Fusu
| Fusu | |||||||
| Traditional Chinese | |||||||
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| Simplified Chinese | |||||||
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| Transcriptions | |
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| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Fúsū |
Fusu (died 210 BC) was the eldest son and heir apparent of the First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty.
After being deceived by two alchemists while seeking prolonged life, the First Emperor ordered more than 460 scholars in the capital to be buried alive, though an account given by Wei Hong in the 2nd century added another 700 to the figure. Fusu counselled that, with the country newly unified, and enemies still not pacified, such a harsh measure imposed on those who respect Confucius would cause instability. However, he was unable to change his father's mind, and instead was sent to guard the frontier in a de facto exile.
Moreover, after the death of the First Emperor, Fusu's youngest brother, Huhai, together with two high officials Zhao Gao and Li Si, forged his father's decree to rename Huhai as the successor and order Fusu to commit suicide. Some aides of Fusu doubted the veracity of the decree, but Fusu either did not believe someone would dare to forge the decree or, with good reason, feared being killed anyway, and he committed suicide.
Fusu had a son, Ziying, who was enthroned after Zhao Gao forced Huhai to commit suicide in 207 BCE. By that time, Li Si had already been eliminated by Zhao Gao. Ziying soon killed Zhao Gao. There is a controversy that Ziying was not Fusu's son. Some scholars pointed out that Fusu's son might be too young to plot the demise of Zhao Gao, as two sons of Ziying, also involved in the plot, should have been old enough. Qin Shi Huang only lived to about 50. Fusu might have only lived into his 30s.
He sometimes appears as a door god in Chinese and Taoist temples, usually paired with Meng Tian.
Fusu appeared as the protagonist in the action role-playing game Prince of Qin. In the game, the plot has been altered such that Fusu did not commit suicide as he was supposed to in history. The game allows the player to explore what Fusu could have done if he did not die.
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Wikipedia