Western Hàn 漢 Shàngshū master and the founder of the jīnwén Shàngshū 今文尚書 transmission. Native of Jǐnán 濟南 (modern Shāndōng). Conventionally referred to as Fú Shēng 伏生 (“Master Fú”); the name Shèng 勝 is given by some later sources but is not in the Shǐjì or Hànshū (which call him only 伏生 or 伏勝 inconsistently — Jìnshū Fú Tāo zhuàn 伏滔傳, citing his “remote ancestor 勝,” confirms the name has authentic transmission). Lifedates not securely recorded; the standard tradition is that he lived from late Qín into the Hàn Wéndì 文帝 reign (180–157 BCE), reaching age 90+ at the time of imperial summons.
Career: Qín-period bóshì 博士 (Erudite). At the Qín book-burning of 213 BCE he hid the Shàngshū in the wall of his house. After the Qín fall, with disorder and displacement, only 28 chapters of his hidden text were recoverable. He taught these privately in the QíLǔ region. In Hàn Wéndì’s time, the emperor sought a Shàngshū master and was told only Fú Shèng remained. Aged over 90, Fú Shèng could not travel to court; the emperor sent the zhǎnggù 掌故 (Custodial Officer) 晁錯 (Cháo Cuò) to receive the Shàngshū from him. Cháo Cuò received the text through Fú Shèng’s daughter, who served as interpreter (the master’s Qí-dialect speech and old-age difficulty being too great for direct teaching). Bio in Shǐjì j. 121 (rúlín liè zhuàn) and Hànshū j. 88.
Through Fú Shèng’s transmission to Cháo Cuò, the 28 jīnwén Shàngshū chapters became the basis of the imperial Shàngshū curriculum throughout the rest of the Hàn dynasty. The three Hàn jīnwén schools — Greater Xiàhóu 大夏侯, Lesser Xiàhóu 小夏侯, and Ōuyáng [Gāo] 歐陽 — all descend from Fú Shèng via his disciples Zhāng Shēng 張生 and Ōuyáng Shēng 歐陽生. The Shàngshū dàzhuàn 尚書大傳 (KR1b0059) — preserved in 4 juǎn in the Sìkù with Zhèng Xuán’s commentary, extant in two early-Qīng recensions and reconstituted from citations — is conventionally attributed to Fú Shèng but is in fact the work of his disciples Zhāng Shēng and Ōuyáng Shēng, recording the Dàyì 大義 and yú jù 餘句 (greater meanings and surplus phrases) of his teaching. The 41-chapter form recorded in the Hàn yìwén zhì was reorganized by Zhèng Xuán into 81 chapters; the text descended into the medieval period in 3-juǎn and 4-juǎn recensions, both fragmentary by the Sòng.