Jing Ke

Jing Ke (? - 227 BC) was a guest residing in the estates of Dan, crown prince of Yan and renowned for his failed assassination attempt of Ying Zheng, King of Qin state, who later became China's first emperor (reign from 221 BC to 210 BC). His story is told in the chapter entitled Biographies of the Assassins (刺客列傳) in Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian.

Background

In 230 BC, the Qin state began conquering other states as part of a unification plan. Qin's army successfully annihilated the weakest of the Seven Warring States, Han. Two years later Zhao was also conquered.

In exchange for peace, King Xi of Yan had earlier forced his son Crown Prince Dan of Yan to be held hostage by the Qin, but Prince Dan returned knowing that Qin was far stronger than Yan and would attack it later.

Jing Ke originally came from the State of Wey (衞). He was a scholar, proficient in the art of the sword. His homeland of Wei was absorbed by Qin, and Jing Ke fled to Yan. A Youxia named Tian Guang (田光) first introduced him to Prince Dan. There Jing Ke accepted the hospitality of Prince Dan, who as a last resort decided to send an assassin against the King of Qin. The plan involved either kidnapping the king and forcing him to release the territories from his control; or failing this, killing him. The expectation in either case was that Qin would be left disorganized, enabling the other six major states to unite against it.