Xiang Yan

Xiang Yan (項燕, ?–224 BCE? or 223 BCE?) was a general of Chinese Warring States Chu. When the First Emperor invaded Chu, he fought against the Qin general Wang Jian, but was defeated and took his own life. Later, Chen Sheng and Wu Guang claimed to be him and became symbolic figures of the anti-Qin movement, and his son Xiang Liang and grandson Xiang Yu became leaders of rebel armies and greatly contributed to the fall of the Qin dynasty.

Life

Origins

The Xiang family had produced generals of Chu for generations; because they were enfeoffed at a place called Xiang (項), the family took the surname Xiang (項氏).¹

War with Qin

In 224 BCE (23rd year of the First Emperor), the Qin general Wang Jian attacked Chu together with Meng Wu. At this time, Wang Jian deliberately built fortifications and did not respond even when the Chu army repeatedly challenged him to battle. Afterward, when the Chu army moved east, Wang Jian pursued them and defeated them decisively. Then, at Qi (蘄), he finally broke the Chu army and killed its general Xiang Yan.²

In 223 BCE (24th year of the First Emperor), Wang Jian attacked Chu again together with Meng Wu, captured King Fuju of Chu, the last king of Chu,³ and seized the land from the south of Chen (陳) to Pingyu (平輿).⁴ Thus Chu was destroyed.

Contradictions in the Records

Meanwhile, the records of the struggle between Xiang Yan and Wang Jian each contain contradictions. The Basic Annals of the First Emperor in the Shiji state that Wang Jian captured King Fuju of Chu in 224 BCE, and that in the following year, 223 BCE, Wang Jian defeated and killed , who had been enthroned as king of Chu, and that Xiang Yan committed suicide. On the other hand, the course of Chu's destruction recorded in the chapters Table of the Six States, House of Chu, Biographies of Bai Qi and Wang Jian, and has the sequence of events reversed, stating that in 224 BCE Xiang Yan was killed while fighting Qin, and in 223 BCE King Fuju of Chu was captured.