Week 4_Reading 2

 


At the close of the Qing Bu chapter, Sima Qian states that the former’s misfortune was “born of the love for a concubine and bred in the fretfulness of a jealous mind” (162b). One example of Qing’s loves leading him astray is the unfolding of his eventual demise which occurs due to a trick played on him by King Chen of Changsha (the brother of his former wife, the daughter of Wu Rui) (162m). Perhaps it was his former marriage to Wu Rui’s daughter that made Qin believe he could trust King Chen’s invitation to flee to Yue, while the latter, instead, was executing his plan of murder. But when Sima Qian speaks of Qing Bu’s love and jealousy as bearing the brunt of his downfall, the episode which comes most vividly to mind is one where Qing Bu grows suspicious of Bi He’s relationship with his favorite concubine (who remains unnamed) (159m). When she falls ill, and begins spending more time with Bi He, Qing Bu, perhaps rightly so*, begins to suspect an affair. Qing’s anger and suspicions scare Bi He into reporting a disaffection with claims of Qing Bu’s plan of revolt (159mb). The emperor, per Xiao He’s advice, initially doesn’t believe Bi He, but sends someone to observe Qing. But as a response to Bi He’s fleeing, and the court envoy’s “thorough investigation”, Qing Bu files his own report of disaffection against Bi He and kills Bi’s family (159b-160t). All these acts work to confirm Bi He’s claims (as they are the desperate actions of a man trying to cover something up, not those of one who is assured in his innocence), and Qing’s final move of dispatching his troops in revolt proves Bi He unequivocally right, thus painting Qing as the traitor.

 

According to Sima’s closing lines, if Qing Bu wouldn’t have acted on his suspicions of Bi He and pursued him, then perhaps Bi He would have never made his report of disaffection thus never stirring the emperor’s suspicions and actually leading Qing Bu to revolt. This casts Qing Bu’s claim that he is revolting simply because he wants “to be emperor, that is all!” into question (162t). For according to Sima’s closing lines, it’s not so much that Qing wanted to be emperor, but more so that he yearned for loyalty in love, and eventually confused his politics with his romances.  


* Sima seems to suggest that it's not so much that Qing Bu was incorrect in his suspicions, but that he allowed his jealous mind to affect his political actions which catalyzed his downfall.


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