Ding Yi style name

Chinese style name

A Chinese style name, sometimes also known as a courtesy name , is a given name to be used later in life. After 20 years of age, the zì is assigned in place of one's given name as a symbol of adulthood and respect...

 Zhengli (正礼), a native of Pei

Pei County

Pei County is a county of Jiangsu, China. It is under the administration of Xuzhou city. It has an area of 1,576 square kilometers and a population of 1,217,400.-External links:**...

 (present-day Suixi County, Anhui

Anhui

Anhui is a province in the People's Republic of China. Located in eastern China across the basins of the Yangtze River and the Huai River, it borders Jiangsu to the east, Zhejiang to the southeast, Jiangxi to the south, Hubei to the southwest, Henan to the northwest, and Shandong for a tiny...

), was a minister of Cao Wei

Cao Wei

Cao Wei was one of the states that competed for control of China during the Three Kingdoms period. With the capital at Luoyang, the state was established by Cao Pi in 220, based upon the foundations that his father Cao Cao laid...

 during the Three Kingdoms

Three Kingdoms

The Three Kingdoms period was a period in Chinese history, part of an era of disunity called the "Six Dynasties" following immediately the loss of de facto power of the Han Dynasty rulers. In a strict academic sense it refers to the period between the foundation of the state of Wei in 220 and the...

 era of Chinese history

History of China

Chinese civilization originated in various regional centers along both the Yellow River and the Yangtze River valleys in the Neolithic era, but the Yellow River is said to be the Cradle of Chinese Civilization. With thousands of years of continuous history, China is one of the world's oldest...

.

Ding was originally engaged to Cao Cao

Cao Cao

Cao Cao was a warlord and the penultimate chancellor of the Eastern Han Dynasty who rose to great power during the dynasty's final years. As one of the central figures of the Three Kingdoms period, he laid the foundations for what was to become the state of Cao Wei and was posthumously titled...

's daughter Princess Qinghe, but Cao Cao's second son Cao Pi

Cao Pi

Cao Pi , formally known as Emperor Wen of Wei, was the first emperor of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history. Born in Qiao County, Pei Commandery , he was the second son of the late Han Dynasty warlord Cao Cao.Cao Pi, like his father, was a poet...

 opposed the marriage, by saying that Ding had an eye illness. Eventually, Princess Qinghe was married to Xiahou Mao

Xiahou Mao

Xiahou Mao, style name Zilin , was a military general and civilian administrator of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history. He was the second son of Xiahou Dun...

 instead. Ding Yi was a close advisor to Cao Cao's fourth son Cao Zhi

Cao Zhi

Cao Zhi was a poet who lived during the late Han Dynasty and Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history. His poetry style, greatly revered during the Jin Dynasty and Southern and Northern Dynasties, came to be known as the Jian'an style....

 and was known to be a cultured and refined scholar. He was often trying to persuade Cao Cao to make Cao Zhi his successor in place of Cao Pi. However, Cao Pi eventually won his father's favour and was installed as the successor.

After the death of Cao Cao in 220, Cao Pi usurped the throne and put an end to the Han Dynasty

Han Dynasty

The Han Dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin Dynasty and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms . It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han. It was briefly interrupted by the Xin Dynasty of the former regent Wang Mang...

, which only existed in name. Following that, Ding Yi and his entire family were executed.

In fiction

In Luo Guanzhong

Luo Guanzhong

Luo Ben , better known by his style name Luo Guanzhong , was a Chinese writer of the early Ming Dynasty period of Chinese history. He was also known as Huhai Sanren...

's historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Romance of the Three Kingdoms, written by Luo Guanzhong in the 14th century, is a Chinese historical novel based on the events in the turbulent years near the end of the Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms era of Chinese history, starting in 169 and ending with the reunification of the land in...

, Cao Zhi did not attend his father's funeral. Enraged, Cao Pi sent a messenger to inquire the reason. Ding Yi said to the messenger that Cao Zhi should be the new ruler instead. He was killed afterwards on Cao Pi's orders.