Su Qin

Lobbied the six states to form a vertical alliance against Qin.

Life

Stabbing his thigh to study

Su Qin was a native of Luoyang in the Eastern Zhou and studied under Guiguzi. At first he lobbied King Hui of Qin without success. Back home he threw himself into study, and when he grew tired he would jab his thigh with an awl, giving rise to the story of "piercing the thigh."

Vertical alliance of six states

According to the Records of the Grand Historian, he persuaded the six states of Yan, Zhao, Han, Wei, Qi and Chu to ally against Qin and wore the chancellor's seals of all six states, so that for fifteen years Qin troops dared not come out of the Hangu Pass.

Disputed sources

Later he went to the State of Qi, where a grandee competing for royal favor had him assassinated. It should be noted that the silk manuscript Warring States Diplomatists' Writings, unearthed in 1973, shows that Su Qin was active later than the Records of the Grand Historian states; he and Zhang Yi were not contemporary rivals, and historians have much debated his career.

Legacy

Su Qin was a leading figure of the School of Diplomacy, and his "vertical alliance" and Zhang Yi's "horizontal alliance" were the two great strategies of Warring States diplomacy.

Major works & achievements

• United six states against Qin

Did you know? His "jabbing an awl into the thigh" combined with Sun Jing's "tying the hair to a beam" to form the idiom "Hair tied to beam, awl to thigh."

Key dates

• 334 BCELobbied the State of Yan (per the Records of the Grand Historian)
• 333 BCEVertical alliance of six states; wears the seals of six chancellorships (per the Records of the Grand Historian)
• 284 BCEAssassinated in the State of Qi (inferred from silk manuscripts)