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Sun En Sun En (Simplified Chinese: 孙恩; Traditional Chinese: 孫恩; pinyin: sūn ēn; ?-402 C.E.), courtesy name Lingxiu, was a native of Langya, Shandong. He was a Daoist rebellion leader practicing the Way of the Five Pecks of Rice in Eastern Jin Dynasty.

A descendent of Sun Xiu, Sun En comes from a noble family who fled south during Yongjia Period in Western Jin Dynasty. In 399 CE, he joined his uncle Sun Tai in planning revolutionary measures against Eastern Jin. In 402 CE, he attacked Linhai County and failed. He then committed suicide by drowning himself in the sea. After his death, his followers, led by his brother-in-law Lu Xun, continued to rebel against Eastern Jin. The rebellion is called “the Riot of Sun En and Lu Xun” in history.

Sun En rebelled against authorities from the sea, becoming the first person to do so in Chinese history. He provided experience for future pirate activities. He wrote the Collection of Sun En, consisting of five chapters, which is lost nowadays.

Contents Life Revenge for his uncle Attacking San Wu area Threatening the Capital Death and impacts Works and publications See also Critiques of Sun En

Life Revenge for his uncle: Sun En comes from the noble Sun family of Langya, who practiced the Way of the Five Pecks of Rice for generations. His ancestor was Strategist Sun Xiu of Prince Sima Lun from Western Jin Dynasty. After generations, the once-noble Sun family had become commoners in the south. Sun En’s uncle, Sun Tai, who served under Prince Sima Daozi, was once the leader of the Way of the Five Pecks of Rice, whose followers were spread out in the South. In 398 CE, influenced by the rebellion of Wang Gong and his army, Sun Tai decided to rebel as well, fearing that Jin Dynasty would soon be over. However, his conspiracy was exposed by neishi Xie You, and he was therefore executed by Sima Daozi. By then, Sun En had fled to an offshore island, gathered hundreds of supporters, planning for revenge.

Attacking San Wu area: In 399 CE, ruler of Eastern Jin Dynasty, Sima Yuanxian (son of Sima Daozi), ordered peasants who previously had been slaves of the State to join the army, which triggered discontent and anger among the local bureaucrats. Sun En so then led his followers to attack Shangyu and killed the county magistrate of the region. He then attacked Kuaiji and killed the neishi Wang Ningzhi. Sun En’s followers had then reached dozens of thousands of people, being supported by people from all the nearby counties. County officials were either killed or they had abandoned their county and fled. Sun En based himself in Kauiji, calling himself General of the East (dongfangjingju 东方将军), and gave his followers the title of “Immortals” (changshengren 长生人). He ordered his followers to kill all of their opposers, even children, causing so many deaths in the counties. The State was extremely threatened by Sun En’s opposition and ordered the cishi 刺史 of Xuzhou, Xie Yan, and General of the North (zhenbeijiangjun 镇北将军), Liu Laozhi, to suppress them. Sun En initially intended to capture Jiangkang (capital of Eastern Jin) and overthrow the State, but had decided to stay in Kuaiji and keep it as his base after finding out the army of Liu Laozhi had arrived at Qiantang River. Soon, Liu Laozhi crossed the river and forced Sun and his more than two million followers and capturers to retreat to their island. Sun deliberately left numerous treasures and women along the way during his retreat to slow down Liu’s army as they scrambled for the treasure and women.

In May, 400 CE, Sun En led his army and attacked Jiakou (now Zhenhaikou). He entered Yuyao, breached Shangyu, and reached Xingpu, north of Shanyin. He was defeated by Xie Yan’s (a general of Eastern Jin) canjun (参军) Liu Xuanzhi, but soon resumed attacking. Xie Yan, who was guarding the city, came out to battle but was killed. Sun En then began to attack Linhai. The State was shocked by Xie Yan’s death and commanded Huan Bucai, Sun Wuzhong, Gao Yazhi to lead troops and suppress Sun. In November, 400 CE, Sun defeated Gao by large in Yuyao, however, shortly after his victory, Sun lost to Liu Laozhi and had to flee to his island again.

Threatening the Capital In February, 401C.E., Sun En led his followers and landed his third attack in Jiakou, and then Juzhang. However, he was not able to seize the county or withstand Liu’s assault. Therefore, he retreated to his island once again. In March, for the fourth time, Sun came ashore and attacked Haiyan, but he was defeated by Liu Yu during both daytime and nighttime. So he then turned to attack Hudu, which was guarded by Wu’s neishi Yuan Shansong. In May, Sun conquered Hudu and killed Yuan. He then advanced to Jingkou (now Zhenjiang) by sea, attempting to take hold of Eastern Jin’s capital Jiankang. Liu Yu pursued and attacked Sun to Dantu, and managed to defeat him even though Sun had more troops. Many of Sun’s followers fell down the cliffs or dropped to the sea, and Sun escaped by boat, humiliated. However, Sun believed that he had the advantage for his greater size of army, so he regathered his troops and attacked Jiankang again. Prince Sima Yuanxian who was guarding the capital at the time refused to counter Sun’s attack for his disadvantage of being confined to the city. Sun was soon closing in on Jiankang, but the State had already gathered enough military power at that point for Sun’s attack. Cishi of Yuzhou, Sima Shangzhi, had come to assist Jiankang as well. Sun’s plan for sneak attack had thus failed. He then retreated after reaching Xinzhou, having gone north to Yuzhou. He defeated and captured Gao Yazhi there who came after him. However, Liu Yu pursued them and after several battles, Sun lost by large and was therefore defeated. He fled south along the coast and was once again defeated by pursuing Liu Yu and fled offshore again.

Death and Impacts In March, 402 CE, Huan Xuan eliminated Sima Daozi and his son and took over the ruling. Sun En then came back to attack. But he was defeated by taishou Xin Bing, and his followers, plundered from past assaults, were all killed in the battles. Only several thousands remained. Sun En feared to by captured by the State, so he committed suicide by drowning himself in the sea. Several hundreds of his concubines and followers also followed his death. Sun En was even worshiped as “the Water God” (shuixian 水仙) by his followers. After his death, his brother-in-law, Lu Xun, led the rest of the followers to keep pursuing in combats with the State. Not until 411 CE were they eliminated by Eastern Jin.

Works and publications Sun En wrote the Collection of Sun En (sun en ji 孙恩集), of five chapters in total. It existed until Sui-Tang period, now lost.

See also Jinshu jiuyibai lizhuandiqishi 《晋书·卷一百·列传第七十》

Critiques of Sun En Haiyangwenhua 《海洋文化》by Ding Yuzhu says: “Even though Sun En had a far-reaching influence in San Wu area, he did not have much talent or foresight. His army were like bandits who only knew to kill bureaucrats, confiscate properties, burn houses, cut down trees, and fill up the wells, like absolute maddening destroyers. He came from a low-ranking noble family, despising the higher-up state officials in the first place, whose existence made him and his family unable to move up the ranks. Therefore, the slaughtering of these officials was even more severe. The Xie family and Wang family took the brunt of his hatred the most, survived by only a handful of descendants… If his political talents had been more extraordinary, he would have had bigger accomplishments. However, he lacked in political foresight and determination, which destined his achievements short and trivial.” The riot of Sun En was regarded as “the threshold of Zhongyuan pirates," providing experience for future pirate activities. Later generations often call pirates Sun En. Sun En had become equivalent to pirate.

The remarks of Sun En from Chinese historian society have always been positive, considering Sun En as a leader of peasant uprising. Only Fan Wenlan negated this belief, for he considered Sun En was a careerist who usurped the fruits of peasant uprising. Additionally, historian Tain Yuqing emphasized, “Sun En was not just a normal careerist. His ambitions were characteristic of his era, which were similar to those of his enemy counterparts, state officials Liu Laozhi and Liu Yu.” Sun En contributed to the termination of Eastern Jin Dynasty, and his acts were a rebellion of lowly nobles to the significant clans. However, even though Sun En and Lu Xun had stricken the noble class to improve their own social and political ranking, their actions were still bound by the ideologies of noble class, whom they were trying painstakingly to overthrow.