The Qin Dynasty has fallen. The rebel armies have defeated China’s first imperial dynasty, and now the victors must decide what comes next.
But instead of creating a stable new order, Xiang Yu begins to divide the former Qin empire among rival kings and military commanders. This creates a political landscape which is filled with competing ambitions, grudges and potential rebellions.
At the center of the emerging struggle is Xiang Yu, the brilliant and immensely powerful military commander, and Liu Bang, the seemingly unremarkable rebel leader who entered the Qin heartland first.
When Liu Bang arrives in the Qin capital, he unexpectedly follows a remarkably restrained policy: he seals the imperial palace, protects the population and waits for Xiang Yu.
But Xiang Yu sees Liu Bang as a potential rival.
What follows is one of the most famous episodes in Chinese history: the dangerous banquet in which Xiang Yu's advisor Fan Zeng wants Liu Bang killed. Xiang Yu hesitates. A staged sword dance becomes an attempted assassination, and Liu Bang ultimately escapes through a combination of political maneuvering, loyalty and sheer nerve.
The episode would become legendary — to include the Chinese idiom “Xiang Zhuang performs the sword dance while aiming at Liu Bang.”
The larger story is even more consequential.
Why did Xiang Yu divide China into competing kingdoms rather than simply replace the Qin imperial system?
Why did he isolate Liu Bang in the Sichuan Basin?
Why did Xiang Yu eliminate or weaken so many former rulers while he rewarded his own generals with kingdoms?
And how did the collapse of the Qin transform the very meaning of political legitimacy in China?
The episode explores one of the most striking ideas to emerge from this revolutionary period: kings and ministers are not necessarily born to rule — political power can make them.
From the rebellion of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang to Xiang Yu's new political order, the old aristocratic hierarchy begins to break down.
While Xiang Yu believes he has successfully contained Liu Bang, he has unknowingly created the conditions for his greatest rival to return.
Next episode: Liu Bang escapes his “natural prison” in the Sichuan Basin and begins a campaign that will challenge Xiang Yu's hegemony over China.