Lü Buwei was the first merchant in history to become a politician. He can even be said to have changed Chinese history. He served as chancellor to King Zhuanghiang and King Yingzheng of Qin for several decades. With his assistance, the state of Qin lasted for a long time and grew more powerful than the other 6 states. This laid the foundation for the unification of China.
Background
Lü Buwei was a native of Puyang of the State of Wei. His family name was Jiang and he belonged to the Lü clan. Lü Buwei was famous merchant during the Warring States period. He was also an outstanding politician and philosopher during the later Warring State period. He eventually became the chancellor of Qin.
In ancient times, merchants were regarded as being relatively low class. To change his own status, Lü Buwei decided to switch from commerce to politics, so that he could become a noble.
Career
Lü Buwei realized that success did not come from merely pulling strings and bribing officials. He decided to apply the economic concept of “hoarding a rare commodity” to politics. He targeted senior officials and finally decided to use Prince Yiren of Qin, who was being held as a hostage, as his stepping stone to success. He gave jewellery worth 500 pieces of gold to Lady Huayang as a gift. Lady Huayang then advised the Lord of Angio to make prince Yiren the crown prince, and changed the prince’s name to Zi Chu. Besides spending this large sum of money, Lü Buwei also presented his own bellowed woman, Zhao Ji, to the Prince as his wife, in order to win his favor.
In 251 BC, When King Zhaoxiang of Qin died, he made the Lord Anguo his successor, After a year of his mourning, the Lord of Anguo died of an acute illness three days after he ascended the throne. The Lord of Anguo was posthumously named King Xiaowen. Zi Chu then succeeded to the throne and became the King Zhuangxiang. In 249 BC, he appointed Lü Buwei his chancellor and granted him the title of Wenxin, with 10 000 households in Luoyang of Henan as hi territory.
Three years later, King Zhuangxiang died of illnesses. The 13-year-old Yingzheng, who later became emperor Qin Shi Huang, was then enthroned. Yingheng addressed Lü Buwei as “Uncle”. At that time, Lord Pingyuan in Zhao and Lord Mengchang in Qi were also competing to recruit wise men.
Lü Buwei believed that since the State of Qin was more powerful than the other states, it should be better than the other states in every other area as well. Therefore he recruited scholars, threating them generously so that he eventually had more than 3 000 retainers. Lü Buwei asked his retainers to record all that they had learnt and assembled their these into a work consisting of 8 Examinations, 6 Discourses, and 12 Almanacs, making a total of more than 200 000 words. These books were hung above the city gate if Xianyang. An announcement was also put up saying that anyone, who could add or delete a single character from the text would be awarded 1000 pieces of gold.
As Yingzheng grew older, Lü Buwei, fearing that disaster would default him if his secret affair with the Empress Dowager was discovered, presented one of his retainers, Lao Ai, to the Empress Dowager. When Yingzheng found out about the affair between his mother and, Lü Buwei and Lao Ai, as well as the rumor that he was actually Lü Buwei’s son, he ordered the execution of Lao Ai’s entire family and clan. He then killed the two of other sons of the empress Dowager and relocated her to Yong. Lü Buwei was later exiled to Shu, where he lived in constant fear and eventually committed suicide by drinking poison.