Ziying, King of Qin (, died January 206 BC) was the third and last ruler of the
Qin dynasty. He ruled over a fragmented Qin Empire for 46 days, from mid-October to early December 207 BC. He is referred to in some sources with the
posthumous name
A posthumous name is an honorary name given mostly to the notable dead in East Asian culture. It is predominantly practiced in East Asian countries such as China, Korea, Vietnam, Japan, and Thailand. Reflecting on the person's accomplishm ...
Emperor Shang of Qin (秦殤帝) although Qin abolished the practice of posthumous names. (In Chinese tradition, even someone who never held a ruling title while he was alive might be given the posthumous title "emperor" after his death.)
Identity
There is no firm consensus as to what Ziying's relationship to the Qin royal family really was.
He is mentioned in historical records as either:
#A son of
Qin Er Shi's elder brother (who, according to
Yan Shigu's commentaries,
was
Fusu);
#An elder brother of Qin Er Shi;
#A younger brother of
Qin Shi Huang
Qin Shi Huang (, ; 259–210 BC) was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of a unified China. Rather than maintain the title of " king" ( ''wáng'') borne by the previous Shang and Zhou rulers, he ruled as the First Empero ...
;
or
#A son of a younger brother of Qin Shi Huang.
While
Sima Qian's ''
Records of the Grand Historian'' does not specify Ziying's age, it implies that he had at least two sons, whom he consulted.
Being Qin Er Shi's nephew
According to the historian Professor
Wang Liqun
Wang Liqun (; born 1945) is a Chinese historian and a professor in the School of Arts, Henan University. He is best known for conducting lecture series about Chinese history on the CCTV-10 television programme ''Lecture Room''.
Life
Wang was bor ...
's analysis, the maximum possible age of Ziying when
Zhao Gao assassinated Qin Er Shi was 19. Therefore, his sons would have probably been around the ages of 1–2 and so it was not possible for him to consult them.
For Ziying's sons to be old enough to be consulted, a traditional age for them would have been around 14–16. Since they were 14–16 in 207 BC, when their supposed great-grandfather (i.e. three generations apart from them) Qin Shi Huang (born 259 BC), if he had been alive, that he could have been only 52 is highly improbable.
It seems unlikely that Ziying was either Fusu's son or any other grandson of Qin Shi Huang.
Being Qin Er Shi's brother
Ziying being another elder brother of Huhai (Qin Er Shi) is as unlikely as a grandson of Qin Shi Huang. Since Huhai showed no restraint at killing at least 20 of his siblings after ascending to the throne, sparing one elder brother is possible but rather incredible.
Being Qin Shi Huang's brother
Li Kaiyuan in his study
stated that Qin Shi Huang only had three brothers of any kinds: one
paternal half-brother (Chengjiao) and two
maternal half-brothers (sons of
Lao Ai Lao Ai (; died 238 BCE) was an imposter eunuch and official of the State of Qin during the late Warring States period. Allegedly falsifying his castration in order to gain entry into the court of Qin, he became the favorite of Queen Dowager Zhao, t ...
), therefore Ziying, if indeed being another brother of his, would have had more mentions in Chengjiao's supposedly betrayal.
Being Qin Shi Huang's nephew
Ziying being
Zhao Chengjiao's son bore no threat to Huhai's reign and was neither one of Qin Shi Huang's direct descendants nor in a higher position in the succession to Huhai. Ziying was also said to have tried to persuade Huhai not to kill Qin Shi Huang's other sons and daughters, which could have been a difficult task if he was among them.
This theory was more likely to be true than the other three.
Life
After
Qin Er Shi's death,
Zhao Gao chose Ziying to be successor and changed the ruling title "emperor" back to "king" because the Qin dynasty then was as weak as the former
Qin State, which no longer ruled the whole of China but held onto only
Guanzhong.
Ziying was the only person in the Qin imperial court to defend and to try to persuade
Qin Er Shi against the wrongful executions of
Meng Tian and
Meng Yi
Meng Yi (died 210 BCE) was a Chinese military general and politician. As an official of the Qin dynasty, he served in the court of Qin Shi Huang. He was a younger brother of the general Meng Tian. After Qin Shi Huang's death, Meng Yi and his br ...
. He lured
Zhao Gao, the regent who had assassinated Qin Er Shi, into a trap and killed him. Ziying later surrendered to
Liu Bang, the leader of the first group of rebel forces to occupy
Xianyang
Xianyang () is a prefecture-level city in central Shaanxi province, situated on the Wei River a few kilometers upstream (west) from the provincial capital of Xi'an. Once the capital of the Qin dynasty, it is now integrated into the Xi'an m ...
, the Qin capital. He was eventually killed, along with his male family members, by another rebel leader,
Xiang Yu.
Legacy
Ziying 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 ...
in
Chinese and
Taoist temples, usually paired with his successor,
Emperor Yi of Chu.
Notes
References
{{Monarchs of Qin
Qin dynasty emperors
206 BC deaths
3rd-century BC Chinese monarchs
Year of birth unknown
Murdered Chinese emperors
Chinese gods
Deified Chinese people
Qin Shi Huang
Monarchs taken prisoner in wartime
Heads of government who were later imprisoned