Xiang Yu

Xiàng Yǔ ( Chinese 項羽 / 项羽 , W.-G. Scheng Shü ; * 232 BC ; † 202 BC ) was a general at the time when the Qín dynasty collapsed. His real name was Jí ( 籍 ), Yǔ was his company name. He was a descendant of the nobility of Chǔ . After his uncle was murdered by Qín, he took over his army and soon became the most powerful of all rebels. He called himself “Xī Chǔ bàwáng” ( Chinese 西楚霸王 - “Hegemonic King of West Chu”).

Liú Bāng , who later founded the Hān dynasty , was the first rebel to take Xiányáng , the capital of Qín. However, he was forced to hand over both the city of Xiányáng and the last Qín ruler Zǐyīng to Xiàng Yǔ. This made short work of itself , killed Zǐyīng and burned the city down. Many books from the collection of forbidden books in the royal library were lost.

Although he soon had all of China under his control, he lacked the necessary political skills. He divided the country into 18 feudal states at his own convenience. He awarded promotions according to the system of nepotism , which soon frightened many aspirants. He soon found Liú Bāng a greater threat, but missed a number of opportunities to eliminate him. After years of armed conflict, he soon lost all of his land to them.

He lost his last battle in Gāixià ( 垓下 ), where his last armies were defeated. His concubine Yújī ( 虞姬 ) committed suicide; The Chinese opera “Farewell, My Concubine”, after which a well-known film was released in 1993, tells of this tragedy . The title is taken from a line of the aria that Xiàng Yǔ sings for Yújī before he goes into the final battle.

Although he still had a lot of support in his home country Chǔ, he could not bring himself to return home, where he had lost many thousands of men. He had crossed the Wū Jiāng ( 烏江 / 乌江 ) in what is now Anhui and could not bring a single one back. The guilt and shame became unbearable and he decided to take one last action. In the face of his enemies, he committed suicide by cutting his throat.

His life and death have become immortal through tradition in Shǐjì .

literature

Sima Qian : Xiang Yu. In: Gregor Kneussel (transl.): From the records of the chronicler ( Shiji ). Beijing: Publishing House for Foreign Language Literature, 2015, ISBN 978-7-119-09676-6 , Vol. 1, pp. 83–159.
Graham Seal: Encyclopedia of Folk Heroes . ABC_CLIO, 2001, ISBN 1576072169 , p. 281 ( excerpt (Google) )
Stephen W. Durant: The Cloudy Mirror: Tension and Conflict in the Writings of Sima Qian . Suny Press, 1995, ISBN 0791426556

personal data
SURNAME	Xiang Yu
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Xiàng Yǔ
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Chinese general and ruler
DATE OF BIRTH	232 BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH	202 BC Chr.