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Xiang Yu 項羽 Simplified: 项羽 (Wade-Giles: Hsiang Yü; 232 BC - 202 BC) was a prominent general during the fall of the Qin Dynasty. His name was Ji (籍), Yu was his courtesy name. He was a descendant of Chu nobility. A great general, it took him only several years to put a giant empire effectively at his whim -- but no diplomat or statesmen, his impetuous nature and inability to realize his shortcomings doomed him to failure. He is commonly known by his self-styled title of Xichu Bawang (“西楚霸王”, lit. Grand Prince of Western Chu).

Early career

Xiang was born during a period when Qin -- the first regime that had tried to unify China -- was completing its conquests of the other kingdoms of the Warring States period, which it accomplished in 231 BC under its emperor Ying Zheng (嬴政, later known as Qin Shi Huang). How his childhood was like is not known, although it is clear that as a member of a family privileged in the now defunct kingdom of Chu, it would not be comfortable under Qin rule. After Qin Shi Huang's death in 210 BC, however, there were revolts everywhere against his incompetent son and successor Yin Huhai (Qin Er Shi). Many of these revolts claimed to be attempts to restore the kingdoms that Qin had conquered two decades earlier.

One of these rebellions started in 209 BC, under Xiang's uncle Xiang Liang. At that time, the Xiangs were living in the region of Wu (modern southern Jiangsu). Xiang Liang was well known as the descendant of the Chu general Xiang Yan, and people of the Wu region quickly coalesced about him in resistance to Qin. After one of the first and strongest rebel generals, Chen Sheng (陳勝), then styling himself the Prince of Chu, was assassinated by one of his guards, Xiang Liang assumed leadership of a coalition of rebels. Serving under his uncle, Xiang Yu showed quickly both his military ingenuity and his impolitic cruelty. For example, when his uncle commissioned him to attack the Qin stronghold Xiangcheng (襄城, in modern Xuchang, Henan), he conquered the city despite its strong defenses, and after it fell, he slaughtered the entire population.

In order to coalesce the forces against Qin, Xiang Liang made a member of Chu royalty, Mi Xin (羋心), the Prince of Chu in 208 BC. Initially, under Xiang Liang's control, Mi Xin was more or less a puppet prince. However, when Xiang Liang died in battle later that year, there was no single general who took his place, and the rebel Chu's generals and the Prince became an effective collective leadership, with the Prince gradually asserting his authority. A demonstration of this was that, against Xiang Yu's wishes, in winter 208 BC, he sent Xiang Yu as the second-in-command to Song Yi (宋義) in an expeditory force to relieve Zhao Xie (趙歇), the Prince of Zhao, who was then under resurgent Qin siege by Qin general Zhang Han (章邯) in his capital Handan (in modern city of the same name in Hebei) while putting Liu Bang in command of another expeditory force (which Xiang had wished to command) against the heart of Qin itself. Around this time, Prince Xin also created Xiang the Duke of Lü.

The Battle of Julu and Xiang's rise to military supremacy

Song Yi was a general who appeared brilliant while talking but was fairly incompetent. Believing that Qin and Zhao forces will wear each other out and not realizing that Zhao was in danger of being destroyed soon, Song stopped some distance away from Julu (鉅鹿, in modern Xingtai, Hebei), where the Prince of Zhao and his forces had retreated to, and did not proceed further. Xiang, analyzing the situation correctly but unable to persuade Song, took extreme measures. At a military conference, he surprised and assassinated Song. The other generals, who were already intimidated by his military capabilities, offered Song's command to him, and Prince Xin was forced to retroactively approve it.

Xiang proceed with due haste to Handan. At the time of his arrival at the battlefield, the city of Julu and the Zhao forces within had been nearly starved by the seizing Qin forces, under general Wang Li (王離), the assistant to Zhang Han. Xiang understood the importance of reducing the Qin forces' effectiveness first, and he accomplished this by cutting of Wang's supply lines. He then ordered his forces to carry three days of supplies and destroy the rest -- in other words, making his forces having no real possibility of retreating alive -- before engaging Wang in battle. Still, no other relief force sent by other rebel principalities dared to engage the Qin forces, and Xiang attacked them alone. He fought nine engagements before the Qin forces collapsed and Zhang was forced to retreat. Wang was captured. After the battle, all other rebel generals, regardless of whether they came from Chu or not, were so awed by Xiang, that they voluntarily came under his command, and Xiang then prepared for a final confrontation with Zhang.

That confrontation would not happen, however. The Qin prime minister, the eunuch Zhao Gao, had become jealous of Zhang's success up to that point and was concerned that Zhang would replace him. He falsely accused, before Qin Er Shi, Zhao of military faliure and conspiracy with the rebels. In fear, in summer 207 BC, Zhang surrendered to Xiang without a fight. Again demonstrating his cruelty, Xiang slaughtered the surrendering Qin army except for Zhang and a few other generals, and he, ignoring Prince Xin's authority as his prince, created Zhang the Prince of Yong (a region within Qin proper (i.e., the former territory of Qin during the Warring States period before its expansion), modern central Shaanxi), even though he had not yet captured Qin proper.

Entry into Qin proper and Xiang's jealousy of Liu Bang

Xiang then prepared an invasion against the heart of Qin, to wipe Qin out. He was unaware that, by this point, Liu Bang had already proceeded deep into Qin and was near its capital Xianyang (near modern Xi'an, Shaanxi). Xi'an and Qin's final ruler, Ying Yin, surrendered to Liu's forces in winter 207 BC, ending Qin Dynasty. When Xiang arrived at the Gate of Hangu (函谷關, in modern Sanmenxia, Henan), the gateway into Qin proper, he found the Gate guarded by Liu's forces, and in anger, he sieged it, even though Liu was a fellow Chu general. He then approached Liu's forces, which he outnumbered three to one. At a famous event later known as the Feast at Hong Gate (鴻門宴), Xiang required Liu, under duress, to attend a feast he put on and considered executing Liu at the feast. His advisor Fan Zeng (范增) strongly encouraged him to do so. However, Xiang listened to his uncle Xiang Bo (項伯), a friend of Liu's strategist Zhang Liang (張良) and spared Liu, although he would continued to bear grudge against Liu for robbing him of the glory of destroying Qin.

Under a promise issued by Prince Xin of Chu earlier, Liu Bang had assumed that he, as the one who entered Xianyang first, would be created the Prince of Qin. He had also planned to make Ying Yin, whose wisdom and knowledge he admired, his prime minister. Xiang paid no attention to Liu's presumptive title to Qin, and he, in another act of deliberate cruelty, killed Ying Yin and burned down the Qin palace, which contained a large royal library commissioned by Qin Shi Huang. The unique copies of many "forbidden books" were then lost forever. Despite advice from one of his advisors to set his own capital at Xianyang, Xiang was intent on returning to his home region of Chu, and instead engaged in a three-month systematic destruction of Qin buildings and institutions.

Xiang's deposition of Prince Xin of Chu and division of the empire

Xiang, jealous of Liu, suggested to Prince Xin of Chu that while Liu should be made a prince, he should not be given Qin. Prince Xin responded that he was inclined to carry out his promise. Xiang, now firmly in control, in response, deposed Prince Xin. While ostensibly offering Prince Xin the even more honorable title of "Emperor Yi," he in fact put Emperor Yi's "empire" in the then-uncivilized region around Chencheng (郴城, in modern Chenzhou, Hunan) and exiled him there. In spring 206 BC, Xiang divided the former Qin empire into 18 principalities (in addition to Emperor Yi's "empire"):

• Western Chu (西楚), taken by Xiang himself, occuping modern Jiangsu, northern Anhui, nothern Zhejiang, and eastern Henan
• Han (漢), given to Liu Bang, occupying modern Sichuan and southern Shaanxi
• Yong (雍), given to Zhang Han, occupying modern central Shaanxi
• Sai (塞), given to Zhang Han's deputy Sima Xin (司馬欣), occupying modern northeastern Shaanxi
• Zhai (翟), given to Zhang Han's assistant Dong Yi (董翳), occupying modern northern Shaanxi
• Western Wei (西魏), given to Wei Bao (魏豹), the Prince of Wei and a descendant of the royalty of the Warring States state of Wei (whose territories he had incorporated into Western Chu), occupying modern southern Shanxi
• Henan (河南), given to Shen Yang (申陽), an assistant of Zhang Er, the former co-prime minister of Zhao, occupying modern northwestern Henan
• Han (韓) (note different character than above), retained by Han Cheng (韓成), the Prince of Han and a descendant of the royalty of the Warring States state of Han, occupying modern southwestern Henan
• Yin (殷), given to Sima Qiong (司馬邛), a Zhao general, occupying modern northern Henan and southern Hebei
• Dai (代), given to Zhao Xie, the Prince of Zhao, occupying modern northern Shanxi and northwestern Hebei
• Changshan (常山), given to Zhan Er, the co-prime minister of Zhao, occupying modern central Hebei
• Jiujiang (九江), given to Ying Bu (英布), a Chu general under Xiang's command, occupying modern central and southern Anhui
• Hengshan (衡山), given to Wu Rui (吳芮), a Qin official with support from Yue tribes, occupying modern eastern Hubei and Jiangxi
• Linjiang (臨江), given to Gong Ao (共敖), a Chu general under Prince Xin, occupying modern western Hubei and northern Hunan
• Liaodong (遼東), given to Han Guang (韓廣), the Prince of Yan, occupying modern southern Liaoning
• Yan (燕), given to Zang Tu (臧荼), a Yan general under Han Guang, occupying modern northern Hebei, Beijing, and Tianjin
• Jiaodong (膠東), given to Tian Fu (田巿), the Prince of Qi and a descendant of the royalty of the Warring States state of Qi, occupying modern eastern Shandong
• Qi (齊), given to Tian Du (田都), a Qi general under Tian Fu, occupying modern western and central Shandong
• Jibei (濟北), given to Tian An (田安), a Qi region rebel leader, occupying modern northern Shandong

Note: Yong, Sai, and Zhai were known as the three Qins, because they comprised of the former territories of Qin proper; similarly, Qi, Jiaodong, and Jibei were known as the three Qis.

Xiang's downfall

It should be noted from this list several phenomena. Xiang, based on the fact that several generals from the rebel coalition states supported him in the campaign against Qin, supplanted their princes and put those generals in the original seats of the princes that sent them. He also left several important figures who did not support him without principalities, despite their contributions to the effort against Qin. Soon after this division, further, he would have Emperor Yi murdered and Han Cheng executed (seizing Han territories and merging them into his own principality in the process). This greatly alienated a great deal of people and left his confederation of states without legitimacy. As a result, several months after his division of the empire, Xiang was facing enemies on several different fronts; Tian Rong (田榮), the prime minister of Qi, angry that not only was he left out of the division but that his former subordinate had been promoted over him, resisted the division and conquered the three Qis, initally putting Tian Fu back on the throne but eventually killing him and taking over after Tian Fu displayed fear of Xiang. Similarly, Chen Yu (陳餘), a former co-prime minister of Zhao, who was also left out of the division, led an uprising against his former colleague Zhang Er, taking back Zhang's territory and reinstalling Zhao Xie as the Prince of Zhao. However, the enemy that would prove to be the most formidable for him was Liu Bang, who resented not only the fact that he was robbed of what he viewed as his rightful division as the Prince of Qin, but that he was "exiled" to the then uncivilized region of Han.

Xiang and Liu would fight a five-year war known as the Chu Han Contention. Initially, Xiang had all the advantages -- he had the much larger territory, the larger army, and the greater number of allies. He was also a far superior general to Liu. However, his lack of political skills, the inability to accept criticism, and his inability to listen to wise advisors would eventually lead to his downfall. He also paid little attention to supplies for his army -- a fatal error, as Liu set up an efficient army supply system to keep his army well-fed and well-clothed with food and clothing shipped to the front from his heartland, while Xiang's army eventually fell into hunger and lack of weaponry. As he got bogged down to wars on different fronts, Liu, along with his very able general Han Xin, was able to gradually absorb many of the principalities into his territories or alliance. By 203 BC, Xiang was caught in an unwinnable war. He sued for peace, which Liu granted, but Liu quickly changed his mind and abandoned the treaty. In 202 BC, his forces, under Han Xin's command, had Xiang trapped at Gaixia (垓下, in modern Suzhou, Anhui, Anhui), where Xiang's beloved concubine Yuji (虞姬) committed suicide after presenting him with one final dance. (The title of the Chinese opera "Farewell My Concubine," as well as the 1993 film based on the opera, comes from the aria that Xiang Yu sings to Yuji before his last stand.)

Xiang still enjoyed support in his homeland in the Wu region, south of the Yangtze River. He broke out of the Gaixia pocket and headed for the river, intending to cross it at Wujiang (烏江/乌江, in modern Chaohu, Anhui). The fordsman at the river encouraged him to cross, telling him that the people of Wu were still intent on supporting him as their prince. Xiang felt ashamed, and instead committed suicide.

Impact on Chinese history

Xiang's heroism on the battlefield and his death at the hands of Liu Bang has been immortalized in the Shi Ji has made him a cultural hero in Chinese folk tales and poetry. However, he is also viewed as having bravery but no wisdom, as summarized in the Chinese idiom "youyong wumou" (有勇無謀). His military tactics were required learning for generals, while his political blunders were also required learnings for emperors as to what not to do as leaders.

Note: throughout this article the Chinese character 王 (wang) had been translated as "prince." It can also be translated as "king."

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