The Chen Sheng and Wu Guang uprising (), August 209 B.C.– January 208 B.C., was the first uprising 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 dynasty of Imperial China. Named for its heartland in Qin state (modern Gansu and Shaanxi), ...

following the death 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 ...

. Led by

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 ...

and Wu Guang, the uprising was unsuccessful.

Name

It is also called the Dazexiang uprising () as the uprising started in Dazexiang (大泽乡), which translates into "Big Swamp Village".

History

and Wu Guang were both army officers who were ordered to lead their bands of commoner soldiers north to participate in the defense of Yuyang ( zh, s=渔阳, t=漁陽). However, they were stopped halfway in present-day

Anhui Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze River ...

province by flooding from a severe rainstorm. The harsh

Qin Qin may refer to: Dynasties and states * Qin (state) (秦), a major state during the Zhou Dynasty of ancient China * Qin dynasty (秦), founded by the Qin state in 221 BC and ended in 206 BC * Daqin (大秦), ancient Chinese name for the Roman Emp ...

laws mandated execution for those who showed up late for government jobs, regardless of the nature of the delay. Figuring that they would rather fight than accept execution, Chen and Wu organized a band of 900 villagers to rebel against the government. The current emperor, Hu Hai, had killed his brother

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 ...

, who was known for his benevolence, to take the throne, so they rose up in Fusu's name. There are two stories for this uprising. To convince people to support this uprising, Chen Sheng and Wu Guang wrote "King Chen Sheng" on a piece of silk, and placed it in the belly of a fish. A man in this army bought the fish and was surprised to find the message. They also taught animals to say "Da Chu flourishes, King Chen Sheng" to make people believe in them. With Chen's men declaring him king of the former Kingdom of Chu, he and Wu became the centre of armed uprisings all over China. Over the course of just a few months, their strength grew to around ten thousand men, a force composed mostly of discontented peasants. However, in less than a year, their uprising faced serious trouble; their force was no match for the highly skilled battlefield tactics of the professional Qin soldiers and both Chen and Wu were assassinated by their own men. While their insurrection was ultimately unsuccessful, Wu and Chen set up the example that was to be followed by

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 Empe ...

and

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 dyna ...

. Their spirit can be summed up in Chen's quote "" (traditional Chinese: ,

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally writte ...

: ; "Are kings and nobles given their high status by birth?"), meaning that every human, regardless of birth, can become something great if he applies himself.

Historical materials

There is a biography of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, which is called ''aristocratic family of

'', in

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 his ...

. The main points of the passage are as follows.

was a tenant who was born in

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 ...

province and Wu Guang was his townsman. When Chen Sheng was young, he used to plow with some peasants. One day, he felt tired, then he stopped working and went to a hill for a rest. At that time, he said to his companions "If someone among us rises to power and position, please don't forget us." ("") His companions laughed at him and said "You are a tenant, how can you be rich and powerful?" ("") Chen Sheng sighed and said "How can a sparrow comprehend the ambition of a swan?" ("") Later on, Chen Sheng became an army officer, and led the uprising with Wu Guang, his deputy. Wu Guang was a kind and influential man, but nothing more could be found about him from the history records.

References

{{Qin dynasty topics 200s BC conflicts 209 BC Military history of the Qin dynasty Peasant revolts 3rd century BC in China 3rd-century BC rebellions