生平事迹

割股奉君

「骊姬之乱」后，晋国公子重耳为了躲避祸害，避难奔狄，随行贤士五人，介子推即是其中之一。此后，介子推一直追随重耳在外逃亡19年，辗转周折，备历艰难险阻。重耳最终能返回晋国，成为日后的春秋五霸之一的晋文公，介子推也尽了犬马之劳。

据载重耳逃入衞国国境时，凫须偷光了重耳的资粮，逃入深山。重耳无粮，饥饿难行，介子推毅然割下自己大腿上的肉供养重耳。在重耳落难之时，介子成就了忠义之名，史称「割股奉君」。

功不言禄

重耳得到秦穆公相助，得以返国时，与介子推一起追随重耳19年的咎犯担心先前出奔在外，多有冒犯重耳之处而假意请辞。介子推认为晋君历尽艰险，重返王座，乃上天相助，咎犯身为臣子，携功要君，惺惺作假，介子推鄙其邀功行径，耻于与之同船，遂自行渡河。

及至文公归国后赏赐跟从他逃亡的人，介子推不谈俸禄回报。介子推说：「献公的儿子九人，只有国君在世了。惠公、怀公没有亲近的人，国内外都厌弃他们。上天没有断绝晋国的后嗣，一定会有君主。主持晋国祭祀的人，不是国君是谁？这是上天安排的，而那几个人以为是自己的功劳，不是荒谬吗？盗窃别人的财物，就叫他做小偷，何况窃取上天的功劳当作自己的功劳呢？下面的人赞美他们的罪过，上面的人奖励他们的欺诈，上下相互欺骗，很难和他们相处了。

封于绵山

介子推携母隐居入绵山，直到他去世人们都再也没有见过他。《史记·卷三十九·晋世家第九》书：「至死不复见」。

介子推的追随者怜惜他，于是在宫门上写道：「龙欲上天，五蛇为辅。龙已升云，四蛇各入其宇，一蛇独怨，终不见处所。」晋文公出门时看到这些字，感叹说：「这讲的是介子推啊，我忙于王室的事情，还没有表彰他的功劳。」于是派人去召他，不见其踪，听闻他在绵山上，于是晋文公将绵山封给介子推，号曰介山，说：「就以此铭记我的过失，并且表彰善良的人。」

晋立介休

秦置界休县，新莽时改为界美，东汉复名界休。西晋立国，对春秋晋地故事人物兴趣浓厚，且感亲切。西晋杜预对晋武帝司马炎述说界休当为介休，以此纪念介子推，晋武帝遂改界休为介休。

民间传说

另一些民间传说，得知介子推隐居绵山后，晋文公非常懊悔，亲自去绵山寻找，但介子推始终避而不出。于是晋文公下令焚山，企图逼介子推出山，不料介子推却坚不下山，最终抱在一棵柳树上死去。晋文公悲痛万分，将一段烧焦的柳木，带回宫中做了一双木屐，每天望著它叹道：「悲哉足下。」此后，「足下」成为下级对上级或同辈之间相互尊敬的称呼，据说就是来源于此。据传后悔焚山的晋文公还以纪念介子推为由，规定每年此时不得生火，一律吃冷食，此即寒食节的起源。

身后评价

由于介子推的忠心耿耿和淡泊名利，一直是中国古代社会极力推崇的的高尚品德，所以介子推在历朝历代都得到了很多的赞誉。民间修建了许多祠堂庙宇，以慰籍介子推的在天之灵。北宋天禧元年（1017年），宋真宗诏封介子推为「洁惠侯」。

另外，中国古代历朝历代的文人墨客也为介子推的事迹留下了很多著名的诗篇，如：

• 「介子忠而立枯兮，文君寤而追求；封介山而为之禁兮，报大德之优游」（战国屈原《九章·惜往日》）

• 「人乞祭余骄妾妇，士甘焚死不公侯。贤愚千载知谁是，满眼蓬蒿共一丘」（宋 黄庭坚《清明》）；

• 「民间禁火寒食节，绵上遗封莽未耘」（明 俞汝为《过绵山吊介之推》）；

• 「但使亡人能返国，耻将股肉易封侯」（明 林魁《寒食题介子祠》）

• 「百年节岁同寒食，万里封疆立介休」（明 吕解元《绵山吊介子》）

民间信仰

后世尊介子推为「开山侯」、「开山王」或「开山大帝」（俗称大伯公），台湾供奉介之推为主神的庙宇：

• 嘉义市西区车店里 开山尊王庙 主祀：开山尊王（称呼 王爷公）、天上圣母

• 嘉义市东区后湖里 三贤宫 主祀保生大帝、开山尊王

• 嘉义县水上乡国姓村三界埔 协安宫 主祀：开山圣侯（称呼 大伯爷公）

• 云林县仑背乡枋南村新庄 开山宫 主祀：开山圣侯（称呼 大伯公）

• 彰化县社头乡清水村 武郡宫 主祀：武君大千岁（据说即介子推）

• 云林县大埤乡怡然村 开山大帝庙 主祀：开山大帝

• 宜兰县冬山乡安平村 大安庙 主祀：开山圣侯

Names

Jie Zhitui or Jiezhi Tui is the name given to him in the oldest surviving records, with Jie Zitui or Jiezi Tui coming later. Sima Qian treats his name as though it were actually , with "Jiezi" serving as an honorific equivalent to "Master" or . A single 2nd-century source has "Jiezi Sui" (t=介子绥 |s=介子绥 |p=Jièzǐ Suí). Others state that the entire name Jiezi Tui was a posthumous title and that his real name had been .

Life

Jie was a Jin aristocrat, poet, and composer for the Chinese zither during the Spring and Autumn period of China's Zhou dynasty. He served at the court of the Jin prince Chong'er (posthumously the "Wen Duke") in Pu during the reign of Chong'er's father Duke Guizhu (posthumously the "Xian Duke"). A passage of the Huainanzi relates that, when Master Jie sang "The Dragon and the Snake", Prince Chong'er "broke down in tears". Giles considered Jie to be the same person as the "Jiezi Tui" who is mentioned as having been a minister in Chu at the age of 15.

In 655BC, Jie followed Chong'er into exile among the Di tribes north of the Chinese when the Rong beauty Li Ji successfully plotted against the sons of the other wives of the Duke of Jin. Her son Xiqi and his successor Zhuozi were quickly killed by the minister Li Ke, who then offered the throne to Chong'er in 651BC. The prince declined; his younger brother Yiwu (posthumously the "Hui Duke") accepted and then—after a perilous period of imprisonment in Qin—sent assassins after Chong'er in 646BC. Hearing about them, he and his court fled from the Di, arriving at the state of Qi in Shandong in 644BC. Soon after, Qi fell into a civil war over its own succession. Prince Chong'er and his growing entourage then travelled to the courts of Cao, Song, Zheng, Chu, and finally Qin. In 636BC, Duke Renhao (posthumously the "Mu Duke") lent Qin's army for an invasion against Duke Yiwu's son Yu (posthumously the "Huai Duke"), defeating him at Gaoliang.

Jie was passed over for reward when Chong'er became duke of Jin. The 4th-century-BC commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals credited to Zuo Qiuming contains the earliest surviving record of Jie's story, in a section now placed beside Confucius's entry on Duke Yiwu's death in 637BC. In it, a Thucydidean dialogue between Jie and his mother explains how he finds the duke's other retainers to be thieves for taking credit and receiving rewards when Heaven itself was responsible for Chong'er's restoration. His lord also showed himself to be unworthy by failing to reward him despite his failure to appear at court. His mother asks him to at least go before the duke, but he explains he has already criticized the other nobles so harshly that he could not possibly return and is resolved to withdraw into the wilderness. She accepts his decision and leaves with him. When the duke later realized his mistake, he sought out Jie but failed. He then set aside the produce of the fields of Mianshang to endow sacrifices in Jie's honor, "a memento ... of my neglect and a mark of distinction for the good man".

The annals compiled BC under Qin's chancellor Lü Buwei opine that Duke Chong'er never became a king because he proved less capable in success than he had been in adversity. Its account of Jie's fate—which omits mention of his mother—begins with the moral that "it is easy to hold onto others if you offer them honor and wealthbut it is difficult ... if you offer them poverty and debasement". Lü's scholars do not suggest that the duke overlooked Jie, however, but that he was simply "far from the vulgar crowd" and embarrassed by the behavior the duke's other close retainers. He posts a poem upon the palace gates, obliquely announcing his retirement into the mountains. Chong'er hears of it, recognizes its author, and goes into mourning for his old friend, changing his clothes and sleeping away from the palace. He offers a million "fields" of land and a position as senior minister (s=上卿|l=shǎngqīng|labels=no) to anyone—noble or common—who is able to find Jie for him. The only person who does discover Jie, however, finds him carrying a pot and a large umbrella in the remote mountains. Asked if he knows where Jie Zhitui might live, the hermit replies that Jie "does not wish to be discovered" and "wants to remain hidden". Complaining "How is it that I alone know this?" he wandered away beneath his umbrella, never to be seen again.

The account in Sima Qian's 1st-centuryBC Records largely repeats the Zuozhuan account with greater detail. (In fact, the four-character lines and rhyming dialogue in Jie's conversations with his mother suggests it draws on an earlier, now-lost poetic treatment of the life of Chong'er.) Sima specifies that Jie hid himself out of disgust at what he took as Hu Yan's insincere and overdramatic retirement on the journey from Qin to Jin, which Chong'er declined with similar overstatement. Sima interrupts Jie's story, though, to make excuses for the duke's tardiness in remembering and rewarding Jie. The beginning of Chong'er's reign was distracted by rioting caused by Duke Yu's partisans Yin Yi and Xi Rui, who even succeeded in burning down the ducal palace before being captured and put to death with Duke Renhao's assistance. When Jie is brought back to Chong'er's attention by the poem on the gates of the new palace, it has been placed there not by Jie himself but by his own loyal friends. Chong'er sees it himself and again immediately understands that it is about Jie. Jie and his mother are never seen again, but Chong'er—doing what he can—"surrounded and sealed off" the "heart" of Mianshang in order to make it Jie's and "in order to record his error and also to commend an excellent man".

Legend

By the 3rd centuryBC, Jie Zhitui's story had received additional embellishment. Han Fei's collected works reference the story—dramatizing Jie's selflessness and loyalty—whereby he fed Chong'er with soup made from flesh carved from his own body because he was unable to bear his lord's thirst or hunger. Zhuang Zhou's collected works specify that the meat came from his thigh and that he "was burned to death with a tree in his arms". The Songs of Chu written and compiled between the 3rd centuryBC and the 2nd centuryAD reference Jie repeatedly as a loyal and wronged vassal, mentioning the story about his flesh, treating his former haunts as shrines for honest officials, and adding the details that Chong'er found Jie's body and donned mourning robes for him.

Modern forms of the story invariably include the story of Jie cooking a stew using flesh from his own thigh and wild herbs, usually specifying that Chong'er was on the verge of starvation at the time. Some elaborate on the duke's generosity to his other supporters: one source includes proclamations that "awards may be divided into three grades: the first-grade award goes to those who followed me into exile; the second-grade award goes to those who donated money; and the third grade goes to those who welcomed the return of my dukedom" and that even "those who have supported me in other ways but not yet been rewarded may report their names for awards". Nonetheless, Jie retired to MtMian, carrying his mother. When the duke was unable to find his old friend's hermitage amid the endless trees and ridges, his advisors suggested lighting a forest fire on one side of MtMian to drive him out since his duty to his mother would overcome his pride. However, the fire raged three days and nights and Jie was burnt to death under a willow together with his mother. Some add the detail that he left verses written in blood, "I cut off my own flesh to dedicate it to you, and only wish that my king will always be clear and bright." Duke Chong'er then erected a temple in his honor and personally ordered the Cold Food Festival.

Works

Jie is listed as the author of several poems or songs, although since they were composed in a dialect of Old Chinese their lines do not necessarily rhyme or scan correctly in present-day Mandarin. The lyrics of "The Dragon and Snake Song" (t=龙蛇歌 |s=龙蛇歌 |p=Lóngshégē |links=no) or "The Song of the Dragon and the Snake" (t=龙蛇之歌 |s=龙蛇之歌 |p=Lóngshé zhī Gē |links=no) are included in the Qin Melodies. They tell the story of a beautiful dragon stripped of its horns, scales, and flight owing to the jealousy of Heaven. On Earth, it becomes close friends with a snake before eventually returning to its proper station. The snake understands the two come from different worlds but remains forlorn, and the song—set for the Chinese zither—ends with the moral that, "to be cheerful, one cannot look back." He was also credited with "The Scholar who Lost His Ambition" (s=士失志操 |p=Shì Shī Zhì Cāo |labels=no).

Legacy

The oldest sources for Jie's story state that Duke Chong'er set apart the income from the fields of Mianshang near Jiexiu to endow sacrifices in his honor. By the Eastern Han (1st & 2nd centuries), he was listed among the Taoist immortals and had a temple in Taiyuan and another at at his tomb on Lord Jie Ridge. The mountain temple supposedly also preserved various relics of Jie's, brought there by Chong'er. A grove of blackened trees on the mountain was also revered and, in the 6th century, supposed to be a place of miracles granted by the sage.

During the Eastern Han, people in central and southern Shanxi avoided fire for up to a month in the middle of winter, either out of respect for Jie or because they feared his spirit's vengeance against those who broke the taboo. This left them unable to cook their staple grains like rice and millet or most other forms of Chinese food. At first, the most common dish was a cold form of uncooked congee or gruel; later, a menu developed of items that were precooked but kept long enough that they could be eaten unheated during the festival.

From the 2nd to the 5th century, Zhou Ju (t=周举 |s=周举 |p=Zhōu Jǔ |links=no), Cao Cao, Shi Le, and Tuoba or Yuan Hong all attempted to ban this Cold Food Festival because of the suffering that it caused children and the elderly. All failed, in Shi Le's case because a massive hailstorm across all of Shanxi the year after his ban required that he adjust the policy. At some point before the end of the 3rd century, however, the pronouncements of Zhou Ju and other officials did succeed in moving the festival from the middle of winter to 105 days later, around the Qingming solar term near the end of spring (by Chinese reckoning). The Cold Food Festival spread throughout China by the 6th century but, after the incorporation of ancestral veneration and other aspects of the Double Third Festival under the Tang, the prohibition against fire and remembrance of Jie slowly diminished in importance as it became the modern Tomb-Sweeping Festival by the Qing. Today, as was true long in the past, observance of the fire taboo is mostly limited to the countryside around Jiexiu and in Shanxi, where there is still a small temple in his honor, the Pavilion of the Divine Jie (t=介神阁 |s=介神阁 |p=Jièshéngé |links=no). Some people hang willow beside their doors. Downtown Jiexiu also holds themed events and temple fairs during the old Cold Food Festival and some cold foods like qingtuan continue to be popular as seasonal staples.

Jie is usually considered the namesake of the town of Jiexiu (l=Jie's Rest), which was renamed from Pingchang under the Tang about AD618 to reflect the name its surrounding commandery—including MtMian—had borne since the Northern Wei (4th–6th century).

His legend—with adjustments—appears in Wang Mengji's 17th-century short story "Jie Zhitui Sets Fire to His Jealous Wife", which uses irony and absurdities to comment on feminine jealousy and the difficulty of matching results to intentions. The first contemporary dance troupe on Taiwan, the Cloud Gate Dance Theater, has dramatized the story of Jie Zhitui as Han Shih since 1974. Jie is depicted in "a white robe with a long, broad trail ... as the hero, dragging the weight of his principle, struggles to his self-redemption". He Bing portrayed "Jie Zitui" as the main character of the 2011 TV drama Song of Spring and Autumn.

Jie's intransigence has not always escaped criticism. The Legalist philosopher Han Fei listed him among the absurd advisors who "were all like hard gourds". Holzman acknowledges that Jie's behavior "earned him immortality as a loyal official who chose obscure retirement rather than sacrifice his principles", but still personally finds it "rather strange... and rather petulant". A 2015 article in the Shanghai Daily admits that, "judged in light of modern notions", Jie "would probably be suffering from personality disorders that lead to him to perceive and understand the world in ways that are 'inflexible'". Being "one of the most celebrated models of integrity of the old school", however, Jie is not faulted for his actions but listed as "a mentally sound person who lived in an 'unhealthy society'" and did not "fit" it.