Tragicomedy Of Chu Huai Wang And Its Causes

This paper is an analysis of Chu Huai Wang's life, seeing it as a tragicomedy from a new perspective.Chu Huai Wang (楚怀王) who came into power young and died in the Qin State (秦 国) as a stranger, lived a life of tragicomedy. The first stage of his reign (BC328-BC313) was a comedy when the Chu State (楚国) was affluent and the young king ambitions. However, since BC312, the Chu State (楚国) had suffered serious defeats in two great battles in Danyang(丹阳) an Lantian(蓝田) , thus came the state's declining days and Chu Huai Wang's tragedy began which didn't end until he died in the strange land of the Qin State(秦国). Various factors contributed to his downfall, including his unclear judgment of the situation, incapability of choosing the right person for the task and his relatively low EQ. The malpractice in the power and talents systems of the Chu State(楚 国) and its corrupt officers also made things worse.After his death, evaluations about Chu Huai Wang (楚怀王) went from unfavorable ones to favorable ones, quite contrary to his life experience. Most people in the history circle and the literary circle held a negative opinion of him before the 1980s. Since the reform and opening-up, scholars reevaluated Chu Huai Wang (楚怀王) with the help of newly unearthed artifacts and approved his merits.The change of evaluations of Chu Huai Wang (楚怀王) mirrors the complexity ofhis character. This paper holds that his ambition at the initial stage of his reign wasworthy of approval; though he was partially responsible for the decline of the Chu State(楚国) , his devotion to his country and noble spirit shown in the evening of his lifeeventually won his the esteem of later generations.