King Xiaowen of Qin

Biography

Family Background and Early Life

King Xiaowen of Qin, Ying Zhu, was the second son of King Zhaoxiang of Qin. His mother was Tang Bazi, who was later posthumously honored as Empress Dowager Tang, and his grandmother was the well-known Queen Dowager Xuan, Mi Bazi. During King Zhaoxiang's reign, Ying Zhu was enfeoffed as Lord Anguo. In 267 BCE, the fortieth year of King Zhaoxiang's reign, Lord Anguo's elder brother, Crown Prince Dao, died in Wei and was returned for burial at Zhiyang. In 265 BCE, the forty-second year of King Zhaoxiang's reign, King Zhaoxiang formally made Lord Anguo, Ying Zhu, crown prince.

Period as Crown Prince

After Lord Anguo became crown prince, he made his highly favored consort Lady Huayang his principal wife. Although Lady Huayang was greatly favored, she had no children. Lord Anguo had more than twenty sons. Among them was Yiren, one of the middle-ranked sons, whose biological mother Lady Xia was not favored; Yiren was therefore sent to Zhao as a hostage.

Through the activities of Lü Buwei, Lady Huayang successfully persuaded Lord Anguo to designate Yiren, who was later renamed Zichu, as his heir. Lord Anguo and Lady Huayang made an agreement marked by a jade tally, and he appointed Lü Buwei as Yiren's tutor and entrusted him with many gifts for Yiren. Yiren's reputation among the feudal lords subsequently increased, and with Lü Buwei's assistance he eventually returned to Qin and became Lord Anguo's designated son and heir.

Accession and Death

In 251 BCE, the fifty-sixth year of King Zhaoxiang's reign, King Zhaoxiang died and Crown Prince Zhu succeeded him, becoming known as King Xiaowen of Qin. King Xiaowen posthumously honored his deceased mother Tang Bazi as Empress Dowager Tang and had her buried together with his father, King Zhaoxiang. He made his principal wife Lady Huayang queen and named Zichu crown prince.

On the jihai day of the tenth month in 250 BCE, the first year of King Xiaowen's reign, King Xiaowen completed the mourning period and formally assumed the throne. During this period he ordered a general amnesty, honored meritorious officials of the previous ruler according to their service, treated members of the royal clan favorably, and opened the royal parks for recreation. King Xiaowen nevertheless died after only three days on the throne, at the age of fifty-four. His posthumous title was “King Xiaowen,” and he was buried at Shouling, northeast of present-day Lintong District, Xi'an, Shaanxi. Crown Prince Zichu succeeded him as King Zhuangxiang of Qin.

Ying Zhu was a son of King Zhaoxiang of Qin, his mother being the eighth-ranking consort Tang, and he was enfeoffed as Lord of An'guo. In 267 BCE his elder brother, the Heir Apparent Dao, died in Wei and was buried at Zhiyang; in 265 BCE Zhaoxiang made An'guo his heir. An'guo had more than twenty sons, and after becoming heir he raised a favorite consort to be his principal wife with the title Lady of Huayang, who bore him no children. A middle son named Yiren, later Zichu, whose mother, the Lady Xia, was out of favor, was sent as a hostage to Zhao, where he lived in some hardship.

Yiren's fortunes changed through the schemes of Lü Buwei, who met him in Zhao, judged him "a rare commodity worth holding," spent heavily on his behalf and contrived to convince the Lady of Huayang of the need to settle the succession. She therefore spoke to An'guo at leisure, saying that Zichu, hostage in Zhao though he was, was most worthy and praised by all who met him, and added in tears that having no son of her own in the palace she wished to take Zichu as heir and entrust her future to him; An'guo agreed, cut a jade tally in pledge with his wife, made Zichu his heir, appointed Lü Buwei his tutor and gave him rich gifts, so that Zichu's fame among the princes grew. With Lü Buwei's help he later returned to Qin and became An'guo's heir.

On King Zhaoxiang's death in 251 BCE the heir, Zhu, took the throne as King Xiaowen of Qin. He posthumously honored his mother, the Lady Tang, as Queen Dowager Tang and had her buried with his father, made the Lady of Huayang his queen and Zichu his heir apparent. On the jihai day of the tenth month of 250 BCE, his mourning ended, he took formal possession of the throne, proclaiming a general amnesty for offenders, honoring the former kings' meritorious ministers and showing favor to the clan. Three days later, on the xinchou day, he died at fifty-four with the posthumous name Xiaowen and was buried at Shouling, the shortest reign in Qin's history. His son Zichu, King Zhuangxiang, succeeded him, the father of the later King Zheng — the First Emperor. On his age and the length of his reign the Selections and Explanations to the Records says he was fifty-three when he took the throne and died after a year, while the Records of Qin has mourning ended with accession on the jihai day and death three days later on the xinchou day; the two accounts differ in detail and may stand together.

By the time King Xiaowen took the throne Qin already had the makings of a unified realm. King Zhaoxiang had reigned fifty-six years, in which Qin crippled Zhao at Changping, extinguished the Western Zhou and took its nine tripods, so that the momentum of conquest was established; it was this situation that Xiaowen inherited. His reign was too brief for any achievement, and what is chiefly recorded of him is the arrangement of the succession: the posthumous elevation of his mother, the Lady Tang, as queen dowager and her burial with King Zhaoxiang; the making of the Lady of Huayang as queen; and the designation of Zichu as heir. This arrangement allowed Zichu, King Zhuangxiang, to come to power, and Zichu's son was the later King Zheng, so that Qin's fortunes entered their final stage.

On the length of his reign the Records of Qin says that with mourning ended he took the throne on the jihai day of the tenth month and died three days later on the xinchou day, while the Selections and Explanations reports that he was named Zhu, took the throne at fifty-three and died after a year, buried at Shouling. The two accounts reflect different ways of treating the period of state mourning and the change of era: King Zhaoxiang died in the autumn of his fifty-sixth year, Xiaowen first mourned as heir and only took formal possession in the tenth month of the following year, whence the figures of "a year" and "three days." He died with the posthumous name Xiaowen and was buried at Shouling, the shortest-reigned ruler in Qin's history, succeeded by his son King Zhuangxiang. Zhuangxiang reigned three years and the throne passed to Ying Zheng, so that the unification of China was accomplished in the next generation.

That An'guo waited so long as heir before coming to the throne is directly bound up with the length of King Zhaoxiang's reign. In his last years Zhaoxiang used Fan Ju's advice to strip Wei Ran and the other Chu-connected consort kin of power and put to death the great general Bai Qi, so that Qin's government and armies passed through a period of readjustment. It was in this situation that An'guo was made heir, and the key to his succession lay with the Lady of Huayang: a woman of Chu with no son, she accepted Lü Buwei's argument in order to secure her own place in the inner palace and took Yiren as heir, so that the influence of the Chu connection carried on through the reigns of Xiaowen and Zhuangxiang.

Xiaowen's reign was too short for any policy of consequence; his posthumous elevation of his mother, the making of his queen and the designation of Zichu as heir all concerned the succession, yet they had real effect on Qin's direction: Zichu took the throne as King Zhuangxiang, reigned three years and died, leaving the throne to Ying Zheng, who accomplished the unification. As to his burial place, the Selections and Explanations records that he was buried at Shouling, his tomb area generally placed in the Eastern Qin tombs near present-day Xi'an, not far from those of Zhaoxiang and Zhuangxiang.

When King Xiaowen came to the throne, Qin had already taken the decisive step in its expansion under King Zhaoxiang: after Changping, Zhao was crippled, the Western Zhou ruler surrendered his lands and the nine tripods were moved to Xianyang, and the balance of power with the six states had fundamentally changed. The Lady of Huayang came from Chu, and since the reign of Queen Dowager Xuan the Chu connection had been strong in Qin; Xiaowen's making her queen and following her wishes in the succession carried that influence into the reigns of Zhuangxiang and of King Zheng.

Major Activities

Political Measures

Although King Xiaowen's reign was brief, he implemented a series of conciliatory policies. He granted a general amnesty, honored meritorious officials of the previous reign according to their service, treated members of the royal clan favorably, and opened the royal parks. These measures eased tensions within the ruling group that had arisen from the harsh governance of King Zhaoxiang's later years and helped create the conditions for a stable transition in Qin.

Transfer of Power

During his reign, King Xiaowen completed a peaceful transfer of Qin's highest authority. By making Lady Huayang queen and Zichu crown prince, he avoided internal turmoil during the succession. Zhao also returned Zhao Ji and her son Ying Zheng to Qin, providing the circumstances in which the future Qin Shi Huang could grow up in Qin.

Travels

The “Treatise on the Five Phases” in the Book of Han records that while King Xiaowen traveled to Quyan, in present-day Yanchi County, Ningxia, someone presented him with a five-legged ox.

Relations with Contemporaries

King Xiaowen had close dealings with Lü Buwei. Through Lü Buwei's efforts, Lady Huayang successfully persuaded Lord Anguo to make Yiren his heir, and Lü Buwei consequently became Yiren's tutor. After Yiren returned to Qin, he once advised Lord Anguo to send envoys to reassure prominent men in Zhao and strengthen border defenses. Lord Anguo considered this advice highly persuasive and was impressed by Yiren's unusual strategy.

Personal Relations

• Great-grandfather: Duke Xiao of Qin, Ying Quliang
• Grandfather: King Huiwen of Qin, Ying Si
• Grandmother: Queen Dowager Xuan, Mi Bazi
• Father: King Zhaoxiang of Qin, Ying Ji
• Mother: Tang Bazi, posthumously honored as Empress Dowager Tang
• Principal wife: Lady Huayang
• Concubine: Lady Xia
• Sons: Ying Xi; Ying Zichu (King Zhuangxiang of Qin)
• Grandsons: Ying Zheng (Qin Shi Huang); Ying Chengjiao
• Great-grandsons: Fusu; Hu Hai
• Lü Buwei: Yiren's tutor and a key figure in arranging his succession.
• King Zhaoxiang of Qin: father and predecessor.
• King Zhuangxiang of Qin: son and successor.

Historical Assessment

Contemporary Views

• Lü Buwei: by working through Lady Huayang to persuade Lord Anguo to adopt Yiren as heir, his actions indicate Lord Anguo's trust in Lady Huayang and the way Lord Anguo made succession decisions.
• Yiren (Zichu): after returning to Qin, he offered counsel that Lord Anguo considered highly reasonable; Lord Anguo's surprise at his unusual strategy suggests that he recognized Yiren's ability.

Later Historians

• Sima Qian recorded in the “Basic Annals of Qin” of the Records of the Grand Historian that King Xiaowen “completed mourning, formally took the throne on the jihai day of the tenth month, and died three days later on the xinchou day,” faithfully preserving the extreme brevity of his formal reign.
• The Shiji Suoyin states that King Xiaowen “was fifty-three when he acceded, ruled for one year, died, and was buried at Shouling,” offering a different accounting of his accession age and length of reign.

Modern Scholars

• Deng Chengyuan argues that King Xiaowen's place in history was insignificant and that the duration of his rule should be corrected to three days.
• Zhang Handong states that Qin Shi Huang's grandfather, King Xiaowen, ruled for only three days, an exceptionally short reign among Chinese rulers.
• Wang Aihua argues that King Xiaowen's reign lasted one year rather than only a few days, a view that conflicts with those of Deng Chengyuan and Zhang Handong.
• Liu Weipeng, drawing on documentary records and archaeological survey work, argues that King Xiaowen's Shouling tomb was located around Lingzhao on the Xianyang plateau.
• Liang Yun argues that the location and place-name setting of the Qin tomb at Sijiazhuang match documentary descriptions of Shouling and that it should therefore be the tomb of King Xiaowen of Qin.