According to the sources of
the Grand Historian, Sima Qian (c. 145-90 BCE), a certain dwarf named Actor
Zhan served in the courts of the First (r. 221-210 BCE) and Second (r. 210-207
BCE) Qin Emperors of China. Zhan’s job description was something akin to the
Western idea of a court jester—he navigated a fine line with his humor, joking
about the emperor’s poor ideas, while staying respectful enough to keep his
head intact. His goal was not only to make the emperors laugh, but to also
inform them of their mistakes so that these could be corrected.
Sima Qian recorded a few
tales in which Actor Zhan played a prominent role. One of the stories was set
on a cold, rainy day when the First Emperor was holding a banquet in his
palace. While the emperor was hearing toasts and receiving cheers to his health
from the important guests, all of the guardsmen were shivering in their soaked
uniforms out on the palace steps. Taking pity on the guards, Actor Zhan made a
quip about how blessed a dwarf he was to be able to lounge in the comfort of
the palace while brave and valiant soldiers were left to freeze in the cold
downpour. Enlightened to the situation, the First Emperor directed the guards
to split into shifts, so that they were not all in the rain at the same time.
In another story, the First
Emperor supposedly had the bizarre idea of converting most of the land around
the capital city of Xianyang into one huge royal hunting park, even to the
extent of displacing military garrisons and defenses. Actor Zhan was said to
have gleefully agreed with the idea, but also suggested that animal trainers would
need to be brought in to teach the wildlife how to fight rebel armies. Warned
that turning the whole capital region into a hunting reserve could leave
Xianyang open to attack, the First Emperor decided to no longer pursue the
idea.
Actor Zhan still had
influence in the imperial court even after the Second Emperor seized the throne
in the aftermath of the First Emperor’s death. Sometime in 210 BCE, the first year
of the Second Emperor’s reign, the new emperor allegedly decided that the
capital city needed some renovations. He proclaimed that he wanted all of the
capital’s walls to be lacquered. Actor Zhan apparently proclaimed that it was a
splendid idea. He energetically envisioned rebels slipping and sliding down the
slick, shiny lacquered walls of the city. Surely the enormous manpower and
expenses required to apply lacquer to the whole city would be worth such a
sight. He ended his witty outburst with a joke about the gargantuan drying shed
that would be needed to finish the project. After listening to Actor Zhan’s
veiled criticisms, the Second Emperor decided to spruce up the city by
different means.
According to Sima Qian, Actor
Zhan eventually became disillusioned with the Qin emperors. Following the
suicide or execution of the Second Emperor of Qin in 207 BCE, Zhan defected to
the growing rebel movements. By the end of the same year, rebels executed the
Third Emperor and the Qin Dynasty collapsed. Not long after the downfall of the
Qin Dynasty, Actor Zhan died, presumably from natural causes.
Written by C. Keith Hansley.
Picture Attribution: (Chinese
dwarf, Chung Mow. Wood engraving, via Welcome Images, on top of A mural
painting from Cave 61 at the Mogao Caves, Dunhuang, Gansu province, China, Public
Domain via Creative Commons).
Sources:
- Records of the Grand Historian (Shi ji) by Sima Qian, translated by Burton Watson. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993.
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