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E'lai
Elai ({{zh, t=惡來, p=Èlái) was a bodyguard for King Zhou of the Chinese Shang dynasty. He was an ancestor of Feizi, the founder of the state of Qin. His brother Jisheng ( 季勝) was an ancestor of Zaofu, the founder of the state of Zhao. According to the ''Records of the Grand Historian'' (''Shiji'') by Sima Qian, Elai was known for his immense physical strength. In the historical novel ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' by Luo Guanzhong, Cao Cao, impressed with Dian Wei's strength, states "This is old Elai again." Thus this fictional nickname of Dian Wei stuck with him, and he was henceforth known as "Elai" Dian Wei. References * Sima Qian. ''Records of the Grand Historian''. * Luo Guanzhong. ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' () is a 14th-century historical novel attributed to Luo Guanzhong. It is set in the turbulent years towards the end of the Han dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period in Chinese history, starting in 184 ...
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King Zhou Of Shang
King Zhou (; ) was the pejorative posthumous name given to Di Xin of Shang () or King Shou of Shang (), the last king of the Shang dynasty of ancient China. He is also called Zhou Xin (). In Chinese, his name Zhòu (wikt:紂, 紂) also refers to a horse crupper, the part of a saddle or harness that is most likely to be soiled by the horse. It is not to be confused with the name of the Zhou dynasty, succeeding dynasty which has a different character and pronunciation (). Early reign In the ''Records of the Grand Historian'', Sima Qian wrote that Di Xin, in the early part of his reign, had abilities which surpassed those of the ordinary man, and was quick-witted and quick-tempered. According to legend, he was intelligent enough to win all of his arguments, and he was strong enough to hunt wild beasts with his bare hands. He was the younger brother of Weizi of Song, Zi Qi (子啓) and Weizhong of Song, Zi Yan (子衍) (later rulers of Zhou dynasty, Zhou's vassal state Song (state), So ...
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Shang Dynasty
The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang (Cheng Tang) that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and followed by the Western Zhou dynasty. The classic account of the Shang comes from texts such as the '' Book of Documents'', '' Bamboo Annals'' and '' Records of the Grand Historian''. According to the traditional chronology based on calculations made approximately 2,000 years ago by Liu Xin, the Shang ruled from 1766 to 1122 BC, but according to the chronology based upon the "current text" of ''Bamboo Annals'', they ruled from 1556 to 1046 BC. Comparing the same text with dates of five-planet conjunctions, David Pankenier, supported by David Nivison, proposed dates of the establishment of the dynasty to 1554 BC. The Xia–Shang–Zhou Chronology Project dated the establishment to c. 1600 BC based on the carbon-14 dates of th ...
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Feizi
Feizi (; died 858 BC), also known by the title Qin Ying, was the founder of the ancient Chinese state of Qin, predecessor of the Qin Dynasty that would conquer all other Chinese states and unite China in 221 BC. Mythical origin of Qin According to the founding myths of Qin recorded in the ''Records of the Grand Historian'' by Han Dynasty historian Sima Qian, Feizi descended from the mythical Yellow Emperor and his grandson and successor Zhuanxu. Zhuanxu's granddaughter Nüxiu (女脩) gave birth to Daye (大業) after swallowing an egg of a swallow. Daye's son Boyi (伯益) was awarded the ancestral name Ying ( 嬴) by the mythical Chinese ruler Shun. Ancestry During the Shang Dynasty, Boyi's descendant Zhongjue was in charge of Xichui (西垂, also called Quanqiu, in present-day Li County, Gansu) in the midst of the Rong tribes. Zhongjue's son Feilian (蜚廉) and grandson Elai served King Zhou of Shang, and Elai was killed when King Wu of Zhou overthrew Shang and founded ...
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State Of Qin
Qin () was an ancient Chinese state during the Zhou dynasty. Traditionally dated to 897 BC, it took its origin in a reconquest of western lands previously lost to the Rong; its position at the western edge of Chinese civilization permitted expansion and development that was unavailable to its rivals in the North China Plain. Following extensive "Legalist" reform in the fourth century BC, Qin emerged as one of the dominant powers of the Seven Warring States and unified the seven states of China in 221 BC under Qin Shi Huang. It established the Qin dynasty, which was short-lived but greatly influenced later Chinese history. History Founding According to the 2nd century BC historical text ''Records of the Grand Historian'' by Sima Qian, the Qin state traced its origin to Zhuanxu, one of the legendary Five Emperors in ancient times. One of his descendants, Boyi, was granted the family name of Yíng by Emperor Shun. During the Xia and Shang dynasties, the Yíng clan spl ...
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Zaofu
Zaofu (), formerly romanized Tsao Fu, was an exceptionally-skilled charioteer who is said to have lived around 950 BC. He was counted as a member of the House of Ying, the founder of Zhao and a relative of Feizi, the founder of Qin, but his exploits made him a figure of Chinese mythology. The Chinese tell the story of King Mu of Zhou, who was determined to visit paradise. He wanted to taste the peaches of immortality there. He found a very brave charioteer named Zaofu, who drove eight amazing horses with great skill. Zaofu was afraid of nothing—he carried the emperor across the Earth and into the heavens. The emperor finally reached Mount Kunlun and tasted the peaches of immortality. His brave charioteer Zaofu was carried up to the stars, where both he and his eight horses can be seen among the stars of the constellation Cepheus. The star Zeta Cephei is specifically named after him. A famous presentation of the story is available in the ''Tale of King Mu, Son of Heaven''. Ano ...
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State Of Zhao
Zhao () was one of the seven major State (Ancient China), states during the Warring States period of ancient China. It was created from the three-way Partition of Jin, together with Han (state), Han and Wei (state), Wei, in the 5th century BC. Zhao gained significant strength from the military reforms initiated during King Wuling of Zhao, King Wuling's reign, but suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Qin (state), Qin at the Battle of Changping. Its territory included areas now in modern Inner Mongolia, Hebei, Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces. It bordered the states of Qin, Wei and Yan (state), Yan and various nomadic peoples, including the Dunghu people, Hu and Xiongnu. Its capital was Handan, in modern Hebei Province. Zhao was home to Chinese Legalism, administrative philosopher Shen Dao, school of names, sophist Gongsun Long and the Confucian Xun Kuang. Origins and ascendancy The Zhao (surname), Zhao clan within Jin (Chinese state), Jin had accumulated power for centurie ...
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Records Of The Grand Historian
''Records of the Grand Historian'', also known by its Chinese name ''Shiji'', is a monumental history of China that is the first of China's 24 dynastic histories. The ''Records'' was written in the early 1st century by the ancient Chinese historian Sima Qian, whose father Sima Tan had begun it several decades earlier. The work covers a 2,500-year period from the age of the legendary Yellow Emperor to the reign of Emperor Wu of Han in the author's own time, and describes the world as it was known to the Chinese of the Western Han dynasty. The ''Records'' has been called a "foundational text in Chinese civilization". After Confucius and the First Emperor of Qin, "Sima Qian was one of the creators of Imperial China, not least because by providing definitive biographies, he virtually created the two earlier figures." The ''Records'' set the model for all subsequent dynastic histories of China. In contrast to Western historical works, the ''Records'' do not treat history as "a cont ...
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Sima Qian
Sima Qian (; ; ) was a Chinese historian of the early Han dynasty (206AD220). He is considered the father of Chinese historiography for his ''Records of the Grand Historian'', a general history of China covering more than two thousand years beginning from the rise of the legendary Yellow Emperor and the formation of the first Chinese polity to the reigning sovereign of Sima Qian's time, Emperor Wu of Han. As the first universal history of the world as it was known to the ancient Chinese, the ''Records of the Grand Historian'' served as a model for official history-writing for subsequent Chinese dynasties and the Chinese cultural sphere (Korea, Vietnam, Japan) up until the 20th century. Sima Qian's father Sima Tan first conceived of the ambitious project of writing a complete history of China, but had completed only some preparatory sketches at the time of his death. After inheriting his father's position as court historian in the imperial court, he was determined to fulfill ...
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Romance Of The Three Kingdoms
''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' () is a 14th-century historical novel attributed to Luo Guanzhong. It is set in the turbulent years towards the end of the Han dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period in Chinese history, starting in 184 AD and ending with the reunification of the land in 280 by Western Jin. The novel is based primarily on the ''Records of the Three Kingdoms'' (), written by Chen Shou. The story – part historical and part fictional – romanticises and dramatises the lives of feudal lords and their retainers, who tried to replace the dwindling Han dynasty or restore it. While the novel follows hundreds of characters, the focus is mainly on the three power blocs that emerged from the remnants of the Han dynasty, and would eventually form the three states of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu. The novel deals with the plots, personal and military battles, intrigues, and struggles of these states to achieve dominance for almost 100 years. ''Romance of the Three Kin ...
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Luo Guanzhong
Luo Ben (c. 1330–1400, or c.1280–1360), better known by his courtesy name Guanzhong (Mandarin pronunciation: ), was a Chinese writer who lived during the Ming dynasty. He was also known by his pseudonym Huhai Sanren (). Luo was attributed with writing ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'', one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. Identity The location and date of Luo's birth are controversial. One possibility was that he was from Taiyuan, and lived in the late Yuan dynasty and early Ming dynasty by the record of his contemporary, the playwright Jia Zhongming (賈仲明), who said that he had met him in 1364. Another possibility was that he was born in Dongping County, Dongyuan, the province of Shandong, in about 1280 – 1360. Literary historians suggest other possibilities for his home, also including Hangzhou and Jiangnan. According to Meng Fanren (孟繁仁), Luo can be identified in the pedigree of the Luo family, and Taiyuan is most likely his ...
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