Ying Bu
| Ying Bu | |
|---|---|
| General of the Western Han dynasty | |
| Born | (unknown) |
| Died | 195 BC |
| Names | |
| Traditional Chinese | |
| Simplified Chinese | |
| Pinyin | Yīng Bù |
| Wade–Giles | Ying Pu |
| Other names | Qing Bu (Chinese: 黥布; pinyin: Qíng Bù; Wade–Giles: Ch'ing Pu) |
Ying Bu (died 195 BC), also known as Qing Bu, was a military general and vassal king who lived in the early Western Han dynasty. He was a native of Lu County (六縣; present-day Lu'an, Anhui). In his early life under the Qin dynasty, Ying Bu was convicted and sentenced to qing (黥; a form of punishment which involved branding a criminal by tattooing his face), so he was also called "Qing Bu". He was then sent to Mount Li to perform hard labour by constructing Qin Shi Huang's mausoleum. He later escaped with some men and became the leader of a bandit gang. Ying Bu participated in the insurrection against the Qin dynasty after the Dazexiang Uprising broke out in 209 BC. After the uprising failed, he became part of a rebel force led by Xiang Liang. He assisted Xiang Liang's nephew and successor Xiang Yu in overthrowing the Qin dynasty. After the fall of Qin, he initially fought on Xiang Yu's side in the Chu–Han Contention (206–202 BC), a power struggle for supremacy over China between Xiang Yu and Liu Bang (Emperor Gao). However, later, he defected to Liu Bang's side and helped Liu defeat Xiang Yu and become the emperor. During this period of time, Ying Bu held the title of "King of Jiujiang". After Liu Bang established the Han dynasty in 202 BC, he appointed Ying Bu as a vassal king and granted him the title of "King of Huainan". In 195 BC, Ying Bu rebelled against the Han dynasty but was defeated and killed.
Ying Bu was born in a family of commoners. In his childhood, a fortune teller once told him that he would become a convict first before becoming a king later. When he became older, Ying Bu committed a crime and under the laws of the Qin dynasty, he was sentenced to qing (黥; a form of punishment which involved branding a criminal by tattooing his face), but he laughed and said, "A fortune teller once told me that I would be convicted before becoming a king. Isn't it so?" He was scorned at by others when they heard him. Ying Bu was later sent to Mount Li to do hard labour by constructing Qin Shi Huang's mausoleum. He befriended many fellow convicts and later escaped with them, and became the leader of a bandit gang.
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