Ministers › Diplomat / Envoy
Su Qin
Warring States persuader from Luoyang; the Shiji makes him chief of a six-state alliance against Qin, but silk manuscripts show him as a later Yan agent at the court of Qi
Mural of the event “Alliances of Warring States”, which this person took part in.
Following Shang Yang's reforms, a powerful Qin expanded eastward, compelling the other six states to forge strategic coalitions for survival against Western hegemony.
Also known as Su Zi
- Roles
- Diplomat / Envoy
The Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji) says Su Qin of Luoyang studied under Master Guigu, failed to win over King Hui of Qin, then persuaded Yan, Zhao, Han, Wei, Qi and Chu to ally against Qin, served as minister of all six, and was assassinated in Qi. On that account he was active before Zhang Yi and kept Qin's armies behind the Hangu Pass for fifteen years. The silk manuscript Persuasions of the Warring States (Zhanguo zonghengjia shu), excavated at Mawangdui in 1973, preserves over ten of his letters and speeches and places him under King Zhao of Yan and King Min of Qi, after Zhang Yi. In it he goes to Qi on Yan's behalf, appears to serve Qi while working to weaken it, and helps organise a five-state campaign against Qin. Scholars generally hold that he was exposed and torn apart by chariots when Yue Yi's Yan army broke Qi. Sima Qian himself admitted that many stories of other men had been attached to Su Qin.
Life and times
Dates Dates unknown; mid to late Warring States
- 334 BCEAlliances of Warring StatesTook part
- 334 BCESu Qin's Alliance Uniting Six States