Su Qin Becomes Prime Minister

Su Qin was a brilliant strategist during China's Warring States period (around 300 BCE) who convinced six kingdoms to unite against the powerful Qin state. Through pure eloquence and political cunning, he rose from poverty to become prime minister of multiple kingdoms simultaneously — the ancient equivalent of being Secretary of State for half of Europe at once. He wore the seals of six different rulers and commanded unprecedented influence.

Yet his story became a cautionary tale about the fleeting nature of political power. Despite his incredible achievements, Su Qin's alliances eventually crumbled, his enemies multiplied, and he died violently in political intrigue. Chinese culture remembers him as someone who gained everything the world had to offer, only to lose it all and die forgotten.

Su Qin wore the seals of six kingdoms at once, and the verse still calls his glory a dream. That's the mirror this stick holds up to your studies. You drew it while thinking about exams, marks, ranking, maybe a particular qualification you've started to treat as the whole point. The stick reflects back a quieter question: what part of this learning will still belong to you when the certificate yellows in a drawer?

Mid-grade sticks for study questions usually mean the work is real and the result is workable, but the energy behind it is slightly off. You may be studying for the seal rather than the skill. The verse isn't telling you to stop chasing the qualification; it's noting that you already half-know the difference between the cramming you'll forget by August and the chapter that genuinely changed how you think. One of those is dust. The other becomes you.

There's also a loneliness hidden in Su Qin's story worth sitting with. He impressed everyone and was understood by no one. If your studies have started to feel performative, aimed at a parent's approval or a peer group's ranking, the stick is gently pointing at that drift. Average grade here is permission to keep going, with the inner compass adjusted.

Look at your current syllabus or reading list and mark, honestly, which two or three topics you'd want to understand even if no exam existed; protect time for those first. Keep a thin notebook for ideas that genuinely shifted something in you, separate from revision notes. Before the next assessment, write down why you're sitting it, in your own words, not the brochure's.

And when results come, whatever they are, ask whether you grew, not just whether you ranked. The seal fades; the thinking stays.