Zhao Gao (; ?? – 207 BC) was the chief eunuch during the Qin Dynasty of China. He played an instrumental role in the downfall of the Qin Dynasty. His status of eunuch was due to a congenital defect; he was not castrated.

Early life

Zhao Gao was of noble background from the state of Zhao. Zhao Gao's mother was executed by Qin after state of Zhao's defeat. Both Zhao Gao and his brother were made eunuchs. However Qin Shi Huang valued Zhao Gao since he was an expert in law and punishment. This was very useful to Qin Shi Huang since he himself was always looking for ways to control the people by horrific punishments. Zhao Gao enjoyed a steady raise in position.

When Zhao was a minor official, he committed a crime punishable by death. Meng Yi was the official in charge of sentencing and he sentenced Zhao to death and removed him from the officials list as instructed by Qin Shi Huang. Zhao was later pardoned by Qin Shi Huang and returned to official status when the emperor recalled him to be a man good at his post.

Coup following Qin Shi Huang's death

At the end of the reign of the First Emperor, Qin Shi Huang, Zhao was involved in the death of Marshal Meng Tian and his younger brother Meng Yi. Meng Tian, a reputable general and a supporter of the Emperor's oldest son Fusu, was stationed at the northern border, commanding more than 100,000 troops for the inconclusive campaign against the Huns. Following the sudden death of Qin Shi Huang at the Shaqiu prefecture, Zhao and the Imperial Secretariat Li Si persuaded the emperor's second son Huhai to falsify the emperor's will. The fake decree forced Fusu to commit suicide and stripped Meng Tian of his command. Mindful of hatred for the previous sentencing by Meng Yi, Zhao destroyed the Meng brothers by issuing a false decree of Huhai, now the Second Emperor. He forced Meng Tian to commit suicide and also had Meng Yi killed.
Qin Er Shi, who viewed Zhao Gao as his teacher, became the next Qin emperor.

Zhao Gao also killed Li Si, ironically executing him via the "The Five Pains" method, Li's own invention. The method consisted of having the victim's nose cut up, cutting off a hand and a foot, then the victim was castrated and finally cut in half in line with the waist. He also executed Li Si's family down to the third generation.

In 207 BC, rebellions rose one after another across China. Zhao was afraid that the Second Emperor might make him responsible for the uprisings. To preempt this, Zhao forced the emperor to commit suicide and installed his nephew, Fusu's son Ziying as the new emperor. (Note: Some scholars pointed out that Fusu's son might be too young to plot the demise of Zhao Gao and Ziying might be a brother of the First Emperor instead.)

Ziying soon killed Zhao and surrendered to Liu Bang. The Qin Dynasty collapsed, three years after the death of Qin Shi Huang, and less than twenty years after it was founded.

One Chinese idiom that is derived from an incident involving Zhao is "calling a deer a horse" (). In that incident, Zhao, in order to completely control the government, devised a test of loyalty of the officials. Once, at a formal imperial gathering, he brought a deer in front of the officials and called it a horse. Naturally, Qin Er Shi disagreed, but thought Zhao was joking. Some officials followed the emperor's lead, while some followed Zhao's lead. Zhao then took steps to eliminate the officials who refused to call the deer a horse. In later idiomatic usage, the term refers to a deliberate untruth for ulterior motives.

There is a conspiracy theory that Zhao Gao was a descendant of the royal family of the Kingdom of Zhao, which was destroyed by Qin, and Zhao Gao was seeking revenge on Qin. With Zhao Gao in charge of the Qin government, it was natural that the Qin Empire collapsed in such a short time. In fact, Zhao Gao killed all the sons and daughters of Qin Shi Huang, including the Second Emperor, Huhai. In revenge, Ziying killed Zhao Gao and all of his family members. Thus Zhao Gao or his brothers have no known descendants.

Category:207 BC deathsCategory:Chinese eunuchsCategory:Qin Dynasty people
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