项庄 / Xiang Zhuang
项庄 / Xiang Zhuang enters the wiki through Hanji 141 as the Xiang-camp figure 范增 calls in after 项羽 ignores repeated jade-ring signals at 鸿门宴. Fan Zeng tells him to enter, toast, ask to perform a sword dance, and use the performance to kill 刘邦.
The episode makes Xiang Zhuang less an independent strategist than the instrument of Fan Zeng’s improvised escalation. His sword dance becomes the source scene behind “项庄舞剑，意在沛公”, but 项伯 answers by drawing his own sword and dancing protectively around Liu Bang, preventing Xiang Zhuang from finding an opening.
Hanji 160 part 2 reuses Xiang Zhuang as one of the Xiang-family figures inside 项羽阵营派系裂缝. The source does not add a new action for him, but it makes the family grouping itself important: Xiang Yu’s trust in his kin side helps explain why non-kin advisers such as Fan Zeng can be isolated.
Connections
- Hanji 160 part 2 and 项羽阵营派系裂缝 - later source that uses him as a Xiang-family faction marker.
- 范增 - adviser who gives the assassination instruction.
- 项羽 - commander whose unresolved will creates the space for Fan Zeng’s workaround.
- 刘邦, 项伯, and 鸿门宴 - target, blocker, and scene.
- 谋士越位, 道德化战争借口, and 权力礼仪细读 - concept frame for why the sword dance is politically consequential.