Qin Empire

Lore & Background

Born in Jiangning Prefecture (present-day Nanjing, Jiangsu), Qin won Jinshi in the Imperial examination of 1112. During the Northern Song dynasty, he was an activist against the invasion by the Jin dynasty in the Jin–Song Wars. He was captured by the Jin during the Jingkang Incident, along with other officials. Some years later, he suddenly returned from captivity in the Jin empire to the capital of Emperor Gaozong, claiming a miraculous escape, though many doubted his story. He quickly won the emperor's favor and became Chancellor of the Southern Song empire in 1131, but was removed the next year after political infighting. After Song victories in 1137, the Jin empire reopened peace talks, and Qin gained power as a pacifist. With his help, the emperor suppressed war hawks and signed the Treaty of Shaoxing, accepting vassal status to the Jin. To open peace talks, the national hero general Yue Fei was framed by Qin and his accomplices for disobedience and treason, then removed from his position, arrested, and executed in prison. Murdering Yue Fei is one of the most infamous acts by a government minister in Song history. Qin became notorious, and after he lost power and died, some suspected he was a traitor. He removed all political opponents using his control over the Imperial Censorate; most were exiled far south, several dying on Hainan Island. He believed schools should only teach "acceptable ideas" and practiced strong censorship and thought control over the Imperial University. After Emperor Gaozong's abdication, the new Emperor Xiaozong pardoned most of Qin's political enemies, including a posthumous pardon for Yue Fei. From that point, Qin was constantly vilified by Chinese historians and became one of the most important examples of a corrupt minister in Chinese history.

In Their Own Story

The Qing dynasty novel The Story of Yue Fei states that after having Yue Fei, Yue Yun, and Zhang Xian arrested on false charges, Qin and his wife, Lady Wang, were sitting by the "eastern window," warming themselves by the fire, when he received a letter from the people calling for the general's release. Qin was worried because, after nearly two months of torture, he could not get Yue Fei to admit the false charges of treason and would eventually have to let him go. However, after a servant girl brought fresh oranges into the room, Lady Wang devised a plan: slip an execution notice inside the skin of an orange and send it to the examining judge, so the general and his companions would be put to death before the Emperor or Qin himself could rescind an open order. This conspiracy became known as the "East-Window Plot." An anonymous Ming dynasty novel called Dong Chuang Ji ("Tale of the Eastern Window") was written about it. When asked by General Han Shizhong what crime Yue had committed, Qin Hui replied, "Though it isn't sure whether there is something that he did to betray the dynasty, maybe there is." The phrase "maybe there is" (simplified Chinese: 莫须有; traditional Chinese: 莫須有; pinyin: mò xū yǒu) has entered the Chinese language as an expression for fabricated charges. For their part in Yue Fei's death, topless iron statues of Qin Hui, Lady Wang, and two subordinates—Moqi Xie and Zhang Jun—were made to kneel before Yue Fei's tomb by Hangzhou's West Lake. For centuries, these statues were cursed, spat, and urinated upon. Now they are protected as historical relics, recast several times, most recently in 1979 after disappearing in the 1960s. A poem on the gate reads: "The green hill is fortunate to be the burial ground of a loyal general, the white iron was innocent to be cast into the statues of traitors." The story of Qin and his wife are also said to be the origin of Youtiao.

Reader's Guide

In the Ming dynasty addendum Xiyoubu ("Supplement to the Journey to the West," 1640), the Monkey King travels forward in time from the Tang to the Song dynasty. There, junior devils tell him that the ruler of the underworld, King Yama, has recently died, so Monkey must take his place. Monkey ends up judging the fate of the recently deceased Prime Minister Qin Hui. He tortures Qin into confessing his sins: having millions of embroidery needles shoved into his flesh, being ground into paste, thrown onto a mountain of swords and spears, hacked into bits, forced to drink human pus, and his rib cage ripped apart to give him the appearance of a dragonfly. A demon uses magic breath to "blow" Qin back into his proper form. Monkey finally sends a demon to heaven to retrieve a powerful magic gourd that sucks anyone who speaks before it inside and melts them down into a bloody stew, using it for Qin's final punishment. Meanwhile, Monkey invites the ghost of Yue Fei to the underworld and takes him as his third master, claiming this completes his lessons on the three religions: the immortal Subhodi taught him Taoist magic, the monk Tang Sanzang taught him Buddhist restraint, and Yue Fei taught him Confucian ideals. He entertains Yue Fei until Qin has been reduced to liquid and offers the general a cup of Qin's "blood wine." Yue refuses on the grounds that drinking it would sully his soul. Monkey then makes a junior devil drink the wine; later, the devil, under the evil influence, murders his personal religious teacher and escapes into the "gate of ghosts," presumably being reborn. Yue Fei then takes his leave to return to his heavenly abode, and Monkey sends him off with a huge display of respect by making all millions of denizens of the underworld kowtow before him.

Did You Know?

• Qin Hui was also nicknamed "Long-legged Qin" (Chinese: 秦長腳).
• The phrase "maybe there is" (莫須有) originated from Qin Hui's reply when asked what crime Yue Fei had committed, and now refers to fabricated charges.
• Iron statues of Qin Hui, Lady Wang, Moqi Xie, and Zhang Jun kneel before Yue Fei's tomb; they have been recast several times, most recently in 1979 after disappearing in the 1960s.
• The story of Qin Hui and his wife Lady Wang is said to be the origin of Youtiao.
• In the Ming novel Xiyoubu, the Monkey King tortures Qin Hui in the underworld, eventually melting him into a bloody stew using a magic gourd.