Wu Guang (, died December 209 BC or January 208 BC) was a leader of the first rebellion against 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 Dynasties in Chinese history, dynasty of Imperial China. Named for its heartland in Qin (state), ...

during the reign of the Second Qin Emperor.

Life

Wu Guang was born in Yangxia (陽夏; present-day

Taikang County Taikang County (), formerly known as Yangjia County or Yangxia County, is a county in the north of Zhoukou prefecture-level city, in the east of Henan province, China. It is divided into 23 townships and 766 villages. The county is home to 1.43 mil ...

Zhoukou Zhoukou (; Postal romanization, postal: Chowkow) is a prefecture-level city in eastern Henan province of China, province, China. It borders Zhumadian to the southwest, Xuchang and Luohe to the west, Kaifeng to the northwest, Shangqiu to the north ...

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

), and his courtesy name was Shu. In August or September 209 BC,Volume 48 of ''Records of the Grand Historian'' dated the incident to the 7th month of the 1st year of the reign of Qin Er Shi. This corresponds to 9 Aug to 7 Sep 209 BC in the proleptic Julian calendar. (二世元年七月，发闾左适戍渔阳，九百人屯大泽乡。...) ''Shiji'', vol.48 he was a military captain along with

Chen Sheng Chen Sheng (died January 208 BC), also known as Chen She ("She" being his courtesy name), posthumously known as Prince Yin, was the leader of the Dazexiang Uprising, the first rebellion against the Qin Dynasty. It occurred during the reign of ...

when the two of them were ordered to lead 900 soldiers to Yuyang (漁陽; southwest of present-day

Miyun County Miyun District () is situated in northeast Beijing. It has an area of and a population of 460,800 (2010 Census). Miyun District government seat is located in Gulou Subdistrict. History Miyun was one of the places where Warlord Feng Yuxiang s ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

) to help defend the northern border against

Xiongnu The Xiongnu (, ) were a tribal confederation of nomadic peoples who, according to ancient Chinese sources, inhabited the eastern Eurasian Steppe from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD. Modu Chanyu, the supreme leader after 20 ...

. Due to storms, it became clear that they could not get to Yuyang by the deadline, and according to law, if soldiers could not get to their posts on time, they would be executed. Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, believing that they were doomed, led their soldiers to start a rebellion. They announced that

Fusu Fusu (died 210BC) was the eldest son and heir apparent of Qin Shi Huang, the First Emperor of the Qin dynasty. Life After being deceived by two alchemists while seeking prolonged life, the First Emperor supposedly ordered more than 460 scholars ...

, the crown prince of Qin, who had wrongly been forced to commit suicide, and

Xiang Yan Xiang or Hsiang may refer to: *Xiang (place), the site of Hong Xiuquan's destruction of a Chinese idol early in the Taiping Rebellion *Xiang (surname), three unrelated surnames: Chinese: 項 and Chinese: 向 (both ''Xiàng'') and Chinese: 相 (''X ...

(), a general of Chu, had not died and were joining their cause. They also declared the reestablishment of Chu. Using 900 men to resist an empire seemed to be a suicidal move, but the people, who had felt deeply oppressed by the Qin regime, joined Chen Sheng and Wu Guang's cause quickly. Soon, there were people asking Chen Sheng to declare himself "King of Chu". Against the advice of Zhang Er and Chen Yu, Chen Sheng declared himself "King of Rising Chu" (). After Chen Sheng set up his capital at Chen County (陳縣; in present-day Huaiyang, Henan), he appointed Wu Guang as acting-'King of Chu' and ordered Wu to head west toward Qin proper. Wu Guang's forces, however, became bogged down while laying siege to Xingyang (滎陽; northeast of present-day

Xingyang Xingyang (), is a county-level city of Henan Province, South Central China, it is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Zhengzhou. It is situated 15 kilometers to the west of Zhengzhou city proper. The population of Xingyang i ...

, Henan). Wu Guang's generals became concerned that Qin reinforcements under Zhang Han would soon arrive and attack them on two sides. They wanted to change Wu Guang's plans, end the siege of Xingyang, and face Zhang Han's forces directly. Unconvinced that Wu Guang would change his plans, they assassinated Wu and took over the army.

Legacy

Wu Guang sometimes appears as a

door god Menshen or door gods are divine guardians of doors and gates in Chinese folk religions, used to protect against evil influences or to encourage the entrance of positive ones. They began as the divine pair Shenshu ( ) and Yulü () under the ...

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

and

Taoist temple A Taoist temple (, also called ''dàoguàn'' and , is a place where the Tao is observed and cultivated it is a place of worship in Taoism. Structure and function can vary according to the Taoist school the temple belongs to. For example, ''guà ...

s, usually partnered with

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 ...

''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Wu, Guang Qin dynasty people 200s BC deaths Year of birth unknown People from Taikang County Deified Chinese people Qin dynasty rebels

Life

Legacy

See also

References