Xinxing Wang (新興王)
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"... :	Zhi (祇, zhǐ)
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 Zhi (石祇) (died 351) was briefly, for about one year, 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 last 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), and Later Zhao's final emperor. He is sometimes referred to by his title prior to becoming emperor, Prince of Xinxing (新興王).

Virtually nothing is known about Shi Zhi's career during his father Shi Hu's reign, including when he was created prince, who his mother was, or what role, if any, he had in his father's government. It is known that, by his father's death, he was the Prince of Xinxing. By 349, when his brother Shi Jian

Shi Jian

Shi Jian was briefly an emperor of the Chinese/Jie state Later Zhao. He was the third of four short-lived emperors after the death of his father Shi Hu . He is sometimes referred to by his title prior to becoming emperor, Prince of Yiyang...

 the emperor was effectively the puppet of their powerful, 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...

 adoptive nephew Shi Min in 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....

, Shi Zhi rose at his defense post at 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 chief 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,...

 chief 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). They had some initial success in getting the non-Han people of the empire to join them against Shi Min, but soon the Han coalesced around Shi Min, who changed his family name back to his father's original Ran (冉). In early 350, Ran Min killed Shi Jian and established his own state named Wei (魏). Shi Zhi then declared himself emperor, and he engaged in indecisive battles against Ran Min. Meanwhile, local generals throughout the empire were waiting to watch who would be the victor of the war, while neighboring states Jin

Jìn Dynasty (265-420)

The Jìn Dynasty , was a dynasty in Chinese history, lasting between the years 265 and 420 AD. There are two main divisions in the history of the Dynasty, the first being Western Jin and the second Eastern Jin...

 and Former Yan

Former Yan

The Former Yan was a state of Xianbei ethnicity during the era of Sixteen Kingdoms in China.Initially, Murong Huang and his son Murong Jun claimed the Jin Dynasty -created title "Prince of Yan," but subsequently, in 352, after seizing most of the former Later Zhao territory, Murong Juan would...

 began to encroach on Later Zhao territory. Former Yan, in particular, seized modern Beijing

Beijing

Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

, Tianjin

Tianjin

' is a metropolis in northern China and one of the five national central cities of the People's Republic of China. It is governed as a direct-controlled municipality, one of four such designations, and is, thus, under direct administration of the central government...

, and northern 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...

 and continued to march south.

In late 350 and early 351, Pu Hong's son Fu Jiàn

Fu Jiàn

Fú Jiàn , originally named Pú Jiàn , courtesy name Jianye , formally Emperor Jingming of Qin , was the founding emperor of the Chinese/Di state Former Qin....

 (Pu Hong having changed his family name from Pu (蒲) to Fu (苻) in 350) seized the western part of Later Zhao, declaring himself "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...

) and establishing Former Qin

Former Qin

The Former Qin was a state of the Sixteen Kingdoms in China. Founded by the Fu family of the Di ethnicity, it completed the unification of North China in 376. Its capital had been Xi'an up to the death of the ruler Fu Jiān. Despite its name, the Former Qin was much later and less powerful than...

. Shi Zhi, occupied with fighting Ran Min, could do nothing. Indeed, under siege in Xiangguo by Ran, he demoted his own title from emperor to Prince of Zhao and sought help from Former Yan's prince Murong Jun

Murong Jun

Murong Jun , courtesy name Xuanying , formally Emperor Jingzhao of Yan , was an emperor of the Chinese state Former Yan...

against Ran, who initially agreed and allied with him to defeat Ran temporarily. Shi Zhi then sent his general Liu Xian (劉顯) to attack Ran in Yecheng, but Liu not only was defeated by Ran but was so awed by and fearful of him that he agreed to kill Shi Zhi for him. Once Liu returned to Xiangguo, then, he arrested and killed Shi Zhi and his high level officials, presenting Shi Zhi's head to Ran. Ran burned the head publicly on a busy street in Yecheng. Later Zhao was at its end.