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. The source 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 has two linked lessons. First, 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.

Second, 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 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.
• 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

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

The page is source-scoped to Hanji 431’s retirement and wealth-transmission lesson. It does not reconstruct Shu Guang’s or Shu Shou’s complete biographies, their educational record with the crown prince, or the full original wording of their retirement exchange.

What Changed

• Created the page from Hanji 431’s paired retirement and wealth-distribution case.

Relationships

• Emperor Xuan of Han / 汉宣帝 / 刘询 / 刘病已 - ruler who approves their retirement and grants gold.
• 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.