Classic prose title from 《
战国策·
燕策》 (Strategies of the Warring States: Yan), also preserved in Sima Qian's 《
史记·
刺客列传》 (Records of the Grand Historian: Biographies of Assassins). In 227 BCE, the swordsman Jing Ke, sent by Crown Prince Dan of Yan (
燕太子丹), presented the severed head of a Qin defector and a map — which hid a poisoned dagger. At the unfurling of the map (
图穷匕首见), he lunged at King Zheng, missed, and was killed. Four years later Zheng unified China as Qin Shi Huang (
秦始皇).
