新垣平 / Xinyuan Ping

Overview

新垣平 / Xinyuan Ping is a Western Han fangshi whom the current sources present as converting claims of privileged access to qi, omens, and sacred objects into a new temple, rewards, and influence over 汉文帝刘恒’s ritual decisions before an accusation and investigation expose the scheme.

Current Profile

Hanji 225-2 now supplies the entry stage. Xinyuan Ping comes from Zhao, claims skill in observing qi, and says a sacred object with five-colored vapors appears northeast of Chang’an. Liu Heng responds by ordering a Five Emperors temple north of the Wei River. Hanji 226 continues the same authority path through sacrifice, office, rewards, and access to discussions of institutions and major rites. Xinyuan Ping then arranges a stronger form of apparent verification: after predicting a precious object outside the palace, an associate presents a jade cup inscribed “人主延寿.” Prediction and proof therefore come from the same controlled scheme.

The later claims scale upward. A reported second solar culmination is linked to a restart of the reign count and public feasting, while a supposed Zhou鼎 at Fenyin prompts temple construction in anticipation of an object that has not appeared. The source does not establish the mechanism behind the solar report, so only the staged cup can be described confidently as a concrete prop-based fraud within this bounded evidence.

His fall begins not with independent imperial detection but with an unnamed petitioner’s accusation. The episode says a廷尉 investigation confirms fabrication, after which Liu Heng executes Xinyuan Ping and exterminates his three kin groups. The case changes the patron as well as removing the claimant: Liu Heng reportedly loses interest in calendar, color, and spirit projects and stops personally visiting the altars.

Key Characteristics

• Fangshi who claims exclusive ability to read qi, sacred objects, and auspicious signs.
• Court entrant whose first qi-reading claim produces a Five Emperors temple before the later staged proof cycle.
• Court entrepreneur who converts unverifiable interpretation into office, wealth, ritual construction, and policy access.
• Stager of a prediction-and-confirmation loop through the prearranged jade cup.
• Escalating claimant whose signs move from a temple to chronology, public feasting, and dynastic-symbolic projects.
• Fraud defendant exposed through accusation and investigation rather than through the ruler’s unaided skepticism.

Evidence

Court entry and patronage:

• Hanji 225-2 gives Xinyuan Ping’s Zhao origin, qi-reading claim, northeast-Chang’an location, and the order for a temple north of the Wei River.
• Hanji 226 says Xinyuan Ping’s five-colored-qi claim leads to a temple, sacrifice, the office of大夫, rewards, and participation in ritual planning.

Staged and escalating signs:

• Hanji 226 explicitly describes an associate presenting the jade cup after Xinyuan Ping predicts its arrival.
• Hanji 226 links later solar and ding claims to a restarted reign count, public celebration, and temple construction, while leaving the physical mechanism of the solar report unexplained.

Exposure and punishment:

• Hanji 226 says an unnamed accuser triggers investigation, after which Xinyuan Ping is executed and his three kin groups are exterminated.

Qualifications

The profile rests on two adjacent popular-history podcast notes rather than a primary-source dossier; their overlap is narrative continuity, not independent confirmation. They do not independently establish the signs, dates, rewards, ritual details, solar mechanism, confession, legal procedure, or punishment scope. Hanji 226’s title “被汉文帝识破” compresses a sequence that the episode itself begins with external denunciation. The廷尉 name appears as “张世芝” in the supplied material and is not normalized here. Ancient Chinese use of the surname 新垣 does not establish Aragaki Yui’s genealogy, and sharing it with 新垣衍 does not demonstrate kinship.

What Changed

• Backfilled Xinyuan Ping’s initial qi-reading claim and the first temple order.
• Clarified the continuous sequence from exclusive interpretation to controlled apparent proof.
• Added the surname-genealogy boundary prompted by Hanji 225-2’s title.

Relationships

• 汉文帝刘恒 - imperial patron whose desire for auspicious confirmation enables Xinyuan Ping’s authority and whose trust collapses after investigation.
• 方士骗术与权威 - broader pattern exemplified by staged proof, exclusive interpretation, patronage, verification, and punishment.
• 祥瑞政治 - political language through which qi, apparitions, a solar sign, and a promised ding become state action.
• 术数俘获式决策失控 - decision failure produced when omen claims substitute for independent verification.
• 年号制度 - adjacent chronology framework qualified by this earlier reign-count restart.
• 新垣衍 - earlier namesake mentioned for surname background, with no demonstrated kinship in the source.