疏广与疏受 / Shu Guang and Shu Shou (Western Han)

Overview

疏广与疏受 / Shu Guang and Shu Shou enter the wiki through Hanji 431 as Western Han crown-prince teachers who retire together after reaching rank, reputation, and reward sufficiency. Hanji 419 backfills their appointment and shows Shu Guang’s earlier usefulness: he can turn 徐广汉’s family request around crown prince 刘奭 into a public-interest rule for heir education. The Hanji 431 transcript writes their names as 叔广 and 叔寿; this canonical page uses the standard historical names 疏广 and 疏受.

Current Profile

Their profile now has three linked lessons. Hanji 419 first makes Shu Guang a high-trust tutor and court interpreter. After 汉宣帝 appoints him crown-prince taifu and Shu Shou shaofu, Xu Guanghan asks to have 徐顺 oversee the crown prince’s household. Xuan asks Shu Guang for his view, and Shu Guang reads the political need: the request should be refused, but through a principled explanation rather than a blunt personal rejection. He says the crown prince is the state’s heir, that his teachers and companions should be outstanding people of the realm, and that the prince should not be especially tied to the Xu maternal family.

Second, Hanji 431 shows the pair’s exit judgment. Shu Guang tells Shu Shou that satisfaction prevents humiliation and knowing where to stop prevents danger. They decide that reaching two-thousand-shi rank, honor, and wealth is enough, so they ask to retire by claiming illness. Xuan approves and grants money; the crown prince and public send-off turn the departure into a praised example rather than disgrace.

Third, the pair’s retirement is not private hoarding. Back home, they host neighbors, kin, friends, and guests, dispersing reward wealth instead of buying more property for descendants. Shu Guang argues that existing land and houses are enough if descendants are diligent, while too much wealth can blunt worthy children and empower foolish ones. The page therefore treats them as a joint case of 太子师傅公器化, 知足知止式退场, and 传财有度.

Key Characteristics

• Western Han crown-prince teachers whose timing makes retirement appear wise rather than evasive.
• Shu Guang is trusted to voice a public-interest refusal of a maternal-family request around the crown prince.
• Separate crown-prince education from outer-relative household convenience.
• Treat sufficient rank, merit, and wealth as the signal to leave office.
• Receive imperial and crown-prince gifts plus public honor at departure.
• Spend reward wealth socially after returning home rather than concentrating it as descendant property.
• Frame excess inheritance as a risk to both worthy and foolish descendants.

Evidence

Crown-prince education boundary:

• Hanji 419 says Xuan appoints Shu Guang crown-prince taifu and Shu Shou crown-prince shaofu after Liu Shi is installed.
• Hanji 419 says Xuan asks Shu Guang about Xu Guanghan’s proposal to have Xu Shun oversee the crown prince’s household.
• Hanji 419 says Shu Guang answers that the crown prince is the state’s heir and should be surrounded by worthy people of the realm rather than made especially close to the Xu maternal family.
• Hanji 419 says 魏相 praises Shu Guang’s insight after Xuan relays the answer.

Timely exit:

• Hanji 431 says Shu Guang tells Shu Shou that satisfaction avoids humiliation and knowing when to stop avoids danger.
• Hanji 431 says they see two-thousand-shi rank, merit, and wealth as the right exit moment.
• Hanji 431 says Xuan and the crown prince give them gold, and officials and commoners praise the departure.

Wealth distribution:

• Hanji 431 says they return home and daily invite neighbors, kin, old friends, and guests.
• Hanji 431 says Shu Guang rejects advice to buy more property or store money for descendants.
• Hanji 431 says too much wealth can erode worthy descendants’ ambition and amplify foolish descendants’ errors.

Qualifications

This page is source-scoped to Hanji 419 and Hanji 431. Hanji 419 supplies appointment, Xu-family refusal, and crown-prince education boundary material; it does not reconstruct the complete original court debate, Shu Guang’s full teaching record, or Xu-family intention beyond the episode’s interpretation. Hanji 431 supplies the retirement and wealth-transmission lesson; it does not reconstruct Shu Guang’s or Shu Shou’s complete biographies or the full original wording of their retirement exchange.

What Changed

• Added Hanji 419’s appointment and public-interest tutor boundary, making Shu Guang a trusted third-party voice as well as a retirement model.
• Preserved Hanji 431’s paired retirement and wealth-distribution synthesis.

Relationships

• Emperor Xuan of Han / 汉宣帝 / 刘询 / 刘病已 - ruler who asks Shu Guang for the mediated refusal and later approves the pair’s retirement.
• 徐广汉 / Xu Guanghan (Western Han) and 徐顺 / Xu Shun (Western Han) - Xu-family request that Shu Guang’s answer blocks.
• Emperor Yuan of Han / 汉元帝 - crown prince whose education and household access are at issue in Hanji 419.
• 太子师傅公器化 / Crown-Prince Tutor Public Interest - concept directly extended by Shu Guang’s public-interest answer.
• 知足知止式退场 / Timely Retirement Risk Avoidance - concept directly grounded in their “知足知止” exit.
• 传财有度 / Wealth Transmission Restraint - concept directly grounded in Shu Guang’s inheritance argument.
• Power Exit Trap / 权力退场困境 - broader political-retirement field that this case offers as a successful low-conflict contrast.