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Jing Ke

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Jing Ke
This mural shows Jing Ke's assassination attempt. TheKing of Qinis on the left,Qin Wuyangis kneeling in the middle, and Jing Ke, on the right, has been seized. In the middle is the dagger, sticking out of the column, and the opened box with the head inside.[1]
Traditional ChineseKinh kha
Simplified ChineseKinh kha
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinJīng Kē
Wade–GilesChing K'o
IPA[tɕíŋkʰɤ́]
Yue: Cantonese
Jyutpingging1 o1
Middle Chinese
Middle Chinesekiæŋ kʰɑ
Old Chinese
Zhengzhang*keŋ kʰaːl

Jing Ke(died 227 BC) was ayouxiaduring the lateWarring States periodofAncient China.As aretainerofCrown Prince Danof theYan state,he was infamous for his failedassassinationattempt onKing Zhengof theQin state,who later becameQin Shi Huang,the Qin Dynasty's first emperor (from 221 BC to 210 BC). His story is told in the chapter titledBiographies of Assassins( thứ khách liệt truyện ) inSima Qian'sRecords of the Grand Historian.

Background

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In 230 BC, the Qin state beganconquering other statesas part of King Zheng's ambition to unify the country under one rule. The Qin army, having already achieved absolute military supremacy over the other states since 260 BC, first successfully annihilated thestate of Han,the weakest of theSeven Warring States.Two years later, the once-formidableZhao statewas also conquered in 228 BC.[2]

Zhao's northeastern neighbor, theYan statewas next in line to be threatened by Qin expansion. In exchange for peace,King Xi of Yanhad earlier forced his sonCrown Prince Danto be held adiplomatic hostagein the Qin, but Prince Dan returned knowing that Qin was far stronger than Yan and would attack it sooner or later.[2]

Jing Ke originally came from the minorWey state.[3]He was of the clan name Qing (Khánh thị) of theancestral name Jiang( khương tính ) and a distant descendant ofWukuiofQi,had good education and was proficient in theart of the sword.His homeland of Wey was annexed by Qin in 239 BC, and Jing Ke fled to Yan.[2]AyouxianamedTian Guang( điền quang ) first introduced him to Prince Dan.[4]There Jing Ke accepted the hospitality of Prince Dan, who, as a last resort, decided to send an assassin against the King of Qin.[2]The plan involved either kidnapping the king and forcing him to release the territories from his control; or failing this, killing him.[2]The expectation in either case was that Qin would be left disorganized, enabling the other remaining major states to unite against its conquest.[2]

Assassination plot

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Planning

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In 228 BC, the Qin army was already at theZhaocapital ofHandan,and was waiting to approach the state of Yan. Jing Ke agreed to go to Qin and pretend to be a nobleman begging for mercy.[2]According to events at the time, Dukang ( đốc kháng ) (in present-dayHebei Province) was the first part of the Yan state that the Qin wanted, by reason of its fertile farmland.[2]The plan was to present as gifts the map of Dukang[2]and theseveredhead of the traitorous Qin generalFan Yuqi(identified asHuan YibyYang Kuan)[2][5]to the king of Qin, in order to approach him.

At the time, General Fan Yuqi (Huan Yi) had lost favor with Qin and wanted revenge against it;[6]whereas the Qin state put a bounty on capturing him of 1,000 gold pieces.[7]Jing Ke went to Huan himself to discuss the assassination plan. Fan Yuqi (Huan Yi) believed that the plan would work, and agreed tocommit suicideso that his head could be collected.[6][7]

Prince Dan then obtained the sharpest possible dagger, refined it with poison, and gave it to Jing Ke.[6]To accompany him, Prince Dan assignedQin Wuyangas his assistant.[6]Qin Wuyang was known to have successfully committed murder at the age of 13.[6]

In 227 BC, Prince Dan and other guests wore white clothing and white hats at theYi River( dịch thủy ) to send the pair of assassins off.[6]Jing Ke reportedly sang a song "The wind howls, and the waters of the River Yi are cold. Once the hero sets out, he never returns!" ( phong tiêu tiêu hề dịch thủy hàn, tráng sĩ nhất khứ hề bất phục hoàn ).[6]TheKing of Qinreceived the message of visitors presenting a gift to him, and was willing to receive them at the city.[6]

The attempt

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Jing Ke's assassination attempt on Qin Shi Huang; Jing Ke (left) is held by one of Qin Shi Huang's physicians (left, background). The dagger used in the assassination attempt is seen stuck in the pillar. Qin Shi Huang (right) is seen holding an imperial jade disc. One of his soldiers (far right) rushes to save his emperor. Stone rubbing; 3rd century,Eastern Han

Concealing the dagger inside the mapscroll,Jing Ke andQin Wuyangrepresented the Yan asambassadorsand met with King Zheng.[6]Qin Wuyang reportedly became so nervous that he acted almost paralyzed when entering the palace, and Jing Ke managed the excuse that his partner had never set eyes on the grace ofSon of Heaven.[8]Other sources suggest Jing Ke described Qin Wuyang as a rural boy who had never seen the world and was suffering acultural shock.[6]The panicked Qin Wuyang was then barred from moving up the palace, and Jing Ke was ordered to present the map alone.

Jing Ke approached King Zheng and politely presented the map scroll. When the King Zheng unrolled the map, Jing Ke immediately seized the revealed dagger, grabbed the king's clothes and attacked him, who somehow managed to back away from the initial thrust by tearing off a sleeve in the process. While King Zheng fled from his attacker on foot, he attempted to draw his own sword hanging from his belt, but was unable to do so while running desperately as it was a very long ceremonial sword. None of the other Qin officials within the vicinity were armed and able to stop Jing Ke, and the guards were all stationed outside the palace and were unable to immediately reach the scene.[6]In the confusion Jing Ke began to close in on the king, who struggled to get away from the assassin by circling behind a pillar.

Seeing the king in grave danger, a royal physician named Xia Wuju ( hạ vô thả ) grabbed his own medicine bag and hurled it at Jing Ke,[6]which slowed down the assassin just enough to allow King Zheng to recover some distance. Reminded by cries from other officials, the king managed to shift his longsword behind his back and unsheathe it from behind. Now armed, he immediately turned back and struck Jing Kein the thigh,effectively immobilizing him.[9]The injured Jing Ke, out of a desperate last attempt, threw his dagger towards King Zheng, only to miss the target. The king then proceeded to stab Jing Ke eight more times, mortally wounding him. Knowing it was hopelessly over, the dying Jing Ke sat with his legs stretched forward and apart (a posture then considered very rude), and used the last of his strength to taunt King Zheng with abuses. At this point, the guards had arrived at the scene to finish off both Jing Ke and the fleeing Qin Wuyang.[9]

It was recorded that right after the incident, King Zheng sat on his thronecatatonicallyholding the sword due to the exhaustion caused by the adrenaline rush, before he finally recovered after a short while and thanked the physician Xia Wuju for attempting to stop the assassin.

Yan annihilation

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After Jing Ke's attempt, the Qin army generalWang Jianwas sent against the Yan state. In 226 BC, Prince Dan sent his army to fight atJi( kế ),[9]but were soon defeated. In an effort to try to appease the King of Qin,King Xi of Yanput his son to death; however, the Yan were annexed and destroyed nonetheless.[9]

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  • The 1996 Chinese historical filmThe Emperor's Shadowfeatures Jing Ke's assassination attempt.[10]
  • The Chinese filmThe Emperor and the Assassin(1999), featuringGong Liand others, is based on the aforementioned events.[11]
  • The 2002 Chinese epicHerois a highly fictionalized take on Jing Ke's attempted assassination.[10]
  • Nobel laureateMo Yanwrote a play in 2003, entitled "Our Jing Ke" ( ngã môn đích kinh kha ), which retells the story of Jing Ke's failed assassination attempt. The play premiered in August 2011 in Beijing by Beijing People's Art Theatre (BPAT). The play won the highest drama award in China in 2012.[12]

See also

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References

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  1. ^Lưu vĩ / trứ. [2002] (2002)Chinese civilization in a new lightTrung hoa văn minh truyện chân #3 xuân thu chiến quốc. Publishing Company.ISBN962-07-5311-9pp. 28-29.
  2. ^abcdefghijVương hằng vĩ. (2005) (2006) trung quốc lịch sử giảng đường #2 chiến quốc tần hán. Trung hoa thư cục.ISBN962-8885-25-1.pp. 70-71.
  3. ^Sima, Qian (2016). "Jing Ke och mordförsöket på kungen av Qin".Kinas förste kejsare(in Swedish).Natur & Kultur.p. 131.ISBN9789127143029.
  4. ^Tào chính văn. [1998] (1998). Hiệp khách hành: Túng đàm trung quốc võ hiệp. Tri thư phòng xuất bản tập đoàn publishing.ISBN957-9663-32-7,ISBN978-957-9663-32-8.p. 27.
  5. ^Yang, Kuan (2003).History of the Warring StatesChiến quốc sử(in Chinese) (reprint ed.). Shanghai: Shanghai People Publishing House.ISBN7208045372.
  6. ^abcdefghijklVương hằng vĩ. (2005) (2006) trung quốc lịch sử giảng đường #2 chiến quốc tần hán. Trung hoa thư cục.ISBN962-8885-25-1.pp. 72-73.
  7. ^abĐái dật, cung thư đạc. [2002] (2003) trung quốc thông sử. Xuân thu chiến quốc tần. Intelligence press.ISBN962-8792-81-4.p. 62.
  8. ^Sima Qian. Dawson, Raymond Stanley. Brashier, K. E. (2007). The First Emperor: Selections from the Historical Records. Oxford University Press.ISBN0-19-922634-2,ISBN978-0-19-922634-4.pp. 15-20, 82, 99.
  9. ^abcdVương hằng vĩ. (2005) (2006) trung quốc lịch sử giảng đường #2 chiến quốc tần hán. Trung hoa thư cục.ISBN962-8885-25-1.pp. 74-75.
  10. ^abHill, Emily M. (Fall 2004)."The Contingency of China's Imperial Unity: Assassins Attack the First King of Qin".Association for Asian Studies.RetrievedFebruary 10,2024.
  11. ^von Tunzelmann, Alex (September 25, 2014)."The Emperor and the Assassin: slashing and burning its way through Chinese history".The Guardian.RetrievedFebruary 10,2024.
  12. ^"Mo Yan's Our Jing Ke: Downfall by design - People's Daily Online".
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