Ministers › Remonstrators
Chu Long
Left Tutor of Zhao who persuaded the regent Queen Dowager to send her son Lord Chang'an as a hostage to Qi
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.
Also known as Left Tutor Chu Long · Chu Zhe (in received texts)
- Roles
- Remonstrators
Chu Long was Left Tutor of Zhao. When King Xiaocheng had just succeeded and the Queen Dowager held power, Qin attacked and Qi would send help only if her youngest son, Lord Chang'an, came as a hostage. She refused and threatened to spit on any minister who raised it again. Chu Long called on her, chatted about her health, asked a place in the guard for his own son, and so led her to see that loving a child means planning for his future; she let Lord Chang'an go and Qi sent troops. Received texts call him Chu Zhe; the Mawangdui silk manuscript confirms Chu Long. He is the hero of 'Chu Long Persuades the Queen Dowager of Zhao'.
Life and times
Dates Dates unknown; active c. 265 BCE