Classica Sinica Medica

上古

shàng gǔ

High antiquity · shang gu

Also rendered: High antiquity (this site; it keeps 上 as above, and the chapter's attitude to that age is upward, not merely backward) · Shang gu (transliteration; used where the three ages of the book are being listed together)

Cosmology

Reviewed · 2026-10-08

At a glance

Pinyin
shàng gǔ
Simplified
上古
Literal
上 shàng — above, before (《說文》: 上，高也); 古 gǔ — old, what is past (《說文》: 古，故也). 上古 is high antiquity: the age before, looked up to rather than merely looked back on. The word is in the chapter's title, and the chapter's first question is a comparison between that age and this one — why the people of high antiquity passed their hundred years and people now are spent at fifty.
Shuowen
**「上」讀 shàng，本篇7見**；**「古」讀 gǔ，本篇6見**；**「上古」本篇5見**；**《說文》：上，高也；古，故也**；**「中古」本篇1見，與上古對舉**

In brief

High antiquity: the age the whole of Suwen 1 measures the present against, and the first word of its title. The chapter uses it four times — the people of high antiquity who knew the way; the sages of high antiquity who taught those below them; the true persons of high antiquity who took hold of heaven and earth; and, at the very end, the worthy who follow the high antiquity that went before. It is not a date but a direction: what the chapter asks is what has been lost, and the answer is that nothing has been taken away.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The graphs 上古
上者高也，古者故也；上古謂遠古之世
上古之人 — Suwen 1
2
The people compared 上古之人，春秋皆度百歲
上古之人皆度百歲而動作不衰
余聞上古之人，春秋皆度百歲 — Suwen 1
3
Those who knew the way 上古之人，其知道者
上古之人知道，故能形與神俱
上古之人，其知道者 — Suwen 1
4
The sages who taught 夫上古聖人之教下也
上古聖人以此教其下民
夫上古聖人之教下也 — Suwen 1
5
The true persons 余聞上古有真人者
真人在上古之世
余聞上古有真人者 — Suwen 1
6
Followed at the end 將從上古，合同於道
賢人將從上古，故合同於道
將從上古，合同於道 — Suwen 1

Occurrences in the classics

Passages where the term does real work, with the original, pinyin and English on the same line.

Display
2 passages
素問·上古天真論 Suwen 1 · 上古天真論 Read in context →
歧伯對曰：上古之人，其知道者，法於陰陽，和於術數，食飲有節，起居有常，不妄作勞，故能形與神俱，而盡終其天年，度百歲乃去。 歧伯对曰：上古之人，其知道者，法于阴阳，和于术数，食饮有节，起居有常，不妄作劳，故能形与神俱，而尽终其天年，度百岁乃去。
Qí Bó duì yuē: shàng gǔ zhī rén, qí zhī dào zhě, fǎ yú yīn yáng, hé yú shù shù, shí yǐn yǒu jié, qǐ jū yǒu cháng, bù wàng zuò láo, gù néng xíng yǔ shén jù, ér jìn zhōng qí tiān nián, dù bǎi suì nǎi qù.
Qi Bo answered: among the people of high antiquity, those who knew the way took yin and yang as their law and kept themselves in accord with the computed arts; they ate and drank with measure and rose and rested with regularity; they did not labour recklessly. So they were able to keep form and spirit together and come to the end of the years allotted them, passing their hundred before they went.
**「上古」本篇5見，篇題亦有之而正文不計**；**「中古」本篇1見，有至人者**；**「法於陰陽，和於術數」之術讀 shù，數讀 shù**；**「起居有常」「食飲有節」皆本篇之名目，與「形與神俱」一例**
素問·陰陽應象大論 Suwen 5 · 陰陽應象大論 Read in context →
帝曰：余聞上古聖人，論理人形，列别藏府，端絡經脉，會通六合，各從其經，氣穴所發，各有處名。谿谷屬骨，皆有所起，分部逆從，各有條理。四時陰陽，盡有經紀，外内之應，皆有表裏，其信然乎？ 帝曰：余闻上古圣人，论理人形，列别藏府，端络经脉，会通六合，各从其经，气穴所发，各有处名。溪谷属骨，皆有所起，分部逆从，各有条理。四时阴阳，尽有经纪，外内之应，皆有表里，其信然乎？
dì yuē: yú wén shàng gǔ shèng rén, lùn lǐ rén xíng, liè bié zàng fǔ, duān luò jīng mài, huì tōng liù hé, gè cóng qí jīng, qì xué suǒ fā, gè yǒu chù míng. xī gǔ shǔ gǔ, jiē yǒu suǒ qǐ, fēn bù nì cóng, gè yǒu tiáo lǐ. sì shí yīn yáng, jìn yǒu jīng jì, wài nèi zhī yìng, jiē yǒu biǎo lǐ, qí xìn rán hū?
The Emperor says: I have heard that the sages of high antiquity discussed the patterns of the human form, set out and distinguished the viscera and bowels, ordered the network of the channels, and brought the six conjunctions into communication, each following its own channel; that the places where the qi and the acupoints emerge each have their names; that the ravines and valleys belonging to the bones each have their origin; that the divisions, the rebellious and the compliant, each have their order; that the yin and yang of the four seasons all have their fixed measure; and that the correspondence of outer and inner all has its outer and inner aspect. Is this indeed so?
「余聞上古聖人」——帝問上古聖人論理人形、列别藏府諸事，其信然乎；**「上古」本篇1見**

Compounds built on this term

中古
zhōng gǔ
middle antiquity
本篇1見；有至人者
上古之人
shàng gǔ zhī rén
the people of high antiquity
本篇2見
天真
tiān zhēn
innate vitality
篇題之語，正文不見
今時之人
jīn shí zhī rén
the people of the present
本篇2見；與上古之人對舉

How it has been translated

Every rendering below is a decision about which reader is being addressed. There is no neutral option.

This siteHigh antiquitythe received English for the age before the middle and the present; the chapter needs all three
Literalthe age aboveexact to both graphs; it makes the direction explicit in a way English does not usually carry
Transliterationshang guright about the referent, and it loses the comparison the whole chapter is built on

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-08

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