Battles & Wars › Greece, Rome & Han › Warring States and the Qin unification of China
Battle of Changping
260 BC· Battle· Asia & Pacific
Well documentedSolid records, physical evidence or scientific consensus.
Qin's general Bai Qi encircled and destroyed the main army of Zhao, traditionally counted the bloodiest battle of China's Warring States era.
See it on the Battles & Wars map →What happened
Qin and Zhao faced off for months near Changping, in today's Shanxi province. Zhao's veteran general Lian Po dug in and waited. Impatient, and fed rumors by Qin agents, Zhao replaced him with Zhao Kuo, a young man famous for reciting military texts. Qin secretly sent its best general, Bai Qi, who feigned retreat, cut the Zhao army off from supplies and starved it for 46 days. Zhao Kuo died trying to break out, and the surrendered army was then massacred.
Why it matters
It broke Qin's strongest rival. No state could again field an army to match Qin, which unified China 39 years later, in 221 BC.
Think of it like
Like replacing a veteran property manager with a brilliant graduate who has only read about buildings, right before a crisis.
How we know
Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian (about 90 BC) gives the main account. Mass graves found near Gaoping, Shanxi, since 1995 support a large-scale slaughter.
Still debated
Sima Qian's figure of 400,000 executed prisoners is widely thought exaggerated; the real death toll is unknown.
Connections (2)
▸Battle of Changping was a decisive Qin victory in Warring States and the Qin unification of ChinaWell documented
The connection
Changping wiped out the field army of Zhao, the last state strong enough to stop Qin on its own. Zhao never recovered the lost manpower, and the balance among the Warring States tipped for good. Over the next four decades Qin absorbed its rivals one by one, taking Zhao's capital in 228 BC and finishing in 221 BC.
When and how
Changping, near today's Gaoping in Shanxi province, 260 BC; Qin general Bai Qi against Zhao's Zhao Kuo.
How we know
Sima Qian's history traces Zhao's decline from this defeat; Qin's later conquests are well recorded, and mass graves from the battle have been excavated.
Debates and open questions
How large Zhao's losses really were, and whether Qin's earlier legal and military reforms made its victory inevitable anyway, are debated.
▸Battle of Changping exposed a general versed only in texts like Sun Tzu's The Art of WarMostly agreed
The connection
At Changping, Zhao replaced its cautious veteran general Lian Po with Zhao Kuo, a young man famous for his book-learning in military texts. He left the defensive line and attacked. Qin's general Bai Qi feigned retreat, encircled him and starved his army. It became China's proverbial lesson that reading strategy is not practicing it.
When and how
Changping, in today's Gaoping, Shanxi Province, 260 BC; Zhao Kuo of Zhao against Bai Qi of Qin.
How sure are we?
Sima Qian's biographies of Bai Qi and of Zhao Kuo's father, Zhao She; the Chinese idiom 'discussing war on paper' comes from this story.
Debates and open questions
Sima Qian does not say which texts Zhao Kuo studied, and whether he was truly incompetent or trapped in an impossible position is debated.