Sima Xin (died 204 BC) was a military general of the

Qin dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ; zh, c=秦朝, p=Qín cháo, w=), or Ch'in dynasty in Wade–Giles romanization ( zh, c=, p=, w=Ch'in ch'ao), was the first dynasty of Imperial China. Named for its heartland in Qin state (modern Gansu and Shaanxi), th ...

. He surrendered to

Xiang Yu Xiang Yu (, –202 BC), born Xiang Ji (), was the Hegemon-King (Chinese: 霸王, ''Bà Wáng'') of Western Chu during the Chu–Han Contention period (206–202 BC) of China. A noble of the Chu state, Xiang Yu rebelled against the Qin dynas ...

after the

Battle of Julu The Battle of Julu (Chinese: 钜鹿之戰) was fought in Julu (in present-day Pingxiang County, Xingtai, Hebei, China) in 207 BC primarily between forces of the Qin dynasty and the insurgent state of Chu. The Qin commander was Zhang Han, whi ...

in 207 BC. In 206 BC, following the collapse of the Qin dynasty, he was conferred the title of "King of Sai" by Xiang Yu and given part of the lands in

Guanzhong Guanzhong (, formerly romanised as Kwanchung) region, also known as the Guanzhong Basin, Wei River Basin, or uncommonly as the Shaanzhong region, is a historical region of China corresponding to the crescentic graben basin within present-day c ...

as his fief when the latter split the former Qin Empire into the

Eighteen Kingdoms The historiographical term "Eighteen Kingdoms" ( zh, t=十八國), also translated to as "Eighteen States", refers to the eighteen ''fengjian'' states in China created by military leader Xiang Yu in 206 BCE, after the collapse of the Qin dynasty.� ...

Life

In 209 BC, Chen Sheng and

Wu Guang Wu Guang (, died December 209 BC or January 208 BC) was a leader of the first rebellion against the Qin Dynasty during the reign of the Second Qin Emperor. Life Wu Guang was born in Yangxia (陽夏; present-day Taikang County, Zhoukou, Henan ...

started the

Dazexiang Uprising The Chen Sheng and Wu Guang uprising (), July–December 209 B.C., was the first uprising against the Qin dynasty following the death of Qin Shi Huang. Led by Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, the uprising helped overthrow the Qin and paved the way for t ...

to overthrow the

Qin Dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ; zh, c=秦朝, p=Qín cháo, w=), or Ch'in dynasty in Wade–Giles romanization ( zh, c=, p=, w=Ch'in ch'ao), was the first dynasty of Imperial China. Named for its heartland in Qin state (modern Gansu and Shaanxi), th ...

. The Qin emperor,

Qin Er Shi Qin Er Shi (; (230–October 207 BCE) was the second emperor of the Qin dynasty from 210 to 207 BCE. The son of Qin Shi Huang, he was born as Ying Huhai. He was put on the throne by Li Si and Zhao Gao, circumventing Fusu, Ying's brother ...

, placed Zhang Han in command of the imperial army, with Sima Xin and Dong Yi serving as his deputies, to quell the rebels. In 207 BC, Zhang Han attacked the insurgent Zhao kingdom and besieged Zhao forces at Julu.

of the Chu kingdom came to Zhao's aid and defeated the Qin army at the

, despite having a smaller force. Zhang Han sent Sima Xin to the capital Xianyang to request for reinforcements. However, the

eunuch A eunuch ( ) is a male who has been castration, castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2n ...

Zhao Gao Zhao Gao (died 207 BC) was a Chinese politician and calligrapher. He was an official of the Qin dynasty of China. Allegedly a eunuch, he served as a close aide to all three rulers of the Qin dynasty – Qin Shi Huang, Qin Er Shi and Ziying – ...

deceived Qin Er Shi and the emperor refused to send aid. Sima Xin escaped from Zhao Gao's assassins along the return journey and reported to Zhang Han that the state power of Qin had fallen into the hands of the eunuch. Zhang Han pondered over the situation and realised that even if he defeated the rebels, Zhao Gao would later frame him for treason and have him executed. Hence, he surrendered to Xiang Yu. After the fall of the Qin Dynasty in 206 BC, Xiang Yu divided the former Qin Empire into the

and granted the land of

(heartland of Qin) to the three surrendered Qin generals (the three fiefs were collectively known as the

Three Qins The Three Qins () refer to three of the Eighteen Kingdoms, the short-lived power-sharing arrangement formed in 206 BC after the collapse of the Qin Dynasty. The three kingdoms were located in Guanzhong Plain (in present-day central Shaanxi), the ...

). Sima Xin was given part of

as his fief and received the title "King of Sai" (塞王). Later that year,

Liu Bang Emperor Gaozu of Han (256 – 1 June 195 BC), born Liu Bang () with courtesy name Ji (季), was the founder and first emperor of the Han dynasty, reigning in 202–195 BC. His temple name was "Taizu" while his posthumous name was Emper ...

(King of

Han Han may refer to: Ethnic groups * Han Chinese, or Han People (): the name for the largest ethnic group in China, which also constitutes the world's largest ethnic group. ** Han Taiwanese (): the name for the ethnic group of the Taiwanese p ...

) attacked the Three Qins and defeated Zhang Han. Sima Xin and Dong Yi surrendered to Liu Bang. In 205 BC, during the

Chu–Han Contention The Chu–Han Contention ( zh, , lk=on) or Chu–Han War () was an interregnum period in ancient China between the fallen Qin dynasty and the subsequent Han dynasty. After the third and last Qin ruler, Ziying, unconditionally surrendered to ...

, Liu Bang was defeated by Xiang Yu at the

Battle of Pengcheng The Battle of Pengcheng was fought in Pengcheng (present-day Xuzhou, Jiangsu, China) in April 205 BC between the kingdoms of Western Chu and Han, led by Xiang Yu and Liu Bang respectively. The Han forces were unprepared and suffered heavy losse ...

. Sima Xin and Dong Yi defected to Xiang Yu's side. The following year, Liu Bang attacked Xiang Yu at the Battle of Chenggao. Liu Bang lured Cao Jiu (曹咎), the defending general, to pursue and attack him. The Chu army fell into an ambush at the Si River and was defeated by Liu Bang's forces. Cao Jiu, Dong Yi and Sima Xin committed suicide. The ''

Book of Han The ''Book of Han'' or ''History of the Former Han'' (Qián Hàn Shū,《前汉书》) is a history of China finished in 111AD, covering the Western, or Former Han dynasty from the first emperor in 206 BCE to the fall of Wang Mang in 23 CE. I ...

'' says that, after his death, Liu Bang had Sima Xin's head suspended on a pole in the marketplace of

Yueyang Yueyang, formerly known as Yuezhou or Yochow, is a prefecture-level city on the eastern shores of Dongting Lake and Yangtze in the northeastern corner of Hunan Province in the People's Republic of China. Yueyang has an administrative area of an ...

(in present-day

Yanliang District Yanliang District () is one of nine districts of Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi province, China. The northernmost and least-populous of Xi'an's county-level divisions, it borders the prefecture-level cities of Xianyang to the west and Weinan to t ...

, Xi'an,

Shaanxi Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see § Name) is a landlocked province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichuan (SW), Gansu (W), Ningx ...

), his previous capital, because the latter had traitorously gone over to Xiang Yu after surrendering to Liu Bang in September 206.Dubs (1938), pp. 71, 92 and n. 1.

Notes

References

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 b ...

. ''

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 hist ...

'', volumes 7, 8. *

Ban Gu Ban Gu (AD32–92) was a Chinese historian, politician, and poet best known for his part in compiling the ''Book of Han'', the second of China's 24 dynastic histories. He also wrote a number of '' fu'', a major literary form, part prose ...

et al. ''

'', volumes 1, 31. * Dubs, Homer H. (1938): ''The History of the Former Han Dynasty by Pan Ku'', Vol. I. Baltimore, Waverly Press. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sima, Xin Qin dynasty generals Chu–Han contention people Chinese nobility 204 BC deaths Chinese military personnel who committed suicide Year of birth unknown Suicides in the Chu–Han contention