Chu Long Persuading the Queen Dowager

CORE DEFINITION

A narrative from the Intrigues of the Warring States in which Chu Long persuades the Queen Dowager of Zhao to send her youngest son as a hostage, after she has refused all direct argument. The core proposition is that a firmly committed person cannot be moved by opposing their position, but can be moved by reframing the request in terms of the value they care about most, in this case the long-term interest of the child she loves. The key qualification is that the reframe must be genuine rather than rhetorical, since an appeal built on a value the speaker does not actually serve collapses on inspection.