Su Qin facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Su Qin |
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| Traditional Chinese | 蘇秦 | ||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 苏秦 | ||||||
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Su Qin (born around 380 BCE, died around 284 BCE) was a very smart political thinker and planner in ancient China. He lived during a time called the Warring States period, when different states were often fighting each other. Su Qin was born in a village called Chengxuan, which is now part of Henan Province.
He is known for being a student of Guiguzi, who started a group called the School of Diplomacy. This school taught people how to negotiate and deal with other states. Su Qin became famous for pushing an idea called the "Vertical Alliance." This plan was about getting several states to team up against the powerful state of Qin. There was also an opposite idea, the "Horizontal Alliance," which suggested making friends with the Qin state instead.
Su Qin's Early Life and Studies
After finishing his lessons with Guiguzi, Su Qin traveled for several years. When he came home, he was sad because his own family didn't seem to respect him. He felt like his wife, sister-in-law, and even his parents didn't see him as important.
Su Qin blamed himself for this and decided to study even harder. He locked himself in his room to focus. To make sure he didn't fall asleep during his long study hours, he would sometimes poke his thigh with a sharp object. This extreme way of studying led to a famous Chinese saying, or "chengyu", which means "to study very hard and never give up."
Years later, after Su Qin became very successful with his Vertical Alliance plan, he returned home with great honors. This time, his family treated him with huge respect. Su Qin noticed how much their attitude had changed. This also led to another Chinese saying, meaning "a change from being rude to being very respectful."
The Vertical Alliance Strategy
Su Qin was incredibly good at talking and convincing people. At the peak of his career, he managed to persuade the leaders of six different kingdoms: Qi, Chu, Yan, Han, Zhao, and Wei. He convinced them to work together and form an alliance against the strong Qin state.
Because of his success, Su Qin even wore special robes that had the symbols of all six states on them. The states in the Vertical Alliance then moved their armies towards the Qin state. However, even though they were allied, the states had disagreements among themselves. Because of these internal problems, the alliance was easily defeated by Qin.
Su Qin's Influence
Some historians believe that Su Qin and another famous strategist named Zhang Yi actually helped each other. They might have used their different ideas to push their own goals forward, even though their strategies seemed to be opposites. Su Qin's story shows how important clever thinking and strong speaking skills were in ancient Chinese politics.
