A Chinese Biographical Dictionary/Fu Chien (苻堅)
579 Fu Chien 苻堅 (T. 永固). A.D. 337-384. Son of Fu Hsiung (see Fu Chien), and cousin to the tyrant Fu Shêng whom he assassinated in 357, placing himself upon the throne in his stead. A wise and earnest man, he set himself to purify the administration and consolidate his power, paying special honour to Confucianism and prohibiting Taoism and divination. The death of 慕容恪 Mu-jung K'o enabled his general Wang Mêng to annex Yen in 370 (see Mu-jung Wei). He transferred 40,000 Turkic families to the neighbourhood of his capital, subdued several tribes, and conquered parts of Kansuh, Shensi, Ssŭch'uan and Yünnan. In 377 he received tribute from northern Korea and from the tribes in the south-west of China. In 378 he attacked the Imperial House and overran southern Honan; but on advancing close to Nanking, he was driven back to the north of the Huai river in 379. In 381 he was converted to Buddhism, and in 382 dispatched Lü Kuang on an expedition into what is now Chinese Turkestan, no less than sixty-two tribes having acknowledged his rule. In 384, contrary to the advice of his general 苻融 Fu Jung, but at the instance of Yao Ch'ang and others, he again led a vast army into the Imperial territory. Fu Jung had pointed out that the Yang-tsze with its swift current would be a serious obstacle, but to this he scornfully replied that his troops would dam it up by merely throwing their whips into the stream. He was however disastrously routed at the 肥 Fei river by the Imperial forces under 謝石 Hsieh Shih and 謝玄 Hsieh Hsüan, and Fu Jung was slain. In the retreat which followed, his beaten soldiery were harassed by perpetual alarms, fancying the whistling of the wind and the screaming of cranes overhead to be the shouts of their victorious pursuers. The State which had been so energetically built up, at once fell to pieces. Yao Ch'ang and other leaders threw off their allegiance, and soon only southern Shansi remained. Besieged in Ch'ang-an by the forces of Western Yen, Fu Chien forced his way out to a stronghold in Fêng-hsiang Fu; and there, after a desperate assault, he was taken prisoner by Yao Ch'ang and strangled. Received the unauthorised canonisation of 世祖宣昭皇帝.