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Patience, brothers. Soon we will reveal the secrets of Assassin's Creed: Dynasty. This article has been identified as being out of date. Please update the article to reflect recent releases and then remove this template once done. |
The Shanghai Rite of the Templar Order, as it was known in the years leading up to the Chinese Civil War,[1] is the rite of the Templar Order operating in China since at least the Qin dynasty, when it was known as the Order of the Ancients.
During that first imperial dynasty, the Ancients were allies of the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, helping him consolidate his power over China. Despite the emperor's death at the hands of the youxia Wei Yu, the Ancients continued to operate in China until as late as the Tang dynasty.
Adopting the name of the Golden Turtles, the Ancients influenced the reign of Emperor Xuanzong, with many of their members holding high-ranking positions in the imperial court. However, an internal conflict between the Order members Yang Guozhong and An Lushan led the latter to form his own faction, the Yeluohe, and rebel against the Emperor, establishing the state of Yan.
By the time of the Ming dynasty, the Chinese Templars had become immensely powerful through their influence over the regime's rulers such as the Yongle Emperor and the Jiajing Emperor. Their grip over the Chinese government allowed them to enact multiple purges on the Chinese Assassins throughout this period. Under the Jiajing Emperor, the Templar eunuchs known as the Eight Tigers dealt a particularly vicious blow, exterminating their archenemies down to a lone Assassin: Shao Jun.
Nevertheless, their foes were restored to their former prominence thanks to Shao Jun's efforts, and their secret war over China persisted into the 20th century. Led by Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the Nationalist Party of China, until his death in 1925, the Shanghai Rite struggled to maintain their hold over the nation when it splintered into warlordism. Against the protests of Sun's wife Soong Ching-ling, the rite placed their hopes in Chiang Kai-shek, only to have their invitation rejected by the Nationalist military leader who desired to bring the country under his own, personal rule.
History[]
Qin dynasty[]
In the 3rd century BCE, the Order of the Ancients supported the reign of the first emperor of a unified China, Qin Shi Huang. Through their support, Qin Shi Huang was able to undertake several construction projects, such as the Great Wall of China.[2] After surviving an assassination attempt by Jing Ke in 227 BCE prior to his ascension as emperor, Qin Shi Huang became paranoid of the Assassins.[3] In 210 BCE, Qin Shi Huang was eventually killed by Wei Yu[4] with a spear named in Jing Ke's honor.[3]
Tang dynasty[]
- Main article: Golden Turtles
The Golden Turtles
The Order of the Ancients continued to operate in China well into the 8th century CE, where they influenced the reign of Emperor Xuanzong. At this time, the Chinese branch of the Order was known as the Golden Turtles and exerted an influence in the imperial court through Empress Yang Yuhuan, who placed her trust in the officials and Order members Yang Guozhong and An Lushan.[3]
However, internal friction between the two members led to the formation of a splinter faction called the Yeluohe, which was personally headed by An Lushan. Eventually, Lushan rebelled against the Emperor and established his own state, proclaiming himself Emperor of Yan.[3]
Ming dynasty[]
Purging the Chinese Assassins[]
In 1402, the Templars played a key role in the ascension of the Yongle Emperor, who started his reign with a purge of the Chinese Assassins that resulted in the deaths of thousands of Chinese civilians including the Assassin leader Fang Xiaoru. In 1424, one of the purge's survivors, the Assassin Li Tong, killed the Emperor in the Gobi Desert.[5]
The Eight Tigers' rule[]
By the reign of the Zhengde Emperor, the Chinese imperial court was ruled by the Eight Tigers, a group of powerful Templar eunuchs. After Zhang Yong usurped leadership of the group upon framing Liu Jin for an assassination plot against the Emperor, resulting in his execution,[6] the Tigers began making plans to purge their archenemies, the Chinese Assassins, from the imperial capital of Beijing. They were eventually given a chance to do so after the Zhengde Emperor died heir-less in 1521, allowing the Tigers to place their own puppet, the Jiajing Emperor, on the throne.[7]
Assassins killed in the Templars' purge
When the imperial concubine Shao Jun caught wind of the Templars' plan to ambush the Assassins, she was able to warn their Mentor, Wang Yangming,[8] who subsequently called his best agents into Beijing to mount a counter-attack. However, the Assassins were ultimately defeated, and the Templars used the momentum from this critical victory to enact a city-wide purge, capturing and executing many Assassins, their associates, and any innocents with tangential ties to them.[9]
Three years later, the Templars manipulated the Jiajing Emperor into initiating what would become known as the Great Rites Controversy,[10] which they used as a pretext to purge any remaining opponents to their rule. Virtually all Assassins across China were hunted down and executed by the Tigers Wei Bin, Qiu Ju and Ma Yongcheng,[11] and their old stronghold at the Maijishan Grottoes was captured by the Templars, who converted it into a secret prison for their enemies, overseen by Gao Feng.[12]
However, some Assassins managed to escape the purge, including Wang Yangming, who went into hiding,[11] and Shao Jun and her Mentor Zhu Jiuyuan, who traveled to Italy to seek aid from the legendary Master Assassin Ezio Auditore da Firenze.[13] Sending several soldiers to hunt them down, the Templar agents succeeded in killing Jiuyan in Venice,[14] but Shao Jun escaped and met Ezio, who trained her and gifted her a Precursor box.[15] Following her return to China in 1526, Shao Jun regrouped with Wang Yangming and the two Assassins began their mission to rebuild their Brotherhood and exact revenge on the Eight Tigers.[16]
Return of the Assassins[]
Gao Feng interrogating a captive Shao Jun about the Precursor box
Using the Precursor box as bait, Shao Jun allowed herself to be captured by the Templars and imprisoned in the Maijishan Grottoes, whereupon she escaped and killed Gao Feng.[12] Meanwhile, Yangming tracked down and eliminated Ma Yongcheng, though the Assassins failed to recover the box,[17] as it had been given to the Tiger Gu Dayong, who oversaw the slave trade in Macau.[18]
Shao Jun later infiltrated Dayong's fortress in Macau, freeing many of his slaves,[18] including a young boy named Kotetsu,[19] and killed the Templar, reclaiming the box in the process.[20] However, in retaliation for Dayong's murder, Qiu Ju ordered his men to arrest innocents and set the port of Macau ablaze.[21] Although Shao Jun managed to escape the city and saved as many civilians as she could from the fire, the incident deeply traumatized her.[22]
In 1529, Shao Jun assassinated Wei Bin in Nan'an[23] while Wang Yangming went to meet a contact who possessed knowledge about the Pieces of Eden in the hopes of uncovering the Precursor box's secrets.[24] However, Yangming was ambushed by Zhang Yong and Qiu Ju,[25] who killed the Mentor and reclaimed the box. Shao Jun, alerted to the ambush, tried to save her Mentor,[26] but arrived too late and was nearly killed herself until a monk from a nearby Buddhist temple ordered Qiu Ju and his men to leave.[27]
Zhang Yong and Qiu Ju luring Shao Jun into a trap
The following year, Zhang Yong and Qiu Ju learned about Shao Jun's friendship with Empress Zhang Qijie and used this information to lure the Assassin into a trap at the Forbidden City.[28] While Zhang Yong fled, Qiu Ju dueled Shao Jun, but was ultimately bested by the Assassin, who dropped several lanterns on him, setting him and the surrounding chamber on fire.[29] After the Templar was crushed by a falling pillar, Shao Jun and Empress Zhang were able to escape from the fire.[30]
By 1532, Zhang Yong, as the last surviving Tiger, was desperate to maintain his grip on power and allied with the Mongols led by Altan Khan, agreeing to help them invade China.[31] However, his plan to let the Mongols through the Great Wall was thwarted by Shao Jun and her apprentice Kotetsu, who closed back the Wall's gates and eliminated the Mongol scouts.[32] Believing Zhang Yong had betrayed their alliance, Altan Khan ordered a full-scale assault of the Great Wall and, in the resulting chaos, Shao Jun assassinated Zhang Yong, marking the end of the Eight Tigers' rule.[33]
Qing dynasty[]
Jing Lang killed by Edward Kenway
By the early 18th century, the Chinese Templars still operated in the country and held positions in government, such as Jing Lang, who became a diplomatic advisor. However, a change in regime later forced Lang to flee China and turn to piracy, earning a reputation as the "Queen of Pirates".[34]
By 1717, Jing Lang had joined the West Indies Rite in the Caribbean, where she was given one of five unique Templar keys to guard and began manipulating the Nassau-based West Indies Assassin Vance Travers. Lang hoped to convince Vance to kill his brother Upton and acquire his half of a treasure map,[35] but her plan was thwarted by the pirate Edward Kenway, who helped Upton assassinate both Vance and Lang in exchange for the latter's Templar key.[36]
Republic era[]
- "If they want to come here and see all the squabbling nation-states we have to deal with... the warlords in the countryside -- the communists and gangsters in the back alleys... let them see how bloody easy it is to keep order in this cesspool, I say!"
- ―Master Coxworth regarding the difficulties of the Rite in the early 20th century.[src]
By 1927, tensions were growing between the Chinese Templars and the Inner Sanctum due to their inability to appease the growing conflict between the Chinese Communist Party and the government of the Nationalists following the death of Grand Master Sun Yat-sen.[37]
Stirling Fessenden, Grand Master of the Shanghai Rite
At the time led by the Shanghai Rite and Grand Master Stirling Fessenden, the Chinese Templars accepted the pact made between their leaders and General Chiang Kai-shek: in exchange for their support, he would join them as their new Grand Master.[38] To conclude the deal, the young Britishman Darius Gift was sent to unknowingly deliver his late father's Templar ring to Chiang while the feared Black Cross Albert Bolden was also sent to eliminate Chiang's enemies.[39]
While the Order's intent was to ensure that through Chiang, peace would be restored in China under their rule, the General betrayed them, having no intent to share his power with the Templars. Indeed, during their meeting, Chiang revealed to a dumbfounded Fessenden that he had used the Templars all along before launching a purge against the communists with the help of Du Yuesheng and his criminal syndicate, the Green Gang.[38]
Members[]
Order of the Ancients[]
- Tang dynasty
- Eight Zhuguo
- Dugu Jialuo
- Emperor Gaozu of Sui
- Empress Zhangsun
- Wang
- Yang Su
- Yuwen Tai
- Zhangsun Wuji
- Golden Turtles
- Main article: Golden Turtles
- An Lushan (defected)
- Bian Lingcheng
- Gao Lishi
- Li Linfu (leader; until 753)
- Wang Chengye
- Wei Fangjin
- Yan Zhuang
- Yang Guozhong (leader; 753 – 756)
- Zhang Yizhi
- Yeluohe
- Main article: Yeluohe
- An Lushan (leader; 755 – 757)
- Duan Ziguang
- Gao Miao
- He Qiannian
- Li Qincou
- Shi Siming
- Sun Xiaozhe
- Yan Zhuang
Shanghai Rite[]
- Ming dynasty
- Wei Bin
- Gu Dayong
- Gao Feng
- Qiu Ju
- Luo Xiang
- Zhang Yong (leader; until 1532)
- Ma Yongcheng
- Qing dynasty
- Republic era
- Sun Yat-sen (Grand Master; until 1925)
- Soong Ching-ling
- Stirling Fessenden (Grand Master; began 1925)
- Tatsumi
- Joffre
- Coxworth
Allies and puppets[]
- Qin dynasty
- Tang dynasty
- Ming dynasty
- Qing dynasty
- Republic era
- Chiang Kai-shek (betrayed)
Behind the scenes[]
In Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple, Edward Kenway mentioned that he never heard of a Templar branch operating in China, despite his encounter a few years earlier with Jing Lang, a Chinese Templar.[40]
Gallery[]
Appearances[]
- Assassin's Creed: Revelations – Discover Your Legacy (first appearance)
- Assassin's Creed: Embers (mentioned only)
- Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (mentioned only)
- Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China
- Assassin's Creed: Templars – Volume 1: Black Cross (first identified as "Shanghai Rite")
- Assassin's Creed: Blade of Shao Jun
- Assassin's Creed: Dynasty
- Assassin's Creed: The Imperial Jade Seal
- Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple (indirect mention only)
Non-canonical appearances[]
- Assassin's Creed: The Ming Storm
- Assassin's Creed: The Desert Threat
- Assassin's Creed: Turbulence in the Ming Dynasty
References[]
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