[ Prime Minister under Liu Bang. Ancestor of Cao Cao.
Officer Details
Wade-Giles: Ts‘ao Shên
Simplified Chinese: 曹参
Other Names: Cao Can
Name Notes: Sometimes Romanized ‘Cao Can’.
Family and Relationships
Cao Cao (Descendant)
Literary Appearances
Romance of the Three Kingdoms: 43, 73, 105
Biography
Cao Shen was a Prime Minister during the Han Dynasty. He was influenced by the “Huang-Lao” school that used a mix of persuasion and coercion. (1) He largely continued the work of Xiao He. (2) Sima Qian implied he often got drunk and tended to cover-up for his underlings. (3)
1: Autocratic Tradition and Chinese Politics By Zhengyuan Fu, pp. 49
3: Records of the Grand Historian By Sima Qian, pp. 363–368