Xi Zheng (died 278),

courtesy name A courtesy name (), also known as a style name, is a name bestowed upon one at adulthood in addition to one's given name. This practice is a tradition in the East Asian cultural sphere, including China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.Ulrich Theobald ...

Lingxian, was a Chinese essayist, poet, and politician of the state of

Shu Han Han (; 221–263), known in historiography as Shu Han ( ) or Ji Han ( "Junior Han"), or often shortened to Shu (; pinyin: ''shŭ'' <

Three Kingdoms The Three Kingdoms () from 220 to 280 AD was the tripartite division of China among the dynastic states of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu. The Three Kingdoms period was preceded by the Han dynasty#Eastern Han, Eastern Han dynasty and wa ...

period of China. He also served as an official in the early years of the Jin dynasty.

Early life

Born Xi Zuan (郤纂) in

Yanshi Yanshi District () is a district in the prefecture-level city of Luoyang in western Henan province, China. Yanshi lies on the Luo River and is the easternmost county-level division of Luoyang. History After the Zhou conquest of Shang in mid-11th ...

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 ...

, Xi Zheng's family moved west from

Luoyang Luoyang is a city located in the confluence area of Luo River (Henan), Luo River and Yellow River in the west of Henan province. Governed as a prefecture-level city, it borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the east, Pingdingshan to the ...

into

Yi Province Yizhou (益州), Yi Province or Yi Prefecture, was a '' zhou'' (province) of ancient China. Its capital city was Chengdu.de Crespigny, p. 256. During the Han dynasty, it included the commanderies Hanzhong, Ba, Guanghan, Shu, Wenshan, Jianwei, ...

(covering present-day

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

and

Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...

) when he was very young. When Xi Zheng was still a boy, his father Xi Yi (郤揖) died. He was gifted in language and mostly self-educated in the fields of history and government, borrowing books and essays from literati throughout Yi Province.''Records of the Three Kingdoms'', 42.1034 He entered government service as a clerk of the palace library, eventually rising to the rank of director over the course of 30 years.

Fall of Shu Han

As director of the imperial library, Xi Zheng was a fairly high-ranking official in the Shu government. The powerful eunuch

Huang Hao Huang Hao ( 220s–263) was a Chinese eunuch and politician serving under Liu Shan (), the second and last emperor of the state of Shu Han in the Three Kingdoms period (220–280) of China. Highly favoured by Liu Shan, he was commonly blamed fo ...

was ambivalent towards him, so Xi Zheng was able to avoid the factionalism that Huang Hao's rise to power engendered. Xi Zheng's foremost contribution to history was his composition of

Liu Shan Liu Shan () (207–271), courtesy name Gongsi, was the second and last emperor of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period. As he ascended the throne at the age of 16, Liu Shan was entrusted to the care of the Chancellor Zhuge Lia ...

's surrender document to the Wei general

Deng Ai Deng Ai (197 – late March 264Vol.04 of ''Sanguozhi'' and vol.02 of ''Jin Shu'' both indicated that Deng Ai was arrested in the 1st month of the 1st year of the ''Xianxi'' era. The month corresponds to 15 Feb to 14 Mar 264 in the Julian calendar ...

, which survives in the ''

Records of the Three Kingdoms The ''Records or History of the Three Kingdoms'', also known by its Chinese name as the Sanguo Zhi, is a Chinese historical text which covers the history of the late Eastern Han dynasty (c. 184–220 AD) and the Three Kingdoms period (220– ...

''. Xi Zheng remained extremely loyal to Liu Shan, and was one of two former high-ranking Shu officials who abandoned their families and travelled with Liu Shan to Luoyang during

Zhong Hui's Rebellion Zhong Hui's Rebellion was a rebellion in March 264 led by Zhong Hui, a general of the state of Cao Wei, against the Wei regent, Sima Zhao. Zhong Hui had support from Jiang Wei, a general from the former state of Shu Han, which was conquered by W ...

in 264. He was one of five former Shu officials to be enfeoffed as marquises by the Wei government. In Luoyang, Liu Shan relied on Xi Zheng in matters of deportment and propriety. According to

Xi Zuochi Xi Zuochi (after 316 – 384), courtesy name Yanwei, was a Jin dynasty historian native to Xiangyang, Hubei. He is principally remembered for being the first historian to regard the Wei dynasty as an illegitimate successor to the Han dynasty. ...

's ''Han Jin Chunqiu'', the Wei regent

Sima Zhao Sima Zhao () (211 – 6 September 265), courtesy name Zishang, was a Chinese military general, politician, and regent of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China. Sima Zhao capably maintained control of Wei, which had been ...

once asked Liu Shan if he thought much about Shu, to which Liu Shan famously responded that he was too happy to think of Shu. Xi Zheng sought out Liu Shan and advised him that were he asked this again, the appropriate response was to lament how far he had been removed from his family tombs.''Records of the Three Kingdoms'', 33.902 n 1 In 273, Xi Zheng was appointed as the Administrator of Baxi Commandery (巴西郡), in present-day eastern Sichuan and northern Chongqing. This would have allowed him to return west in his old age. Of his works, only Liu Shan's surrender document to Deng Ai and one other essay survive, both carried in the base text of the ''Records of the Three Kingdoms''.

References

Chen Shou Chen Shou (; 233–297), courtesy name Chengzuo (), was a Chinese historian, politician, and writer who lived during the Three Kingdoms period and Jin dynasty of China. Chen Shou is most known for his most celebrated work, the ''Records of the ...

(280s or 290s). ''

''.

Pei Songzhi Pei Songzhi (372–451), courtesy name Shiqi, was a Chinese historian and politician who lived in the late Eastern Jin dynasty and Liu Song dynasty. His ancestral home was in Wenxi County, Shanxi, but he moved to the Jiangnan region later. He i ...

annotation An annotation is extra information associated with a particular point in a document or other piece of information. It can be a note that includes a comment or explanation. Annotations are sometimes presented in the margin of book pages. For anno ...

, 429. Hong Kong: Zhonghua Publishing, 1971. 5 vols.

Early life

Fall of Shu Han

References

See also