How Duke Xian of Jin Sent a Beautiful Youth to Another Ruler to Weaken His Court and Conquer

In the ancient Chinese text Zhanguo ce, there is a story about Duke Xian of Jin, to whom especially subtle diplomatic moves are attributed. Among them is a method of political pressure on a rival by inserting an attractive young man into his inner circle.

Zhanguo ce (战国策) is translated as Intrigues of the Warring States. It is a historical work about Ancient China in the 5th–3rd centuries BCE — an age of fragmentation, interstate conflict, and complex diplomacy that preceded the unification of the country. The text is structured as a collection of speeches, anecdotes, dialogues, and letters attributed to real historical figures — rulers, advisers, and diplomats.

Who Duke Xian of Jin Was and How the State of Jin Grew Stronger Under Him

The state of Jin existed during the Spring and Autumn period — a time when China was divided into many states. Formally, they recognized the supremacy of the ruler of the Zhou dynasty, but in practice they acted independently.

The lands of Jin lay north of the Yellow River (Huang He), mainly in what is now Shanxi Province. In conditions of constant interstate struggle, Jin became one of the most powerful states of its time and gained considerable military and political weight.

Duke Xian of Jin (晋献公) ruled for 26 years — from 676 to 651 BCE — and played a key role in strengthening Jin. At the beginning of his reign, he reformed the army, and by the fifth year he had already crushed the nomadic Li Rong tribe on the state’s borders. New campaigns followed: Duke Xian subdued Geng, Huo, and the ancient state of Wei, and also brought the Rong Di tribes under submission. According to tradition, 17 states were annexed to his domain, while another 38 became dependent on him.

To grasp how ancient this was, it is enough to compare dates. Duke Xian ruled roughly a century before the Athenian laws of Draco and about half a century after the traditional date of Rome’s foundation. In the same century, Assyria was strengthening in the Near East, and in Egypt the Saite dynasty would begin a little later.

By 652 BCE, Jin had become one of the largest states in Ancient China. In 651 BCE, Duke Xian died after a serious illness, and a struggle for the throne broke out at court among his sons by different mothers. It was accompanied by the killing of claimants and complicated political intrigues.

Yet Duke Xian paved the way to this power through a variety of tactics.

A Beautiful Youth as an Instrument of Political Pressure

One of the best-known episodes connected with Duke Xian’s foreign policy was the operation against the states of Guo and Yu. Guo threatened Jin’s borders, but the route to it passed through the lands of Yu, Guo’s ally.

On the advice of the official Xun Xi, Duke Xian of Jin decided to act by cunning. Beautiful women were sent to the ruler of Guo, and an attractive young man was sent to the ruler of Yu, whose task was to win his trust and distract his attention: it was known that the ruler preferred men rather than women.

In Zhanguo ce, the episode is presented as follows:

Duke Xian wished to attack Yu but feared the presence of Gong Zhiqi. Xun Xi said, “The Book of Zhou [Jizhong Zhou shu] says, ‘A beautiful lad can ruin an older head.’ Send the king a comely boy whom you have instructed to ruin Gong Zhiqi. The latter’s admonitions will go unheeded and he will flee.” Having done this, Duke Xian attacked Yu and took it.

At the same time, provocations were organized on Guo’s border. After that, Duke Xian, citing the insult that had been inflicted, appealed to the ruler of Yu with a request to let his troops pass through Yu territory in order to punish Guo.

Bringing with him gifts of jade and horses, the official Xun Xi arrived in the state of Yu and requested passage. All the officials of Yu tried to dissuade their ruler, but apparently — because of the young man’s influence — they failed to change his mind. Having received permission, Jin’s army invaded Guo in 658 BCE, and in the winter of 655 BCE that state was finally conquered.

Gong Zhiqi, mentioned in the excerpt, was a wise official of the state of Yu. He told the duke of Yu that if Guo were conquered, Yu would be next. The duke of Yu ignored his warning, and Gong Zhiqi secretly left the state of Yu, foreseeing its destruction. Before long, Jin did indeed conquer Yu as well.

But before that, Xian-gong made use of the state of Yu several more times. As the conquest of the state of Guo increasingly and visibly began to tilt in Jin’s favor, the ruler of Yu not only failed to obstruct it, but even helped the invasion. He sent his own troops to seize the Xiayan Pass for Jin, disguising it as a mission to pacify a rebellious tribe. After Guo fell, the ruler of Yu received a share of the treasures looted from that state.

Then the Jin commander obtained permission to station troops near Yu’s capital — “for rest.” A few days later, the ruler of Yu was suddenly informed that Prince Xian-gong was standing by the city wall. He hurried out to meet him, and Xian-gong invited him on a hunt in the mountains. In a demonstrative gesture — perhaps still under the influence of the lover planted at court — the ruler of Yu took the entire military force stationed in the capital out on the hunt.

During the hunt, one of the officials reported unrest in the city. But by the time the ruler of Yu reached the outskirts, the capital had already been seized by Jin troops. He was taken prisoner and carried off to the state of Jin — and the state of Yu ceased to exist.

From this passage, one may conclude that same-sex preferences in the courtly and official environment of Ancient China were apparently a sufficiently visible phenomenon to be mentioned in a text such as Zhanguo ce. And the success of the plan points to the real political role of male favorites in the life of that time.

Xun Xi, moreover, refers to a common saying: “a beautiful youth can ruin a gray head.” However, this is not a condemnation of homosexuality. In the original formula it is said: “A beautiful youth can ruin a gray head; a beautiful woman can entangle the tongue.” Here, two objects of desire — a woman and a man — are placed side by side, and the point is that both can blind a person with passion and drive him to actions he would not have dared in an ordinary state of mind.

Later, this story entered the collection Thirty-Six Stratagems as an example of a method in which one state is used to destroy another. This clearly shows how diplomatic cunning and techniques of influence were understood in the Chinese political tradition.

References and Sources

• Hinsch, Bret. Passions of the Cut Sleeve, 1990.