Ministers › Diplomat / Envoy
Wei Jia
Zhao envoy of the late Warring States who met Lord Chunshen in Chu and used the story of Geng Ying and the wounded goose to dissuade him from appointing Lord Linwu; the idiom 'a bird startled by a bowstring' comes from it.
On a road beside a desert gateway, a camel train carries a lidded chest and rolled bundles while travellers walk along the path; a large sailing ship lies in the harbour at the right, a stone waymark stands by the road, and dunes and mountains fill the distance.
Also known as Wei Jia, envoy of Zhao
- Roles
- Diplomat / Envoy
Wei Jia was a man of Zhao in the late Warring States, with unknown dates. According to the Zhanguo Ce, in the chapter Chu 4, when the states formed a coalition against Qin, Wei Jia went as envoy to Chu and saw Lord Chunshen, who meant to make Lord Linwu a general. Wei Jia told how Geng Ying brought down a goose before the King of Wei with an empty bow, because the bird was wounded and fell in terror at the string. Lord Linwu, he argued, was like that bird after his defeats by Qin, and could not be trusted to resist Qin. The story gave rise to the idiom 'a bird startled by a bowstring'.
Life and times
Dates Dates unknown; envoy of Zhao in the late Warring States, who met Lord Chunshen during his term as chief minister of Chu