Life

Sun Sheng's father Sun Xun (孫恂) was Grand Administrator of Yingchuan (潁川), in present-day Henan and Anhui. He was killed by bandits when Sun Sheng was nine, and the rest of the family fled to safety across the Yangtze River.

In his young adulthood, Sun Sheng achieved fame as a serious scholar of the I Ching, composing an essay which some of the leading luminaries of the time, including Yin Hao, Wang Meng, and Xie Shang were unable to debate with him. Parts of the essay, "The Symbols of the Book of Changes are More Subtle than the Visible Shapes of Nature", survive and have been translated by Richard B. Mather.

After entering politics, Sun Sheng served under Tao Kan, Yu Liang, and Huan Wen, accompanying the latter into Sichuan. On campaign, Huan Wen had taken his infantry to attack, and Sun Sheng was in charge of the weak, the elderly, and the baggage train, when they were suddenly set upon by thousands of bandits. The rearguard managed to rise to the occasion and drive them away. Huan Wen appointed Sun Sheng Marquis of Anhuai, in present-day Pingnan County, Guangxi, and he was attached to Huan Wen's household as a travelling secretary.

Following Huan Wen's first two northern campaigns, Sun Sheng was enfeoffed as Marquis of Wuchang (in present-day Pingjiang County, Hunan), and appointed Grand Administrator of Changsha. The poverty of his family drove him to engage secretly in trade; but although this breach of etiquette was discovered, he was not impeached, because of the great esteem in which he was held. He left Huan Wen's service under strained conditions, and ended his life in the position of Supervising Censor.

Works

Sun Sheng wrote the Wei Shi Chunqiu (魏氏春秋; Chronicles of the Clans of Wei) and Jin Yangqiu (晉陽秋; Annals of Jin). A number of other works quoted by Pei Songzhi in his annotation of Records of the Three Kingdoms are attributed to Sun Sheng, including Yitong Zaji (異同雜記; Miscellaneous Records of Similarities and Differences), Shu Shi Pu (蜀世譜; Genealogy of Shu), and Wei Shiji (魏世籍; Records of the House of Wei). All of his works have been lost, and survive now only in quotations.

Titles and Appointments Held

• Adjutant (參軍事)

• Marquess of Anhuai County (安懷縣侯)

• Marquess of Wuchang County (吳昌縣侯)

• Grand Administrator of Changsha (長沙太守)

• Supervising Censor (秘書監)

Family

:::*Great-great-grandfather: Sun Zi (d 251)

::*Great-grandfather: Sun Hong (孫宏)

:*Grandfather: Sun Chu (孫楚) (d 293)

• Father: Sun Xun (孫恂) (d 311)

• Children:

　• Sun Qian (孫潛)

　• Sun Fang (孫放)

生平

父親在郡遇賊被殺。孫盛十歲時隨族人（孫統、孫綽兄弟）避亂於江左。官至秘書監，加給事中。博學多聞，與殷浩擅名一時，《晉書》本傳稱：「篤學不倦，自少至老，手不釋卷。」

因隨桓溫從征蜀地成漢、北收洛陽有功，先後封安懷縣侯、吳昌縣侯。

兒子

• 長子孫潛字齊由，官至豫章郡太守

• 次子孫放字齊莊，官至長沙國相

後裔

• 孫沖之

著作

撰有《魏氏春秋》、《晉陽秋》等。

參考來源

• 《晉書·孫盛傳》

• 《全晉文》卷六十三、六十四