King Wen of Zhou: Difference between revisions

{{hatnoteDistinguish|"KingDuke Wen" redirectsof here.Zhou}}
{{hatnote|For the ruler of [[Nanyue]] sometimes known by that name, see [[Zhao Mo]].}}

|title=CountOverlord of the West
|image=King Wen of Zhou.jpg

|succession=CountElder of the [[Predynastic Zhou]]

|birth_place=Bi (Zhou state)
|death_date=1050 BC (aged 62)

|death_place=Cheng (Zhou state)
|burial_place=Bi (Zhou state)

Born '''[[Ji (Zhou dynasty ancestral surname)|Ji]] Chang''' ({{lang|zh|姬昌}}), Wen was the son of [[Tai Ren|Tairen]] and [[King Ji of Zhou|Ji Jili]], the CountElder of [[Predynastic Zhou|Zhou]], a smallvassal stateclan of the Kingdom of Shang along the [[Wei River]] in present-day [[Shaanxi]]. Jili was betrayed and executed by the Shang king [[Wen Ding]] in the late 12th century BC, leaving the young Chang as the CountElder of the Zhou lineage.

At one point, [[King Zhou of Shang]], fearing Wen's growing power, imprisoned him in [[Youli]] (present-day [[Tangyin]] in [[Henan]]) after he was slandered by the Marquis of Chong.<ref name="Cihai">Cihai, p. 201.</ref> His eldest son, [[Bo Yikao]], went to King Zhou to plead for his freedom, but was executed in a rage by [[lingchi]] and made into meat cakes which were fed to his father in Youli. However, many officials (in particular San Yisheng and Hong Yao) respected Wen for his honorable governance and gave King Zhou so many gifts {{ndash}} including gold, horses, and women {{ndash}} that he released Wen, and also bestowed upon him his personal weapons and invested him with the special rank of CountOverlord of the West. Wen offered a piece of his land in (Western LuoShang).<ref>{{ tocite King Zhou, who in turn allowed Wen to make onejournal
| last request.= HePines requested| that the Burning Pillar punishment be abolished, and so it was.first=Yuri

Subsequently, upon returning home Wen secretly began to plot to overthrow King Zhou. In his first year as CountOverlord of the West, he settled a land dispute between the states of Yu and Rui, earning greater recognition among the nobles. It is by this point that some nobles began calling him "king". The following year, Wen found [[Jiang Ziya]] fishing in the Pan River and hired him as a military counselor. He also repelled an invasion of the [[Quanrong]] barbarians and occupied a portion of their land. The following year, he campaigned against Mixu, a state whose chief had been harassing the smaller states of Ruan and Gong, thus annexing the three of them. The following year, he attacked Li, a puppet of Shang, and the next year he attacked [[E (state)|E]], a rebel state opposed to Shang, conquering both. One year later he attacked Chong, home of Hu, Marquis of Chong, his arch-enemy, and defeated it, gaining access to the Ford of Meng through which he could cross his army to attack Shang. By then he had obtained about two thirds of the whole kingdom either as direct possessions or sworn allies. That same year he moved his administrative capital city<ref>{{cite journal
|last=Khayutina |first=Maria
|title=Western "Capitals" of the Western Zhou Dynasty: Historical Reality and Its Reflections Until the Time of Sima Qian
|journal=Oriens Extremus
| publisher= Harrassowitz Verlag
|date=2008 | volume=47
|pages=25–65
|jstor=24048045
}}</ref> one hundred kilometers east from Mount Qi to [[Fengjing (Zhou)|Feng]], placing the Shang under imminent threat. The following year, however, the CountOverlord of the West died before he could cross the Ford. It is worth-noting, nonethelessNonetheless, that other sources suggest he died in battle during the Zhou campaign against the Yin-Shang.<ref><Gernet, J., (2019). EL MUNDO CHINO. Bogotá, Colombia: Editorial Planeta Colombiana></ref>

Four years after his death, his second son, known as [[King Wu of Zhou|King Wu]], followed his footsteps and crushed the Shang at [[battle of Muye|Muye]], founding the [[Zhou dynasty]].<ref>[[Sima Qian]], ''史記 ([[Records of the Grand Historian|Shiji]])'' [10s BCE]. 10 vols. Beijing: Zhonghua Publishing, [1959] 1963.</ref> The name "Wen" now means "the Cultured" or "the Civilizing" and was made into an official royal name by King Wu in honor of his father. He was the only noble to bear the posthumous name "Wen" for almost the entire first half of the Zhou dynasty, despite its common usage as an epithet of eulogy, suggesting a special privilege.<ref name="LvF">{{ cite journal

|source = "Eulogies of Zhou &ndash; Clear Temple" ({{zh|c=清廟|p=Qīng miào}}){{sfnp|Kern|2010|p=23}}

Many of the older odes from the [[Shijing|''Classic of Poetry'' (''Shijing'' 詩經)]] are hymns in praise of King Wen. He was additionally a great hero of [[Confucius]], whose followers played a significant role in shaping Chinese culture.

===Divination===
King Wen is also credited with having stacked the eight [[Bagua (concept)|trigrams]] in their various permutations to create the sixty-four hexagrams of the ''[[I Ching]]''. He is also said to have written the judgments which are appended to each hexagram. The most commonly used sequence of the 64 hexagrams is attributed to him and is usually referred to as the [[King Wen sequence]].

===Posthumous Honorshonors===

** Fourth son: [[Duke of Zhou|Dan]] ({{lang|zh|旦}}), ruled the {{ill|Zhou (fief)|lt=Zhou fief|zh|周邑}},

*** Dan's son Boqin ruled as Duke of [[Lu (state)|Lu]], a younger son succeeded the Zhou fief (prominent descendants included {{ill|Duke Ding of Zhou|zh|周定公}} of the [[Gonghe Regency]]-fame);

** Ninth son: [[Shu Feng of Kang|Feng]] ({{lang|zh|封}}), ruled Kang, then [[Wey (state)|Wey]];

** {{possibly}} [[Duke of Shao|Shi]] {{lang|zh|奭}}, Count / Duke of [[Shao (state)|Shao]] {{lang|zh|召}} and, ruler of [[Yan (state)|Yan]]{{efn|Not listed among King Wen's sons by ''[[Book of Han]]'' & ''[[Yuanhe Xingzuan]]''}}<ref>[[Bai Hu Tong]], [https://ctext.org/bai-hu-tong/wang-zhe-bu-chen "Those whom kings consider not their subjects"] quote: "召公，文王子也。"</ref><ref>[[Wang Chong]], ''[[Lunheng]]'', [https://ctext.org/lunheng/qi-shou "Pneuma & Longevity"]; quote: "邵公、周公之兄也" rough translation: "The Duke of Shao was the Duke of Zhou's older brother"</ref><ref>[[Huangfu Mi]] ''Records of the Generations of Emperors and Kings'' (帝王世紀), quoted in ''[[Gujin Tushu Jicheng]] (Complete Collection of Illustrations and Writings from the Earliest to Current Times)'' (古今圖書集成) [[w:zh:s:Page:Gujin_Tushu_Jicheng,_Volume_063_(1700-1725).djvu/91|vol. 63 / 91]]; quote: "召公，文王庶子。"; rough translation: "The Duke of Shao was King Wen's son by a secondary wife."</ref><ref>Theobald, Ulrich (2011) [http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Zhou/personsshaogongshi.html "Shao Gong Shi 召公奭, the Duke of Shao"] for ''ChinaKnowledge.de - An Encyclopaedia on Chinese History, Literature and Art''.</ref>

** Sixth son: FengChu, Ruler of Kang then WeyHuo (衛康霍叔封處)

** Eight son: ChuFeng, Ruler of HuoKang then Wey (霍[衛]康叔處封)

** Seventeenth son: Marquis of Feng (豐侯){{efn|Possibly due to scribal error, ''Yuanhe xingzuan'' ranks him as King Wen's 17th son like Count of Xun. Here Marquis of Feng is treated as the 17th son following Zuozhuan'sthe ordering of the ''[[Zuo Zhuan]]''}}

** Eighteenth son: Count of Xun (郇伯){{efn|Possibly due to scribal error, ''Yuanhe xingzuan'' ranks him as King Wen's 17th son like Marquis of Feng. Here Count of Xun is treated as the 18th son following Zuozhuan'sthe ordering of the ''Zuo Zhuan''}}

| 1 = [[King Wen of Zhou]] (1125–10511125 BC - 1050 BC)

| 2 = [[Ji, King Jiof Zhou|Jili, Elder of Zhou]]

| 3 = Queen Tai Ren of Zhi

| 4 = [[KingGugong TaiDanfu of(1158–1126 Zhou]]BC)

| 8 = Gongshu Zulei (1192–11581192 - 1158 BC)

==See alsoReferences==

==Further Readingsreading==

{{S-hou|[[ZhouPredynastic dynastyZhou]]||1152 BC||1056 BC}}

{{S-ttl|title=[[ZhouPredynastic dynastyZhou|King of Zhou]]|years=1099 &ndash; c. 1050 BC}}

[[Category:Kings of the Zhou dynasty kings]]

[[Category:Shang dynasty politicianspeople]]

[[Category:Deified Chinese peoplemen]]