King Youmiao
King of Chinese state of Zhao from 235 to 228 BC

King Youmiao of Zhao (Chinese: 趙幽繆王; r. 235–228 BCE), personal name Zhao Qian, was a king of the Zhao state.
The younger son of King Daoxiang and Queen Daochang, King Youmiao was nevertheless able to succeed to the Zhao throne before his elder brother Zhao Jia due to his mother Chang Hou's intervention. He inherited a country that was in danger of being conquered by the Qin state, as it had been since a defeat at the Battle of Changping in 260 BCE.
The state of Zhao, however, was able to survive thanks to the services of General Li Mu, who successfully repelled Qin attempts at exploiting the situation. The Qin devised a scheme to get rid of him; through bribing a close confidante of King Youmiao, the courtier Guo Kai (郭開), Li Mu was arrested and executed on suspicion of treason.
Without Li Mu, Zhao's defenses were unable to resist the might of Qin. In 228 BCE, Qin forces under the leadership of Wang Jian captured the Zhao capital of Handan. King Youmiao surrendered and was then exiled to Fangling (modern-day northwestern Hubei). Zhao Jia then took the throne as King of Dai (代王) and reigned over a rump state in Zhao's far north.
In King Youmiao's 1st Year, 235 BC, Zhao fortified the city of Bairen (柏人).
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “King Youmiao” as king of Chinese state of Zhao from 235 to 228 BC. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as king of Chinese state of Zhao from 235 to 228 BC. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q603372. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “King Youmiao”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow King Youmiao primary sources, King Youmiao archive and King research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “King Youmiao”?
- Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “King Youmiao” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.