postgres person_cn_q123702748 person mao-jie-sanguo-q123702748-q1062887 毛玠

Mao Jie as a character in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, based on the historical Mao Jie.

published category-literature tag-fictional-character tag-classics wikidata https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q123702748 2026-10-25 2026-10-25 1 ## Portrayal Portrayal in [[work_cn_q70806|The Romance of the Three Kingdoms]] of the historical person [[person_cn_q1062887|Mao Jie]][^wikidata]. /people/mao-jie-sanguo-q123702748-q1062887.html en zh en Character in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms true literary character Mao Jie (died 216), courtesy name Xiaoxian, from Pingqiu in Chenliu, was an adviser and selecting official under Cao Cao at the end of the Han. He urged Cao Cao to receive the emperor, promote farming and store supplies, then with Cui Yan ran appointments and was known for his integrity. In 216 he was jailed on a charge of slander and, after Huan Jie and He Qia pleaded for him, was only dismissed, dying at home soon afterwards. /en/people/mao-jie-q1062887.html person_cn_q1062887 person mao-jie-q1062887 毛玠

Mao Jie (died 216), courtesy name Xiaoxian, from Pingqiu in Chenliu, was an adviser and selecting official under Cao Cao at the end of the Han. He urged Cao Cao to receive the emperor, promote farming and store supplies, then with Cui Yan ran appointments and was known for his integrity. In 216 he was jailed on a charge of slander and, after Huan Jie and He Qia pleaded for him, was only dismissed, dying at home soon afterwards.

published category-history tag-ancient-china wikidata https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1062887 zhwiki https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%AF%9B%E7%8E%A0 zhengshi https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E4%B8%89%E5%9C%8B%E5%BF%97/%E5%8D%B712 2026-10-25 2026-10-25 user:admin 3 Mao Jie was an adviser and selecting official under Cao Cao at the end of the Eastern Han. The Records of the Three Kingdoms say his courtesy name was Xiaoxian and that he came from Pingqiu in Chenliu. Wikidata's label is the same, so the title stays as it was. Wikidata records his death in 216, and Chinese Wikipedia says he was born in the second century with no exact year.[^wikidata][^zhengshi][^zhwiki] ## Early years and advice The Records say that as a young man he served as a county clerk and was known for incorruptibility. He meant to flee the troubles to Jingzhou but, hearing on the way that Liu Biao's orders were unclear, went to Luyang instead. When Cao Cao took charge of Yan province, he called Mao Jie as chief of the records. Mao Jie told Cao Cao that the realm was breaking apart, the sovereign had been moved, people had lost their livelihoods, the state had no reserve for even a year and the people had no settled purpose, so this could not last. Yuan Shao and Liu Biao, though they had many soldiers and subjects, had no far-sighted plan and had not laid a foundation. He advised receiving the Son of Heaven to command those who would not submit, promoting farming and storing supplies, so that the work of a hegemon could be completed. Cao Cao respected the advice, adopted it and made him a senior clerk of his headquarters.[^zhengshi][^zhwiki] ## Running appointments Later, as aide of the Eastern Bureau in the Ministry of Works, he and Cui Yan ran the selection of officials, and everyone they recommended was honest and upright, while men with a fine name but bad conduct were passed over. He himself was incorruptible and it set a tone, so even favored ministers dared not dress or ride too lavishly. Cao Cao praised him, saying that if people were chosen like this and the world governed itself, there would be nothing left for him to do. Cao Pi, then Commander of the Five Offices, visited him in person and asked him to look after a relative. Mao Jie replied that he had avoided guilt only by keeping to his duty, that the man named lacked the qualification to be promoted, and that he did not dare obey. When the army returned to Ye and the staff was to be reduced, some who feared him wanted to abolish his Eastern Bureau on the ground that by old rule it ranked below the Western Bureau, but Cao Cao said that sun and moon both rise in the east, so why abolish the east, and abolished the Western Bureau instead. After Cao Cao's northern campaign took Liucheng, he picked an ancient plain screen and an ancient plain armrest from the spoils and gave them to Mao Jie, who he thought had the bearing of the ancients.[^zhengshi][^zhwiki] ## The Wei state and the succession In 213, when Cao Cao became Duke of Wei and set up the state of Wei, Mao Jie became the senior secretary of the masters of writing and again had charge of selection. Cao Zhi was then Cao Cao's favorite, and Mao Jie privately cautioned that Yuan Shao had ruined himself by not distinguishing heirs by main wife and concubine, and that to depose and install an heir was a grave matter he did not want to hear of. Later at a gathering of officials, when Mao Jie left to relieve himself, Cao Cao watched him go and said this was what the ancients called the upright minister of the state, his own Zhou Chang.[^zhengshi][^zhwiki] ## Prison and death In 216 Cui Yan was accused of proud and resentful words, angered Cao Cao and was ordered to commit suicide, and Mao Jie was deeply unhappy about it. Someone then reported that Mao Jie, on seeing a man tattooed for treason whose wife and children had been taken into official servitude, had said that this was probably why Heaven sent no rain, and the remark was called slander of Cao Cao. Cao Cao flew into a rage and had him jailed. Zhong Yao questioned him at length about the ancient practice of punishing a man's family, and demanded when, to whom and where he had spoken. Mao Jie replied by citing Xiao Wangzhi, Bai Qi, Chao Cuo and Wu Yuan as men who were killed through envy or slander, said that in youth he had been a clerk, had held a post in the central secretariat for a long time, had refused every request made through private favor however powerful the person, and that the slanderous men were like flies acting without cause, and asked, as Wangshu Chensheng once did before Fan Xuanzi, to be confronted with his accuser. With Huan Jie and He Qia pleading, he was only dismissed. He later died at home, and Cao Cao gave a coffin and silk and made his son Mao Ji a gentleman of the palace.[^zhengshi][^zhwiki] ## Character and judgments Chinese Wikipedia says he was known for incorruptibility and lived plainly even at the height of favor, wearing cloth and eating vegetables, raising his dead brother's son as his own and often helping poor relatives, so that his house had nothing left over. The article quotes Chen Shou's verdict that he walked in purity and fairness, as well as Cao Cao's words that he was the upright minister of the state, the Biographies of Former Worthies' account of him choosing the honest and dismissing the showy and flattering, a remark of Fu Xian that Cao Cao once sighed that his own laws were not equal to Minister Mao's, and Liang Qichao's use of Mao Jie and Cui Yan as an example of the old way of choosing officials.[^zhwiki] ## Basic facts - Name: Mao Jie, courtesy name Xiaoxian[^zhengshi] - Origin: Pingqiu in Chenliu[^zhengshi] - Died: 216[^wikidata] - Offices: chief of the records, aide of the Eastern Bureau, senior secretary of the masters of writing, among others[^zhengshi] - Family: son Mao Ji[^zhwiki] - Dynasty or state: Eastern Han[^wikidata] - Birthplace: [[place_cn_410727|Fengqiu County]][^wikidata] - Portrayal: [[person_cn_q123702748|毛玠]] (character in Romance of the Three Kingdoms) /people/mao-jie-q1062887.html en zh en 216 216 historical figure tag-ancient-china ancient-china 中国古代 先秦至清代的历史、人物与政区。 1056 relation_cnpeople_born_q1062887 person_cn_q1062887 born_in place_cn_410727 person_cn_q1062887 wikidata Born in place_cn_410727 Fengqiu County /en/places/fengqiu-410727.html false relation_cnportray_q123702748 person_cn_q123702748 based_on person_cn_q1062887 作品中的人物形象，原型为该历史人物。 person_cn_q123702748 wikidata Portrayals person_cn_q123702748 Mao Jie /en/people/mao-jie-sanguo-q123702748-q1062887.html true person_cn_q123702748 毛玠 /en/people/mao-jie-sanguo-q123702748-q1062887.html person 3 2026-10-25 当前版本 true /en/people/mao-jie-q1062887/at/3.html en zh en death_date Death 216 person_category Person category historical figure 2 born_in false Born in 1 based_on true Portrayals 1 1