Yao Li
Late 6th-century BC Chinese assassin
Yao Li (要離) was a famed ancient Chinese assassin of the state of Wu in the Spring and Autumn period.
Minister Wu Zixu recommended him to King Helü of Wu. His mission was to kill Prince Qingji, who had taken refuge in the state of Wei. To pretend to be a criminal in Wu, Yao Li killed his wife and his mother, and his right hand was cut off by King Helü. After he arrived in Wei, he met Qingji and boarded the same boat as his target. As the boat reached the middle of the river, he killed Qingji with a lance and then committed suicide.
The public source identifies “Yao Li” as late 6th-century BC Chinese assassin. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Late, 6th-century and Chinese.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q8049037. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Yao Li” 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.