Qin Hui - Shinkai

A politician from the Song dynasty, China. His courtesy name was Huizhi. He was from Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. He passed the most difficult Song dynasty imperial examination, the poetry and arts and culture section. He married the granddaughter of the prime minister Wang Gui, and had a distinguished career as an official in terms of both his qualifications and his connections. He was exiled to the Jin dynasty in 1126, where he was detained, and was appointed prime minister two times after returning to Japan, from 1131 to 1132 and from 1138 to 1155. Following the wishes of Emperor Gaozong, the first emperor of the Southern Song dynasty, who abhorred war, he concluded a peace agreement with the Jin dynasty in 1142. This peace agreement, in which the territory north of the Huai River was ceded to the Jin dynasty, was appropriate given the strength of the Southern Song dynasty at the time. However, the restrictions on military force and suppression of freedom of speech that were put in place to achieve this, along with arbitrary personnel decisions, angered opponents, and in addition, the rise of nationalism led to a negative posthumous evaluation of him, and he was branded a traitor and a wicked minister.

[Masahiro Yamauchi]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、宋(そう)の政治家。字(あざな)は会之。江蘇(こうそ)省南京(ナンキン)の人。宋代の科挙の最難関であった詞学兼茂(しがくけんも)科に合格。宰相王珪(おうけい)の孫娘を妻とした彼は、資格、閨閥(けいばつ)ともに官僚の経歴として際だっていた。1126年に連行された金国での経験を買われ、帰国後31年から32年、38年から55年の両次に宰相に就任。戦いを嫌った南宋初代の高宗の意を受けて、42年に金国との和議を成立させた。淮河(わいが)以北を金国に割譲する形でのこの和議は、当時の南宋の実力からみて相応のものであったといえる。しかし、そのための武力の規制や言論の弾圧が人事の専断とともに反対派を刺激し、加えて民族意識の高揚が死後の評価を悪くさせ、姦臣(かんしん)、売国奴の烙印(らくいん)を押された。

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