Duan Siping was a member of the
Bai ethnic group. The Duan clan is professed to also have
Han ancestry. The
Dian zaiji () records that Duan's ancestor was from
Wuwei and, having assisted the
Meng clan in battle, was awarded with political rank. However, "his descendant six generations later, Siping, was born under different omens." Duan was a governor of
Tonghai County. Yang Ganzhen (), ruler of the
Dayining kingdom, feared him and attempted to imprison. Duan went into hiding and gathered soldiers and horses to fight. Allegedly, Duan was eating a wild peach, when he noticed two characters written on the fruit's skin:
qing xi 青昔. Duan determined that the first character,
qing, referred to the twelfth month, whilst the second,
xi, indicated the twenty-first day. He understood this as an omen of when he should attack Great Yining. == References ==