Xie Shang (308[2] – 14 June 357[3]), courtesy name Renzu, was a Chinese military general, musician and writer of the Eastern Jin dynasty.
In the 350s, he participated in the expeditions to reclaim northern China for the Jin dynasty, his most important contribution being his recovery of the imperial seal, which had been lost in the north decades prior.
He avoided vulgar acts, his worst instance only being that he loved wearing flashy clothes and pants which he later stopped after his uncles advised him to.
[6] Shang would often visit the General Who Maintains the West, Yu Yi at Wuchang to discuss with him about military affairs.
[7] In 352, the Jin Grand Marshal, Yin Hao was petitioned to lead a campaign to reclaim Luoyang and Xuchang in northern China.
[8] Around the same time, the Qiang chieftain, Yao Xiang had arrived in Jin from the recently destroyed Later Zhao state.
He submitted to Jin and began immediately serving in the northern expedition by being stationed at Qiao (譙; present-day Bozhou, Anhui).
His general Jiang Gan (蔣幹), who was ordered to defend Ye before Min's death, was on the verge of defeat as Yan forces placed the city under siege.
During the course of the defence, Dai managed to trick Jiang into giving him the imperial seal, and kept it at his camp in Fangtou (枋頭, in modern Hebi, Henan).
Xie fought the Qin at Chengqiao (誠橋; near Xuchang) along the Ying River where he was badly routed and lost 15,000 soldiers.
[11] Later on, Shang returned the imperial seal which Dai Shi recovered to the Jin court, and he was greatly congratulated by the officials.
[19] The Book of Sui compiled ten of his poems in the Xie Shang Ji (謝尚集) but only five survived through the Tang dynasty and none of them exists today.
His only known work that fully survived to this day is a short poem he titled Song of the Great Dao (大道曲).