Historical Coincidences

1. The mastermind behind the burning of the Old Summer Palace, Erlin, was struck by lightning at his residence 3 years later and was burned to death alive.
2. Emperor Yang of Sui killed his own brother, Yang Yong, to rise to power. A thousand years later, a construction crew unearthed Emperor Yang of Sui’s tomb; the foreman of the construction crew was named Yang Yong.
3. Liu Bang launched a rebellion at Mangdang Mountain, but a giant python blocked his way. Liu Bang cut the giant python in half at the waist. After that, the 400-year rule of the Han dynasty was divided into the Western Han for 200 years and the Eastern Han for 200 years; the one who cut the Han in half was called Wang Mang.
4. In 206 BC, Liu Bang took the realm from Qin’s third-generation heir, Ying, and established the Western Han( Liu Ying was also called Ruzi Ying); 200 years later, Wang Mang also seized the realm from Liu Ying of the Western Han.
5. Shu Han established by Liu Bei was destroyed by Jin’s King Sima Zhao. This applies to all states that used “Jin” as their national name— they were all destroyed by people of the Liu surname. Liu Cong destroyed Western Jin, Liu Yu destroyed Eastern Jin, and Liu Zhiyun destroyed Later Jin.
6. The Yuan dynasty had a palace called “Daming Hall,” but the Yuan dynasty was ultimately destroyed by the Ming dynasty. The Ming dynasty had a palace called “Qianqing Palace,” but the Ming dynasty was ultimately destroyed by the Qing dynasty. The Qing dynasty had a palace called “Huan Zhang Hall,” but then Puyi was driven out of Beijing by Feng Yuxiang; Feng Yuxiang’s courtesy name was Zhang.
7. The division of Jin into three parts and the return of the Three Kingdoms to Jin. In the late Spring and Autumn period, Han, Zhao, and Wei split up the Jin state. In the later period of the Three Kingdoms, Wei, Shu, and Wu all returned to the Jin dynasty.
8. The Yuan family produced two emperors: one was Yuan Shu in the late Eastern Han, and the other was Yuan Shikai in the late Qing dynasty. Both were from Henan. The power of both came from the Sun surname—Sun Ce and Sun Yat-sen. Under both of them there was a general named Zhang Xun.
9. When Zhu Yuanzhang was a child, he was called Zhu Chongba, which is 16. And the Ming dynasty just happened to have 16 emperors.
10. Will this dynasty be brought to an end by people surnamed Jiang, people surnamed Wang, and those born in the Year of the Tiger?