Yiyang Wang (義陽王)
Family name Chinese name Personal names in Chinese culture follow a number of conventions different from those of personal names in Western cultures. Most noticeably, a Chinese name is written with the family name first and the given name next, therefore "John-Paul Smith" as a Chinese name would be "Smith John-Paul"... :	Shi (石; shí)
Given name Chinese name Personal names in Chinese culture follow a number of conventions different from those of personal names in Western cultures. Most noticeably, a Chinese name is written with the family name first and the given name next, therefore "John-Paul Smith" as a Chinese name would be "Smith John-Paul"... :	Jian (鑒, jiàn)
Posthumous name Posthumous name A posthumous name is an honorary name given to royalty, nobles, and sometimes others, in East Asia after the person's death, and is used almost exclusively instead of one's personal name or other official titles during his life... :	None

Shi Jian (石鑒) (died 350) was briefly (for 103 days) an emperor of the Chinese

History of China

Chinese civilization originated in various regional centers along both the Yellow River and the Yangtze River valleys in the Neolithic era, but the Yellow River is said to be the Cradle of Chinese Civilization. With thousands of years of continuous history, China is one of the world's oldest...

/Jie

Jie (ethnic group)

The Jié were members of a small tribe in Northern China in the 4th century CE. They established the Later Zhao state.According to the Book of Wei, their name derives from the Jiéshì area where they reside....

 state Later Zhao

Later Zhao

The Later Zhao was a state of the Sixteen Kingdoms during the Jin Dynasty in China. It was founded by the Shi family of the Jie ethnicity...

. He was the third of four short-lived emperors after the death of his father Shi Hu

Shi Hu

Shi Hu , courtesy name Jilong , formally Emperor Wu of Zhao , was an emperor of the Chinese/Jie state Later Zhao...

 (Emperor Wu). He is sometimes referred to by his title prior to becoming emperor, Prince of Yiyang (義陽王). Arguably, it was his machinations with his powerful adoptive nephew Shi Min against his brother Shi Zun

Shi Zun

Shi Zun was briefly an emperor of the Chinese/Jie state Later Zhao. He was the second of four short-lived emperors after the death of his father Shi Hu...

 that finally led to Later Zhao's downfall.

Not much is known about Shi Jian prior to his father's death—including who his mother was. He was created the Prince of Dai in 333 after his father seized power from the founding emperor Shi Le

Shi Le

Shi Le , courtesy name Shilong , formally Emperor Ming of Zhao , was the founding emperor of the Chinese/Jie state Later Zhao...

's son Shi Hong

Shi Hong

Shi Hong , courtesy name Daya , was briefly an emperor of the Chinese/Jie state Later Zhao after the death of his father Shi Le, Later Zhao's founder. Because after his cousin Shi Hu deposed him, he was created the Prince of Haiyang , he is sometimes known by that title.- Background :Shi Hong was...

 in a coup, and after Shi Hu claimed the title "Heavenly Prince" (Tian Wang

Tian Wang

Tian Wang , translatable as either "heavenly prince" or "heavenly king," was a Chinese regal title that was most frequently used during the Sixteen Kingdoms era, among the kingdoms founded by members of the Wu Hu tribes, often used as an intermediate stage from claiming a prince/king title to an...

) in 337, he carried the title Duke of Yiyang. He was repromoted to prince after his father claimed imperial title in early 349. In 342, he was mentioned as one of the dukes whose guard corps was reduced by his brother Shi Xuan (石宣) the crown prince

Crown Prince

A crown prince or crown princess is the heir or heiress apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The wife of a crown prince is also titled crown princess....

, whose target was however actually Shi Tao (石韜) the Duke of Qin. In 345, he was mentioned as the commander of the Guanzhong

Guanzhong

Guanzhong , or Guanzhong Plain, is a historical region of China corresponding to the lower valley of the Wei River. It is called Guanzhong or 'within the passes' to distinguish it from 'Guandong' or 'east of the pass', that is, the North China Plain. The North China Plain is bordered on the west by...

 region, and he imposed heavy taxes and labor burdens; further, he forced officials with long hair to pull out their hair to be made into hat decorations. After his secretary submitted the hair to Shi Hu, Shi Hu recalled him and replaced him with his brother Shi Bao (石苞) the Duke of Leping.

In 349, after Shi Hu's death and succession by his youngest son, Shi Shi

Shi Shi

Shi Shi was briefly the emperor of the Jie/Chinese Hun state Later Zhao following his father Shi Hu's death in 349. In the Chinese annals he is sometimes referred to by his title after removal as an Emperor, Prince of Qiao .Shi Shi was Shi Hu's youngest son, by his third empress Empress Liu,...

, the regent

Regent

A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...

, Shi Shi's mother Empress Liu

Empress Liu (Wu)

Empress Liu was an empress of the Chinese/Jie state Later Zhao. She was Shi Hu 's third and final empress.The future Empress Liu was the youngest daughter of the final Han Zhao emperor Liu Yao...

, tried to appease both Shi Jian and Shi Zun the Prince of Pengcheng by naming them to high posts. However, Shi Zun was not placated, and he attacked the capital Yecheng

Ye, China

Ye or Yecheng was an ancient Chinese city located in what is now Linzhang County, Hebei and the neighbouring Anyang County, Henan....

 and seized the throne, killing Shi Shi and Empress Dowager Liu. During Shi Zun's brief administration, Shi Jian was an important member of the administration. He was one of the princes summoned to a meeting called by Shi Zun before his mother Empress Dowager Zheng

Empress Zheng Yingtao

Empress Zheng Yingtao was an empress of the Chinese/Jie state Later Zhao. She was Shi Hu 's first empress, but not his first wife....

 in which Shi Zun announced that he was going to execute their powerful adoptive nephew, Shi Min the Duke of Wuxing. Shi Jian, who had perhaps already been in conspiracy with Shi Min, quickly sent Shi Min the news, and Shi Min surrounded the palace with his troops, capturing and killing Shi Zun. He made Shi Jian the emperor. However, actual power were in Shi Min's and his ally Li Nong (李農)'s hands.

Shi Jian could not endure Shi Min's hold on power, and he sent his brother Shi Bao and the generals Li Song (李松) and Zhang Cai (張才) against Shi Min, but after they were defeated, Shi Jian pretended as if they acted independently and executed them all. Another brother of his, Shi Zhi

Shi Zhi

Shi Zhi was briefly, for about one year, an emperor of the Chinese/Jie state Later Zhao. He was the last of four short-lived emperors after the death of his father Shi Hu , and Later Zhao's final emperor...

 the Prince of Xinxing, then rose in the old capital Xiangguo (襄國, in modern Xintai

Xintai

Xintai is a county-level city administered under Tai'an prefecture-level city, in the Shandong province of eastern China. It is located about 50km to the southeast of the city of Tai'an.-Climate:...

, Hebei

Hebei

' is a province of the People's Republic of China in the North China region. Its one-character abbreviation is "" , named after Ji Province, a Han Dynasty province that included what is now southern Hebei...

), in alliance with the Qiang chieftain Yao Yizhong (姚弋仲) and the Di

Di (ethnic group)

The Di were an ethnic group in China from the 8th century BCE to approximately the middle of the 6th century CE. Note that the character Di is used to differentiate this group from the Beidi , a generic term for "northern barbarians". They lived in areas of the present-day provinces of Gansu,...

 chieftain Pu Hong

Fu Hong

Fu Hong originally named Pu Hong , courtesy name Guangshi, was the Di He was the father of first emperor of Former Qin, Fu Jiàn. In 350, Fu Hong self-proclaimed to be the Prince of Three Qins receiving a prophecy willed him to become King . On the same year, he was poisoned by his subordinate Ma...

 (蒲洪) against Shi Min and Li Nong. Shi Jian tried to then have the general Sun Fudu (孫伏都), a fellow Jie, attack Shi Min, but Shi Min quickly defeated him, and Shi Jian, trying to absolve himself, then ordered Shi Min to execute Sun. Shi Min, however, began to realize that Shi Jian was behind Sun's attack, and he decided that he needed to disarm the Jie, who knew that he was not Jie but ethnically Han

Han Chinese

Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and are the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98% of the population of the Republic of China , 78% of the population of Singapore, and about 20% of the...

. He ordered that all non-Han not be allowed to carry arms, and most fled Yecheng in light of the command. Shi Min put Shi Jian under house arrest with no communication with the outside. As the non-Han continued to flee Yecheng, Shi Min saw that, in particular, the Xiongnu

Xiongnu

The Xiongnu were ancient nomadic-based people that formed a state or confederation north of the agriculture-based empire of the Han Dynasty. Most of the information on the Xiongnu comes from Chinese sources...

 and the Jie would never support him, so he issued an order that if a Han killed a non-Han and presented the head, he would be rewarded. Some 200,000 died in the massacre—including some Han who had higher nose structure or thicker beard, both considered signs of non-Hanness.

In 350, under duress from Shi Min, Shi Jian changed the name of the state from Zhao to Wei (衛) and the family name of the imperial clan from Shi to Li (李). Many key officials fled to Shi Zhi. Local generals throughout the empire effectively became independent, waiting for the war to resolve itself. As Shi Min was engaging his troops against Shi Zhi's, Shi Jian made one final attempt against him—ordering the general Zhang Shen (張沈) to, after Shi Min left the capital, attack it. However, Shi Jian's eunuch

Eunuch

A eunuch is a person born male most commonly castrated, typically early enough in his life for this change to have major hormonal consequences...

s reported this to Shi Min and Li Nong, and they quickly returned to Yecheng and executed Shi Jian, along with 28 grandsons of Shi Hu and the rest of the Shi clan. Shi Min, restoring his father's original family name of Ran (冉), then took the throne as the emperor of a new state, Wei (魏, note different character than the state declared previously). Effectively, Later Zhao was over, although Shi Zhi would hold out at Xiangguo until 351, when he would be killed by his general Liu Xian (劉顯), finally ending Later Zhao's last hope.