SuaveG – The Gentle Path

Chinese mythology, folktales, and literature

Qin Shi Huang

  • Ode to Jing Ke

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    — by Tao Yuanming (Jin Dynasty) Prince Dan of Yan was skilled at nurturing brave retainers,With a will to take vengeance against the mighty Qin.He gathered the finest among a hundred men,And at the year’s end, he found Master Jing.A gentleman dies for his soulmate;Drawing his sword, he departed from the capital of Yan.White…

  • The Reign of Shi & Zhang: A Tale of Two Empires [Song & Yuan]

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    This article covers the rule of Jin’s Emperors Shizong and Zhangzong, alongside Southern Song’s political shifts. After Hailing Wang’s failed invasion, Shizong stabilized the Jin with Sinicized reforms. Song’s Xiaozong honored Yue Fei and launched a northern expedition. The two empires reached a long peace, with Jin flourishing as a model of enlightened governance.

  • Spring in a Pleasure Garden – Snow [Mao’s Poems]

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    –Mao Zedong, February 1936 Behold the northern land’s grand view:A thousand leagues locked in ice and frost,Ten thousand leagues where snowflakes lostIn whirling flight the sky bestrew.Great Wall stretches far, beyond and near;One vast white waste alone appears.The Yellow River’s mighty tideFrom source to sea is stilled, dried.Mountains like silver serpents glide;Plains like waxen…

  • Han Feizi

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    Han Feizi is the title of a foundational philosophical text and the culminating work of pre-Qin Legalist thought. Although attributed to Han Fei (c. 280–233 BCE), a prince of the state of Han during the Warring States period, the book was compiled posthumously by later scholars who collected his surviving writings and supplemented them…

  • Zhang Liang

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    Zhang Liang (?–189 BCE) was a prominent statesman in the early Western Han dynasty. His courtesy name was Zifang, and he was from Chengfu, Yingchuan (in present-day southwestern Xiangcheng, Henan). His ancestors were nobles of the former state of Han, with five generations serving as Han ministers. Seeking revenge for the Qin conquest of…

  • Learning to Defeat Ten Thousand [Western Han]

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    This article introduces Xiang Yu’s early ambition to “defeat ten thousand men” and his bold remark to replace Qin Shi Huang. It covers Qin’s frontier projects, the emperor’s death, and the secret coup by Zhao Gao, Li Si, and Huhai. Their tyranny soon ignited rebellions that ended the Qin Dynasty.

  • An Unexpected Teacher on the Bridge: Zhang Liang and the Yellow-Stone Elder [Western Han]

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    This article tells Zhang Liang’s legendary encounter with the Yellow‑Stone Elder. After a failed assassination on Qin Shi Huang, Zhang met the old man on a bridge, who tested his patience and rewarded him with Taigong’s Art of War. This wisdom shaped him into a key strategist for the Han Dynasty.

  • Han Fei (Hai Feizi)

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    Han Fei (c. 280–233 BCE), often revered as Han Feizi or Master Han Fei, stands as one of ancient China’s most influential philosophers and political theorists. Emerging during the tumultuous Warring States Period (475–221 BCE), he hailed from Xinzheng, the capital of the state of Han (in modern-day Henan Province). As a royal descendant…

  • Qin’s final conquest and the Unification [Warring States]

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    This article details the final military campaigns that led to the Qin unification of China in 221 BCE. It chronicles the systematic destruction of the rival states—starting with the punitive campaign against Yan and the strategic flooding of Wei’s capital. The narrative highlights the pivotal clash with Chu, where veteran general Wang Jian secured…