Han Ji 韓曁

Han Ji, courtesy name Gongzhi, was a man of Duyang County in Nanyang Commandery. Chen Mao, a powerful man of the same county, slandered Han Ji's father and elder brother so that they nearly suffered the death penalty. Han Ji outwardly never spoke of the matter, but he hired himself out as a labourer to save money and secretly befriended men ready to die for him. At last he pursued Chen Mao, called him to a halt, captured him and offered his head as a sacrifice at his father's grave, and by this he became renowned. He was recommended as Filial and Incorrupt and summoned by the Minister of Works, but took up neither. Records, Wei 24 §2

Han Ji changed his name and lived in hiding in the mountains of Luyang to escape the turmoil. When the mountain people formed bands intending to plunder, he spent his family's wealth on oxen and wine, invited their leaders and explained to them the principles of safety and danger, and the mountain people were transformed by this and never did harm. Avoiding Yuan Shu's summons, he moved to live in the mountains of Shandu County, and when Liu Biao, Governor of Jing Province, summoned him with due courtesy, he fled and lived on the border of Canling County to the south. Wherever he went he was respected and loved, but Liu Biao resented him deeply, so Han Ji, fearing him, answered the summons and was appointed Chief of Yicheng. Records, Wei 24 §2–3

After Cao Cao pacified Jing Province, he summoned Han Ji and made him a clerk of the Bureau of Officers under the Chancellor. Later Han Ji became Administrator of Leling and was transferred to Internuncio Supervising Smelting. In the old method of smelting, bellows driven by horses were used, requiring a hundred horses for each smelting of ore, and bellows worked by men instead also cost much labour. Han Ji used a long stream of water to make water-powered bellows, and when the gain was calculated it was three times that of before. In his seven years in the post equipment became plentiful, and an edict praised and admired him, adding on the spot the post of Commandant of Metals, which ranked next to the Nine Ministers. Records, Wei 24 §4

When Cao Pi ascended the throne Han Ji was enfeoffed as Marquis of Yicheng Village, and in the 7th year of Huangchu (226) he was transferred to Minister of Ceremonies and raised to Marquis of Nanxiang Village, with a fief of 200 households. At that time the capital had only just been established at Luoyang and the institutions were not complete, and the spirit tablets of the ancestral temple were all at Ye. Han Ji memorialized requesting that the spirit tablets of the four temples at Ye be brought to Luoyang and a temple built there, and that at the seasonal sacrifices the emperor present the sacrificial grain in person. The Annals of Emperor Ming record that in the 11th month of the 3rd year of Taihe (229), when the temple at Luoyang was completed, the Minister of Ceremonies Han Ji was given the imperial tally to bring the spirit tablets of Emperor Gao, Emperor Tai, Emperor Wu and Emperor Wen from Ye, and that on the day jichou of the 12th month they arrived and were installed in the temple. Han Ji exalted and clarified correct rites and abolished illicit cults, setting a great many things right. Records, Wei 24 §5–6Records, Wei 3 §11 · 15

After eight years as Minister of Ceremonies he resigned his post because of illness. When the post of Minister over the Masses fell vacant, Lu Yu recommended the recluse Guan Ning, but the emperor could not employ him; asked for the next candidate, Lu Yu named the Grand Palace Grandee Han Ji for sincerity and perfect conduct, the Colonel-Director of Retainers Cui Lin for clarity and uprightness, and the Minister of Ceremonies Chang Lin for steadfastness and purity. The emperor thereupon employed Han Ji. In the spring of the 2nd year of Jingchu (238) an edict declared that the Grand Palace Grandee Han Ji was lofty and pure in will and integrity and, though past eighty, held to the Way ever more firmly, and made him Minister over the Masses. The Annals of Emperor Ming give the date as the day guimao of the 2nd month. Records, Wei 24 §6–7Records, Wei 22 §102Records, Wei 3 §57–58

Han Ji died in the 4th month, in the summer of that year. He left instructions that he be shrouded in ordinary clothes and buried in an earthen pit. He was given the posthumous name Marquis Gong; his son Han Zhao succeeded him, and when Han Zhao died his son Han Bang succeeded. Records, Wei 24 §7Records, Wei 3 §58

In his assessment Chen Shou said that in retirement Han Ji lived quietly and spread moral transformation, and in office he took on his duties and won renown, and that he, Cui Lin, Gao Rou, Sun Li and Wang Guan were all able to reach the posts of the Three Excellencies and chief ministers. Yet he wrote that Han Ji's rising from his home at over eighty to take his place in the ranks of the court was a blemish when compared with Xu Miao and Chang Lin. Records, Wei 24 §81