Ministers › Remonstrators
Feng Jie
Qin censor-in-chief who helped settle the title 'emperor' in 221 BCE and, as a general under the Second Emperor, killed himself after protesting the palace works
At dawn in a palace courtyard, a large drum hangs in a small roofed frame beside a red pillar, with a bound bundle of scrolls on a low stand in front; a stone balustrade leads toward a large hall in the mist, and a row of tiny people stands far away.
- Roles
- Remonstrators
Feng Jie was a Qin minister who served as censor-in-chief after the king of Qin had conquered the other states. The Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji) records that in 221 BCE, when the king asked his ministers to settle on a new title, the chancellor Wang Wan, Feng Jie and the commandant of justice Li Si jointly proposed 'Supreme August', the highest of the ancient sovereigns, and the king chose 'August Emperor' instead. Under the Second Emperor he served as a general. In 208 he, the chancellor of the right Feng Quji and the chancellor of the left Li Si together urged the emperor to halt work on the Epang Palace and lighten the burden of frontier service and transport; the emperor, enraged, handed all three to the law officers. Feng Quji and Feng Jie declared that generals and chancellors do not submit to disgrace and killed themselves, while Li Si went to prison and was executed. The sources do not say how the two Fengs were related, and later writers often confused them.
Life and times
Dates Birth unknown–208 BCE