close to the story of Qu Yuan, says Bi Gan drowned. The modern scholar Gu Jiegang also argued that Bi Gan was both King Zhou's uncle and King Wu of Zhou's maternal uncle, that he tried to mediate, and that he died in the confusion of the battle when mediation failed. King Wu buried him hastily on the field and built a great tomb only after Shang had fallen. That would explain the record of the tomb. These accounts do not agree, and this entry does not choose one death.[^zhwiki]\n\n## Honors, cult, and the novel\n\nEmperor Taizong of Tang gave him the posthumous office of grand preceptor and the title Duke of Loyal Ardor. Emperor Shun of Yuan added Renxian, making him the Duke of Manifest Benevolence and Loyal Ardor. A Daoist collection of audiences of the god of wealth calls him the Perfected Bi who Guards Wealth and Stores the True. In Investiture of the Gods, Jiang Ziya enfeoffs him as the star lord of Wenqu. Weihui in Henan has a Bi Gan temple, with the stele Confucius is said to have cut with a sword, Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei's lament for Bi Gan, and more than a hundred other steles. The temple was founded in 494. Qi county in Henan, according to the Qi county gazetteer, has a temple of the three benevolent men, for Bi Gan, Jizi, and Weizi. In the novel he has a heart with seven openings. For three days and nights at the Star-Plucking Terrace he blames Daji for throwing the realm into disorder and tells King Zhou that disaster is near if he abandons the former kings' rules and listens only to a woman. Daji, the nine-tailed fox, already hates him for the burning of the fox den. King Zhou has his heart cut out. The terrace at Qi county was later renamed the Heart-Plucking Terrace. The novel says Jiang Ziya's charm lets him live after the heart is gone, until he meets a woman selling hollow-heart vegetables. She says a person without a heart dies, and he dies at once. He is then called the first loyal minister of all time. The portrayal is [[person_cn_q12476179|Bi Gan]]. The article also lists screen performers. Those names are not copied out here.[^zhwiki]\n\n## Basic facts\n\n- Name: Bi Gan[^wikidata]\n- Clan: Zi[^zhwiki]\n- Description: a noble of the Shang[^wikidata]\n- Later form of address: Lord Lin the Grand Preceptor[^wikidata]\n- Occupation recorded on this entry: political figure[^wikidata]\n- Portrayal: [[person_cn_q12476179|Bi Gan]] (a character in Investiture of the Gods)", "url": "/people/bi-gan.html", "lang": "en", "availableLangs": [ "zh", "en" ], "personCategory": "historical figure" }, "entities": null, "tags": [ { "id": "tag-ancient-china", "slug": "ancient-china", "name": "Ancient China", "description": "History, people and administrative divisions from the pre-Qin era to the Qing dynasty.", "names": { "ar": "الصين القديمة", "de": "Das alte China", "en": "Ancient China", "es": "China antigua", "fr": "Chine ancienne", "hi": "प्राचीन चीन", "id": "Tiongkok kuno", "it": "Cina antica", "ja": "中国古代", "ko": "중국 고대", "ms": "China purba", "nl": "Het oude China", "pt": "China antiga", "ru": "Древний Китай", "th": "จีนโบราณ", "tr": "Antik Çin", "vi": "Trung Quốc cổ đại", "zh": "中国古代", "zh-hant": "中國古代" }, "descriptions": { "ar": "التاريخ والشخصيات والتقسيمات الإدارية من عصر ما قبل تشين إلى أسرة تشينغ.", "de": "Geschichte, Personen und Verwaltungsgliederung von der Zeit vor Qin bis zur Qing-Dynastie.", "en": "History, people and administrative divisions from the pre-Qin era to the Qing dynasty.", "es": "Historia, personajes y divisiones administrativas desde la era pre-Qin hasta la dinastía Qing.", "fr": "Histoire, personnages et divisions administratives de l'époque pré-Qin à la dynastie Qing.", "hi": "चिन-पूर्व काल से चिंग राजवंश तक का इतिहास, व्यक्ति और प्रशासनिक विभाजन।", "id": "Sejarah, tokoh, dan pembagian administratif dari era pra-Qin hingga Dinasti Qing.", "it": "Storia, personaggi e divisioni amministrative dall'epoca pre-Qin alla dinastia Qing.", "ja": "先秦から清代までの歴史・人物・行政区画。", "ko": "先秦부터 청대까지의 역사·인물·행정 구역.", "ms": "Sejarah, tokoh dan bahagian pentadbiran dari zaman pra-Qin hingga Dinasti Qing.", "nl": "Geschiedenis, personen en bestuurlijke indeling van de pre-Qin-periode tot de Qing-dynastie.", "pt": "História, personagens e divisões administrativas da era pré-Qin até à dinastia Qing.", "ru": "История, персоналии и административное деление от доциньской эпохи до династии Цин.", "th": "ประวัติศาสตร์ บุคคล และเขตการปกครองตั้งแต่ยุคก่อนฉินจนถึงราชวงศ์ชิง", "tr": "Qin öncesi dönemden Qing hanedanına kadar tarih, kişiler ve idari bölümler.", "vi": "Lịch sử, nhân vật và đơn vị hành chính từ thời Tiền Tần đến nhà Thanh.", "zh": "先秦至清代的历史、人物与政区。", "zh-hant": "先秦至清代的歷史、人物與政區。" }, "count": 1097 } ], "relations": [ { "id": "relation_cnportray_q12476179", "fromId": "person_cn_q12476179", "relationType": "based_on", "toId": "person_cn_q1051287", "note": "作品中的人物形象，原型为该历史人物。", "sourceRefs": [ { "entityId": "person_cn_q12476179", "sourceId": "wikidata" } ], "label": "Portrayals", "targetId": "person_cn_q12476179", "targetTitle": "Bi Gan", "targetUrl": "/en/people/bi-gan-fengshen-q12476179.html", "incoming": true } ], "mentions": [ { "fromId": "person_cn_q12476179", "fromTitle": "Bi Gan", "fromUrl": "/en/people/bi-gan-fengshen-q12476179.html", "fromType": "person" } ], "versions": [ { "revision": 7, "updatedAt": "2026-10-29T17:19:26+08:00", "message": "当前版本", "hasSnapshot": true, "url": "/en/people/bi-gan/at/7.html" } ], "lang": "en", "availableLangs": [ "zh", "en" ], "infoFields": [ { "key": "person_category", "label": "Person category", "value": "historical figure" } ], "relationsTotal": 1, "relationCounts": [ { "relationType": "based_on", "incoming": true, "label": "Portrayals", "total": 1 } ], "mentionsTotal": 1 }