The Zhou Dynasty

The Zhou lasted for 790 years! King Nan, Ji Yan lasted for 59 Years lol. XD

## King Wu, Ji Fa

**King Wu of Zhou** (Chinese: 周武王; pinyin: *Zhōu Wǔ Wáng*) was the first king of the Zhou dynasty of ancient China. The chronology of his reign is disputed but is generally thought to have begun around 1046 BC and ended three years later in 1043 BC.

King Wu's ancestral name was Ji (姬) and given name **Fa** (發). He was the second son of King Wen of Zhou and Queen Taisi. In most accounts, his older brother Bo Yikao was said to have predeceased his father, typically at the hands of King Zhou, the last king of the Shang dynasty; in the *Book of Rites*, however, it is assumed that his inheritance represented an older tradition among the Zhou of passing over the eldest son. (Fa's grandfather Jili had likewise inherited Zhou despite two older brothers.)

Upon his succession, Fa worked with his father-in-law Jiang Ziya to accomplish an unfinished task: overthrowing the Shang dynasty. In 1048 BC, Fa marched down the Yellow River to the Mengjin ford and met with more than 800 dukes.[*citation needed*] He constructed an ancestral tablet naming his father Chang King Wen and placed it on a chariot in the middle of the host; considering the timing unpropitious, though, he did not yet attack Shang. In 1046 BC, King Wu took advantage of Shang disunity to launch an attack along with many neighboring dukes. The Battle of Muye destroyed Shang's forces and King Zhou of Shang set his palace on fire, dying within.

King Wu – the name means "Martial" – followed his victory by establishing many feudal states under his 16 younger brothers and clans allied by marriage, but his death three years later provoked several rebellions against his young heir King Cheng and the regent Duke of Zhou, even from three of his brothers.

A burial mound in Zhouling town, Xianyang, Shaanxi was once thought to be King Wu's tomb. It was fitted with a headstone bearing Wu's name in the Qing dynasty. Modern archeology has since concluded that the tomb is not old enough to be from the Zhou dynasty, and is more likely to be that of a Han dynasty royal. The true location of King Wu's tomb remains unknown, but is likely to be in the Xianyang-Xi'an area.

Wu is considered one of the great heroes of China, together with Yellow Emperor and Yu the Great.

### Family

* Yi Jiang, of the Lü lineage of the Jiang clan of Qi (邑姜 姜姓 呂氏), the first daughter of the Great Duke of Qi; the mother of Song and Yu

Sons:

* Prince Song (王子誦; 1060–1020 BC), ruled as King Cheng of Zhou from 1042 to 1021 BC
* Second son, ruled as the Monarch of Yu (邘), the ancestor of the surname Yu (于)
* Third son, Prince Yu (王子虞), ruled as the Marquis of Tang from 1042 BC
* A son who ruled as the Marquis of Ying (應)
* A son who ruled as the Marquis of Han

Daughters:

* First daughter, Da Ji (大姬)
	+ Married Duke Hu of Chen (1071–986 BC)
* Youngest daughter, personal name Lan (蘭)
	+ Married Duke Yǐ of Qi (d. 933 BC)

* Yi Jiang, of the Lü lineage of the Jiang clan of Qi (邑姜 姜姓 呂氏), the first daughter of the Great Duke of Qi; the mother of Song and Yu

Sons:

* Prince Song (王子誦; 1060–1020 BC), ruled as King Cheng of Zhou from 1042 to 1021 BC
* Second son, ruled as the Monarch of Yu (邘), the ancestor of the surname Yu (于)
* Third son, Prince Yu (王子虞), ruled as the Marquis of Tang from 1042 BC
* A son who ruled as the Marquis of Ying (應)
* A son who ruled as the Marquis of Han

Daughters:

* First daughter, Da Ji (大姬)
	+ Married Duke Hu of Chen (1071–986 BC)
* Youngest daughter, personal name Lan (蘭)
	+ Married Duke Yǐ of Qi (d. 933 BC)

## King Cheng, Ji Song

**King Cheng of Zhou** (Chinese: 周成王; pinyin: *Zhōu Chéng Wáng*; Wade–Giles: *Chou Ch'eng Wang*), personal name **Ji Song** (姬誦), was the second king of the Chinese Zhou Dynasty. The dates of his reign are 1042–1021 BCE or 1042/35–1006 BCE. His parents were King Wu of Zhou and Queen Yi Jiang (邑姜).

King Cheng was young when he ascended the throne. His uncle, Duke of Zhou, fearing that Shang forces might rise again under the possible weak rule of a young ruler, became the regent and supervised government affairs for several years. Duke of Zhou established the eastern capital at Luoyang, and later defeated a rebellion by Cheng’s uncles Cai Shu, Guan Shu and Huo Shu.

King Cheng later stabilized Zhou Dynasty’s border by defeating several barbarian tribes along with the Duke of Zhou.

## King Kang, Ji Zhao

**King Kang of Zhou**, personal name **Ji Zhao**, was the third sovereign of the Chinese Zhou Dynasty and son of King Cheng of Zhou. The dates of his reign are 1020–996 BC or 1005–978 BC.

King Kang followed his father's policy and expanded the Zhou territory in the North and in the West. He also repressed a rebellion in the east. Life prospered in the Zhou Dynasty under Kang’s rule.

His was succeeded by his son King Zhao of Zhou.

## King Zhao, Ji Xia

**King Zhao of Zhou** (Chinese: 周昭王; pinyin: *Zhōu Zhāo Wáng*), personal name **Jī Xiá**, was the fourth king of the Chinese Zhou dynasty. He ruled from 977/75 BC until his death twenty years later. Famous for his disastrous war against the Chu confederation, his death in battle ended the Western Zhou’s early expansion and marked the beginning of his dynasty’s decline.

### Biography

By the time of King Zhao's coronation, his father King Kang and grandfather King Cheng had conquered and colonized the Central Plains of China, forcing most of the northern and eastern tribal peoples into vassalage. Only the Dongyi of eastern Shandong continued their resistance, but they were no longer a threat to Zhou rule. As result, King Zhao inherited a prospering kingdom, and could afford to build a new ancestral temple for his father. This temple, known as “Kang gong”, was built in line with ritual reforms of the time and would grow into “one of the two central temples of dynastic worship”, the other being the much older “jinggong” temple.

With the north and east pacified and a large military force under his control, King Zhao turned his attention to the Yangtze basin. This region of great mineral wealth was under the control of the confederation of Chu, with whom the Zhou kingdom had been on good terms for almost two centuries. Under King Zhao, the relationship between Zhou and Chu deteriorated, however, as Chu continued its aggressive expansion and Zhou's demand for gold, copper and tin grew. As hostilities grew, border clashes ensued that eventually escalated into open war. No longer tolerating Chu's perceived defiance, Zhao invaded the Chu confederation in 961 BC. He initially conquered the region to the north of the Yangtze, and then defeated and subdued the 26 states of the Han River valley, including Chu. Most likely unable to permanently occupy the latter region, Zhao eventually retreated with much loot.

In 957 BC, Zhao launched another major military campaign into the middle Yangtze region. Employing half of the royal forces, organized into the "Six Armies of the West", he probably aimed to permanently bring the Yangtze basin under his control. This campaign, however, ended in disaster as the Zhou forces were defeated and almost entirely wiped out. King Zhao and his remaining troops allegedly drowned while retreating across the Han River.

### Legacy

Zhao's death and defeat greatly damaged the Zhou dynasty's reputation and ended its early expansion, resulting in several foreign invasions of the kingdom. His successor and son King Mu of Zhou was able to restabilise the kingdom, but the Yangtze basin became the permanent southern limit of Western Zhou's direct control. Despite his “humiliating end”, however, King Zhao was still commemorated for his southern campaigns during the Western Zhou dynasty, as he had at least established political dominance over the region to the north of the Yangtze and east of the Han River. After his death, he was also given a sacrificial site at the “Kang gong” temple he had himself built. As the first Zhou ruler to be enshrined this way, he eventually became a key figure for ancestor veneration of the middle Zhou dynasty. One major reason for the initially positive appraisal of his reign was possibly that later Zhou rulers did not want their ancestor being remembered for a defeat that cast shame upon the dynasty.

Later moralistic renditions of King Zhao's life were much more unfavorable, as they portrayed him as a ruler who loved pleasure and disregarded politics, dying on a hunting trip to the south. Later Chu poets also wrote about King Zhao in the Classical Chinese poetry collection "Heavenly Questions", mocking him for his perceived arrogance. An especially bizarre incident relating to King Zhao happened in the seventh century BC: When a coalition of Zhou states attacked the state of Chu, the latter sent a delegation to ask what reasons they could have for invading. The northern lords gave the feeble pretext that “King Zhao had failed to return from his southward expedition (which took place some three centuries earlier) and they had ‘come to investigate’."

## King Mu, Ji Man

**King Mu of Zhou** (Chinese: 周穆王; pinyin: *Zhōu Mù Wáng*), personal name **Ji Man**, was the fifth king of the Zhou dynasty of China. The dates of his reign are 976–922 BC or 956–918 BC.

### Life

King Mu came to the throne after his father King Zhao’s death during his tour to the South. King Mu was perhaps the most pivotal king of the Zhou dynasty, reigning nearly 55 years, from ca. 976 BC to ca. 922 BC. Mu was more ambitious than wise, yet he was able to introduce reforms that changed the nature of the Zhou government, transforming it from a hereditary system to one that was based on merit and knowledge of administrative skills.

During Mu’s reign, the Zhou Dynasty was at its peak, and Mu tried to stamp out invaders in the western part of China and ultimately expand Zhou’s influence to the east. In the height of his passion for conquests, he led an immense army against the Quanrong, who inhabited the western part of China. His travels allowed him to contact many tribes and swayed them to either join under the Zhou banner or be conquered in war with his army. This expedition may have been more of a failure than a success, judging by the fact that he brought back only four white wolves and four white deer. Unintentionally and inadvertently, he thus sowed the seeds of hatred which culminated in an invasion of China by the same tribes in 771 BC. In his thirteenth year the Xu Rong, probably the state of Xu in the southeast, raided near the eastern capital of Fenghao. The war seems to have ended in a truce in which the state of Xu gained land and power in return for nominal submission.

However, despite his success, traditional historiography viewed him with controversy. While some praise his victories against the Qun Rong, others criticized him for from his time, the fourth border state no longer entered into a relationship with the Zhou Dynasty. Even still, the Shang Shu credited him with establishing the first systematic legal code in China.

Mu was reputed in narratives to have lived until the age of 105 and to have traveled to the mythical mountain known as Kunlun - a popular later work is the *Tale of King Mu, Son of Heaven*.

His successor was his son King Gong of Zhou.

### In Mythology

One Chinese myth tells a story about Mu, who dreamed of becoming an immortal. He was determined to visit the divine paradise of Kunlun and taste the Peaches of Immortality. A brave charioteer named Zaofu used his chariot to carry the king to his destination. The *Tale of King Mu, Son of Heaven*, a fourth-century BC romance, describes Mu’s visit to the Queen Mother of the West. Late Tang dynasty poet Li Shangyin retold the story in a poem of four lines.

### Automaton

"The king stared at the figure in astonishment. It walked with rapid strides, moving its head up and down, so that anyone would have taken it for a live human being. The artificer touched its chin, and it began singing, perfectly in tune. He touched its hand, and it began posturing, keeping perfect time... As the performance was drawing to an end, the robot winked its eye and made advances to the ladies in attendance, whereupon the king became incensed and would have had Yen Shih (Yan Shi) executed on the spot had not the latter, in mortal fear, instantly taken the robot to pieces to let him see what it really was. And, indeed, it turned out to be only a construction of leather, wood, adhesive and lacquer, variously coloured white, black, red and blue. Examining it closely, the king found all the internal organs complete—liver, gall, heart, lungs, spleen, kidneys, stomach and intestines; and over these again, muscles, bones and limbs with their joints, skin, teeth and hair, all of them artificial... The king tried the effect of taking away the heart, and found that the mouth could no longer speak; he took away the liver and the eyes could no longer see; he took away the kidneys and the legs lost their power of locomotion. The king was delighted."

## King Gong, Ji Yihu

**King Gong of Zhou** (Chinese: 周共王; pinyin: *Zhōu Gòng Wáng* or Chinese: 周恭王; pinyin: *Zhōu Gōng Wáng*), personal name **Ji Yihu**, was the sixth king of the Chinese Zhou Dynasty. Estimated dates of his reign are 922–900 BC or 917/15–900.

### Biography

King Gong of Zhou ascended to the throne in the year 922 BC after his father King Mu of Zhou departed. Unlike some of his ancestors, he dedicated to developing economy and increasing his exchequer, instead of expanding territory or conquering others through wars.

According to one account carried by the Records of the Grand Historian, King Gong of Zhou once did initiate a war and destroyed the State of Mi. When he was touring in State of Mi, he saw three extremely beautiful women and commanded Mi's lord to find them out and send them to his own palace. But the lord of the state took the three extremely beautiful women as his own concubines, which irritated King Gong. So he invaded this state and sentenced that lord to death.

After 15 years reign, he passed the throne to his son King Yì of Zhou and departed peacefully in his own palace.

## King Yi (Jian), Ji Jian

**King Yi of Zhou** (Chinese: 周懿王; pinyin: *Zhōu Yì Wáng*), personal name **Ji Jian**, was the seventh king of the Chinese Zhou Dynasty. Estimated dates of his reign are 899–892 BC or 899–873 BC.

His reign is poorly documented. The first year of his reign is confirmed by a solar eclipse on April 21, 899. He was followed on the throne by his uncle King Xiao of Zhou who was followed by King Yih's son King Yí of Zhou who was "restored by the many lords". He is said to have moved from the capital to a place called Huaili. This hints that he was removed from power by his uncle, but the matter is uncertain. Yih's grandson was King Li of Zhou.

## King Xiao, Ji Bifang

**King Xiao of Zhou** (Chinese: 周孝王; pinyin: *Zhōu Xìao Wáng*), personal name **Ji Bifang**, was the eighth king of the Chinese Zhou Dynasty. Estimated dates of his reign are 891–886 BC or 872–866 BC. He was a son of King Mu and brother of King Gong.

His reign is poorly documented. He was preceded on the throne by his nephew King Yì of Zhou and followed by his nephew's son, King Yí of Zhou. Sima Qian says that the second Yi was 'restored by the many lords'. This hints at a usurpation, but the matter is not clear.

Noble Feizi was granted a small fief at Qin by King Xiao. King Xiao learned of his reputation and put him in charge of breeding and training horses for the Zhou army. To reward his contributions, King Xiao wanted to make Feizi his father's legal heir instead of his half-brother Cheng.

## King Yi (Xie), Ji Xie

**King Yí of Zhou** (Chinese: 周夷王; pinyin: *Zhōu Yí Wáng*), personal name **Ji Xie**, was the ninth king of the Chinese Zhou Dynasty. Estimated dates of his reign are 885–878 BC or 865–858 BC.

He was preceded by his uncle, King Xiao of Zhou, who may have overthrown his father. In the third year of his reign, King Yi sided with Marquis of Ji in a dispute with Duke Ai of Qi and executed Duke Ai by boiling him to death in a large cauldron. King Yi installed Duke Ai's younger half-brother Jing on the throne, later known as Duke Hu of Qi.

During his reign there were wars in the south with the State of Chu and the Dongyi. According to the *Shiji*, during his reign the royal power was not strong and the regional rulers failed to pay obeisance to the court.

He was succeeded by his son, King Li of Zhou.

## King Li, Ji Hu

**King Li of Zhou** (died in 828 BC) (Chinese: 周厲王; pinyin: *Zhōu Lì Wáng*), personal name **Ji Hu**, was the tenth king of the Chinese Zhou Dynasty. Estimated dates of his reign are 877–841 BC or 857–842 BC (*Cambridge History of Ancient China*).

King Li was a corrupt and decadent king. To pay for his pleasures and vices, King Li raised taxes and caused misery among his subjects. It is said that he barred the commoners from profiting from the communal forests and lakes. He enstated a new law which allowed him to punish anyone, by death, who dared to speak against him. King Li's bad rule soon forced many peasants and soldiers into revolt, and Li was sent into exile at a place called Zhi near Linfen (842 BC). His son was taken by one of his ministers and hidden. When Li died in exile in 828 BC, power was passed to his son.

## King Xuan, Ji Jing

**King Xuan of Zhou**, personal name **Ji Jing**, was the eleventh king of the Chinese Zhou Dynasty. Estimated dates of his reign are 827/25–782 BC.

He worked to restore royal authority after the Gong He interregnum. He fought the 'Western Barbarians' (probably Xianyun) and another group on the Huai River to the southeast. In his ninth year he called a meeting of all the lords. Later he intervened militarily in succession struggles in the states of Lu, Wey and Qi. Sima Qian says "from this time on, the many lords mostly rebelled against royal commands." According to Zhang Shoujie's annotation *Correct Meanings* (史記正義) to Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian, king Xuan is said to have killed the innocent Du Bo (Duke of Tangdu, 唐杜公) and according to tradition was himself killed by an arrow fired by Du Bo's ghost. His son, King You of Zhou was the last king of the Western Zhou.

The Stone Drums of Qin were long mistakenly ascribed to King Xuan.

## King You, Ji Gongsheng

**King You of Zhou** (Chinese: 周幽王; pinyin: *Zhōu Yōu Wáng*; 795–771 BC), personal name **Ji Gongsheng**, was the twelfth king of the Chinese Zhou dynasty and the last of Western Zhou Dynasty. He reigned from 781 to 771 BC.

### History

In 780 BC, a major earthquake hit Guanzhong. A soothsayer named Bo Yangfu (伯陽甫) considered this an omen foretelling the destruction of the Zhou Dynasty.

In 779 BC, a concubine named Bao Si entered the palace and came into the King You's favour. She bore him a son named Bofu. King You deposed Queen Shen (申后) and Crown Prince Yijiu. He made Baosi the new queen and Bofu the new crown prince.

It is said that Baosi did not laugh easily. After trying many methods and failing, King You tried to amuse his favorite queen by lighting warning beacons and fooling his nobles into thinking that the Quanrong nomads were about to attack. The nobles arrived at the castle only to find themselves laughed at by Baosi. Even after King You had impressed Baosi, he continued to abuse his use of warning beacons and lost the trust of the nobles.

Queen Shen's father, the Marquess of Shen, was furious at the deposition of his daughter and grandson Crown Prince Yijiu and mounted an attack on King You's palace with the Quanrong. King You called for his nobles using the previously abused beacons but none came. In the end, King You and Bofu were killed and Baosi was captured.

After King You died, nobles including the Marquess of Shen, the Marquess of Zeng (繒侯) and Duke Wen of Xu (許文公) supported the deposed Prince Yijiu as King Ping of Zhou to continue the Zhou Dynasty. As the national capital Haojing had suffered severe damage, and was located near the potentially dangerous Quanrong, in 771 BC, King Ping of Zhou moved the capital eastward to Luoyang, thus beginning the Eastern Zhou Dynasty and ushering in the Spring and Autumn period which would last for more than 300 years.

### In Literature

In the traditional Mao Commentary to the *Shijing*, the minor court hymn "Cai Shu" (采菽) is said to be a criticism King You for squandering feudal lords' respect and humiliating them, although this interpretation is disputed.

## King Ping, Ji Yijiu

**King Ping of Zhou** (Chinese: 周平王; pinyin: *Zhōu Píng Wáng*; died 720 BC), personal name **Ji Yijiu**, was the thirteenth king of the Zhou dynasty and the first of the Eastern Zhou dynasty.

### History

He was the son of King You of Zhou and Queen Shen (申后).

King You had exiled Queen Shen and Ji Yijiu after the king became enamoured with his concubine Bao Si and made her queen and his son Bofu his heir. As a result, Queen Shen’s father, the Marquess of Shen, teamed with the Quanrong nomads and local satellite states to overthrow King You. In the Battle of Mount Li King You and Bofu were killed, and Bao Si captured. Li Yijiu ascended the throne. At about the same time, Jī Hàn (姬翰), Duke of Guó (虢公), elevated Jī Yúchén (姬余臣) to the throne as King Xie of Zhou (周携王), and the Zhou Dynasty saw a period of two parallel kings until King Xie was killed by Marquis Wen of Jin (晋文侯) in 750 BCE.

King Ping moved the Western Zhou dynasty's capital east from Haojing to Luoyang, thus ending the Western Zhou and beginning the Eastern Zhou dynasty and the Spring and Autumn period. He is the first Zhou king to be mentioned in the chronological account of the Zuo Zhuan.

Over 14 centuries after King Ping’s death, Tang dynasty Empress regnant Wu Zetian claimed ancestry from King Ping through his son Prince Wu, and changed the dynastic name to Zhou, which was reverted to Tang after her death.

## King Huan, Ji Lin

**King Huan of Zhou** (Chinese: 周桓王; pinyin: *Zhōu Húan Wáng*; Wade–Giles: *Chou Huan Wang*; died 697 BC), personal name **Jī Lín** (姬林), was the fourteenth king of the Chinese Zhou Dynasty and the second of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770–256 BC).

King Huan’s father was King Ping's son, Crown Prince Xiefu. Huan succeeded his grandfather in 719 BC.

The son and successor of Huan was King Zhuang of Zhou.

In 707 BC, the royal forces were defeated in the Battle of Xuge (𦈡葛之战) by Duke Zhuang of Zheng (r. 743–701). The king himself was wounded by an arrow in the shoulder, and the defeat destroyed the prestige of the Zhou house.

## King Zhuang, Ji Tuo

**King Zhuang of Zhou** (died 682 BC) (Chinese: 周莊王; pinyin: *Zhōu Zhuāng Wáng*), personal name **Ji Tuo**, was the fifteenth king of the Chinese Zhou Dynasty and the third of the Eastern Zhou. He ruled 696–682 BC as a successor of his father, King Huan of Zhou. He was later succeeded by his son, King Xi of Zhou, in 682 BC. His younger son was Prince Tui.

## King Xi, Ji Huqi

**King Xi of Zhou** (died 677 BC) (Chinese: 周僖王; pinyin: *Zhōu Xī Wáng*), personal name **Jī Húqí**, was the sixteenth king of the Chinese Zhou Dynasty and the fourth of the Eastern Zhou.

He was a successor of his father King Zhuang of Zhou, and was succeeded by his son, King Hui of Zhou.

By his time China had dissolved into a multitude of states, only nominally subject to the king, who was no longer even the most powerful figure in China (that was Duke Huán of the State of Qí).

## King Hui, Ji Lang

**King Hui of Zhou** (Chinese: 周惠王; pinyin: *Zhōu Huì Wáng*), personal name **Ji Lang**, was the seventeenth king of the Chinese Zhou Dynasty and the fifth of Eastern Zhou.

## King Xiang, Ji Zheng

**King Xiang of Zhou** (died 619 BC), personal name **Ji Zheng** (Chinese: 姬郑), was the eighteenth king of the Chinese Zhou Dynasty and the sixth of the Eastern Zhou. He was a successor of his father King Hui of Zhou.

He married Lady of the Dí, but later dismissed her.

In 635 he was driven from the capital by his brother Dai and was restored by Duke Wen of Jin.

After his death, his son King Qing of Zhou succeeded him.

## King Qing, Ji Renchen

**King Qing of Zhou** (Chinese: 周頃王; pinyin: *Zhōu Qǐng Wáng*), personal name **Jī Rénchén**, was the nineteenth king of the Chinese Zhou Dynasty and the seventh of the Eastern Zhou.

The son of King Xiang of Zhou, he became king in 618 BC after his father died.

King Qing had three sons, Princes Ban, Yu and Jizi. After King Qing died in 613 BC, Bān become King Kuang.

## King Kuang, Ji Ban

**King Kuang of Zhou** (Chinese: 周匡王; pinyin: *Zhōu Kuāng Wáng*), personal name **Jī Bān**, was the twentieth king of the Chinese Zhou Dynasty and the eighth of the Eastern Zhou.

King Kuang's father was King Qing of Zhou. Kuang was succeeded by his brother King Ding of Zhou.

## King Ding, Ji Yu

**King Ding of Zhou** (Chinese: 周定王; pinyin: *Zhōu Dìng Wáng*), personal name **Ji Yu**, was the twenty-first king of the Chinese Zhou Dynasty and the ninth of Eastern Zhou. He was a son of King Qing of Zhou and brother of King Kuang of Zhou.

He sent an official named Wangsun Man to present gifts to the Chu army. He met Prince Zhuang.

## King Jian, Ji Yi

**King Jian of Zhou** (Chinese: 周簡王; pinyin: *Zhōu Jiǎn Wáng*), personal name **Ji Yi**, was the twenty-second king of the Chinese Zhou Dynasty and the tenth of the Eastern Zhou.

## King Ling, Ji Xiexin

**King Ling of Zhou** (Chinese: 周靈王; pinyin: *Zhōu Líng Wáng*), personal name **Ji Xiexin**, was the twenty-third king of the Chinese Zhou Dynasty and the eleventh of Eastern Zhou. He died in 545 BC.

In the twenty-first year of his reign, Confucius was born.

His successor was his son King Jĭng of Zhou.

His other son was the Crown prince Ji Jin (姬晉). Empress Wu Zetian claimed that her lover Zhang Changzong was a reincarnation of Ji Jin.

### Ancestor of the Taiyuan Wang

During the Tang dynasty the Li family of Zhaojun 赵郡李氏, the Cui family of Boling 博陵崔氏, the Cui family of Qinghe 清河崔氏, the Lu family of Fanyang 范陽盧氏, the Zheng family of Xingyang 荥阳郑氏, the Wang family of Taiyuan 太原王氏, and the Li family of Longxi 隴西李氏 were the seven noble families among whom marriage was banned by law. Moriya Mitsuo wrote a history of the Later Han-Tang period of the Taiyuan Wang. Among the strongest families was the Taiyuan Wang. The prohibition on marriage between the clans issued in 659 by the Gaozong Emperor was flouted by the seven families since a woman of the Boling Cui married a member of the Taiyuan Wang, giving birth to the poet Wang Wei. He was the son of Wang Chulian who in turn was the son of Wang Zhou. The marriages between the families were performed clandestinely after the prohibition was implemented on the seven families by Gaozong. The Zhou dynasty King Ling's son Prince Jin is assumed by most to be the ancestor of the Taiyuan Wang. The Longmen Wang were a cadet line of the Zhou dynasty descended Taiyuan Wang, and Wang Yan and his grandson Wang Tong hailed from this cadet line. Both Buddhist monks and scholars hailed from the Wang family of Taiyuan such as the monk Tanqian. The Wang family of Taiyuan included Wang Huan. Their status as "Seven Great surnames" became known during Gaozong's rule. The Taiyuan Wang family produced Wang Jun who served under Emperor Huai of Jin. A Fuzhou based section of the Taiyuan Wang produced the Buddhist monk Baizhang.

## King Jing (Gui), Ji Gui

**King Jĭng of Zhou**, (Chinese: 周景王; pinyin: *Zhōu Jĭng Wáng*), personal name **Ji Gui**, was the twenty-fourth king of the Chinese Zhou Dynasty and the twelfth of Eastern Zhou. He succeeded to the throne after the death of King Ling of Zhou. King Jĭng reigned from 544 BC to 520 BC. The country was in financial ruin during King Jĭng's reign and supplies had to be bought from neighbouring states. He died in 520 BC of a disease and he was briefly succeeded by his son, King Dao of Zhou.

## King Dao, Ji Meng

**King Dao of Zhou** (Chinese: 周悼王; pinyin: *Zhōu Dào Wáng*; died 520 BC), personal name **Ji Meng**, was the twenty-fifth king of the Chinese Zhou Dynasty and the thirteenth of Eastern Zhou. His given name was **Měng**.

Dao succeeded his father, King Jĭng of Zhou. After a reign of less than a year, he was killed by his brother Prince Chao. Following his death, the throne passed onto his brother King Jìng of Zhou.

## King Jing (Gai)., Ji Gai

**King Jìng of Zhou**, (Chinese: 周敬王; pinyin: *Zhōu Jìng Wáng*), personal name **Ji Gai**, was the twenty-sixth king of the Chinese Zhou Dynasty and the fourteenth of Eastern Zhou.

## King Yuan, Ji Ren

**King Yuan of Zhou** (Chinese: 周元王; pinyin: *Zhōu Yuán Wáng*,) personal name **Ji Ren**, was the twenty-seventh king of the Chinese Zhou Dynasty and the fifteenth of Eastern Zhou. His son was his successor, King Zhending of Zhou.

## King Zhending, Ji Jie

**King Zhending of Zhou** (Chinese: 周貞定王; pinyin: *Zhōu Zhēndìng Wáng*), personal name **Ji Jie**, was the twenty-eighth king of the Chinese Zhou Dynasty and the sixteenth of Eastern Zhou.

Famous philosopher Mozi was born between the reigns of King Jing and King Zhending of the Zhou Dynasty.

Zhending had four sons.

## King Ai, Ji Quji

**King Ai of Zhou** (Chinese: 周哀王; pinyin: *Zhōu Āi Wáng*) personal name **Ji Quji**, was the twenty-ninth king of the Chinese Zhou Dynasty and the seventeenth of Eastern Zhou. He was the eldest son of King Zhending of Zhou.

He succeeded his father in 441, but was killed by his younger brother after only three months on the throne.

## King Si, Ji Shu

**King Si of Zhou** (Chinese: 周思王; pinyin: *Zhōu Sī Wáng*), personal name **Ji Shu**, was the 30th king of the Chinese Zhou Dynasty and the 18th of Eastern Zhou.

He gained the throne in 441 by killing his older brother King Ai of Zhou, but he was himself killed by his younger brother King Kao of Zhou after only five months of rule.

## King Kao, Ji Wei

**King Kao of Zhou** (Chinese: 周考王; pinyin: *Zhōu Kǎo Wáng*), alternatively **King Kaozhe of Zhou** (周考哲王), personal name **Jī Wéi**, was the thirty first king of the Chinese Zhou Dynasty and the nineteenth of the Eastern Zhou.

King Kao's father was King Zhending, son of the King Yuan of Zhou. Kao fathered King Weilie of Zhou, whose reign started in 426 BC, after Kao's death.

His grandson was King An of Zhou.

## King Weilie, Ji Wu

**King Weilie of Zhou** (Chinese: 周威烈王; pinyin: *Zhōu Wēiliè Wáng*), personal name **Jī Wǔ**, was the thirty-second king of the Chinese Zhou Dynasty and the twentieth of the Eastern Zhou.

His reign started in 425 BC, after his father King Kao of Zhou had died.

He officially established three breakaway provinces of Jin (Hán, Wèi and Zhào) as feudal states, to act as a buffer between his royal domain and Qin (nominally one of his subjects).

King Weilie fathered his successor King An of Zhou.

## King An, Ji Jiao

**King An of Zhou** (Chinese: 周安王; pinyin: *Zhōu Ān Wáng*), personal name **Ji Jiao**, was the thirty-third king of the Chinese Zhou Dynasty and the twenty-first of the Eastern Zhou.

He succeeded his father King Weilie of Zhou on the throne of China in 401 BC. After he died, his son King Lie of Zhou ruled over China. His other son was King Xian of Zhou.

## King Lie, Ji Xi

**King Lie of Zhou** (Chinese: 周烈王; pinyin: *Zhōu Liè Wáng*), personal name **Ji Xi**, was the thirty-fourth king of the Chinese Zhou Dynasty and the twenty-second of Eastern Zhou. His father was King An of Zhou.

## King Xian, Ji Bian

**King Xian of Zhou** (Chinese: 周顯王; pinyin: *Zhōu Xiǎn Wáng*), personal name **Ji Bian**, was the thirty-fifth king of the Chinese Zhou Dynasty and the twenty-third of the Eastern Zhou.

Very little is known about him. He succeeded his brother King Lie of Zhou in 368 BC.

He sent gifts to many of the feudal states, supposedly his vassals, particularly Qin and Chu. Late in his reign, the leaders of the states declared themselves kings, and ceased to recognise the king of Zhou as even nominally their overlord.

After his death, his son King Shenjing of Zhou ruled over China.

## King Shenjing, Ji Ding

**King Shenjing of Zhou** (Chinese: 周慎靚王; pinyin: *Zhōu Shènjìng Wáng*), personal name **Jī Dìng**, was the thirty-sixth king of the Chinese Zhou Dynasty and the twenty-fourth of the Eastern Zhou.

He was a son of his predecessor, King Xian of Zhou and thus nephew of King Lie; his paternal grandfather was King An of Zhou.

Shenjing fathered his successor, King Nan of Zhou, who had a very long reign.

## King Nan, Ji Yan

**King Nan of Zhou** (Ji Yan; ?–256 BC), less commonly known as **King Yin of Zhou**, was the 37th and last king of the Chinese Zhou dynasty, the son of King Shenjing of Zhou and grandson of King Xian of Zhou. He was king for fifty-nine years, the longest in the Zhou Dynasty and all of pre-imperial China. By the time of King Nan's reign, the kings of Zhou had lost almost all political and military power, as even their remaining crown land was split into two states or factions, led by rival feudal lords: West Zhou, where the capital Wangcheng was located, and East Zhou, centred at Chengzhou and Kung. Therefore, Nan lacked any personal territory and was effectively under the control of the local feudal lords, essentially relying on their charity.

However, Nan's symbolic and ritual power remains disputed. On one side, the Chinese states largely ignored the king's activities and adopted royal titles and rituals for themselves, while the dynasty's fall generally received meagre contemporary coverage and attention. This led to the assumption that Nan no longer had any symbolic power or semblance of royal authority left. On the other side, recent epigraphic discoveries and some accounts in the Records of the Grand Historian and Zhan Guo Ce suggest that until his death, Nan was still respected as the Son of Heaven. Either way, the last king of Zhou managed to preserve his weakened dynasty through diplomacy and conspiracies for fifty-nine years until his deposition by Qin and death in 256 BC.

### Life

#### Reign

At the beginning of his reign in 314 BC, King Nan moved the capital from Chengzhou to Wangcheng. From then on, the Zhou crown lands were invaded several times by foreign powers, beginning with Qin's attack on Yiyang in West Zhou[*which?*] in 307 BC. Only constant political manoeuvring and ever-changing alliances of the king and the feudal lords ensured the survival of West and East Zhou, even though the two Zhou states often weakened themselves by conspiring against each other. Once, Qin planned to march its troops through East and West Zhou to attack Han, so that the lords of Zhou feared to be caught in war between the two states. The Scribe Yan advised King Nan that it would be of advantage if Han would cede some territory to Zhou and Zhou send some hostages to Chu. Qin would then suspect the state of Chu was planning an attack on Qin during its campaign against Han. At the same time the king of Zhou should, as Yan suggested, explain to the king of Qin that Han suspected Zhou of conspiring with Qin because of the present of land made to Zhou. With this method the king of Zhou would increase his territory and avoid Qin troops marching through his land. On another occasion, King Nan was summoned to Qin's royal court to debate the question of attacking the Han city of Nanyang. Instead of following the request, Nan conspired with Han to block the way between Zhou and Qin in order to prevent the debate and avoid a war.

King Nan's rule was not only threatened by outside powers, but also by the constant conflict between the lords of West and East Zhou. When they went to war, the state of Han initially supported West Zhou's nobles, but went on to betray its allies. Instead of fighting East Zhou, the Han forces looted Wangcheng and Nan's royal palace, while avoiding war with the Son of Heaven, King Nan, as they were still officially "allies". As Zhou grew increasingly weak, the king's rule was more frequently challenged by expansionist Qin. In 273 BC Ma Fan developed a plan to protect the Nine Tripod Cauldrons of Yu the Great representing royal authority by enlisting the help of King Anxi of Wei, who constructed a fortification wall for Zhou. Nevertheless, the Zhou dynasty remained unable to stop Qin's expansion, and Nan's kingdom was only spared because the rulers of Qin believed that the annihilation of the land of the Son of Heaven would damage their names. In order to survive, Nan and his officials even used to function as a spy for Qin in explaining the military changes in the state of Han, Wei and Zhao.

#### Fall

Only when Qin occupied the town of Fushu, belonging to Han, but in the vicinity of the ancient royal capital, Nan and the lords of West Zhou became so frightened of an impending invasion that they joined an alliance against Qin. West Zhou attacked Qin, but was quickly driven back. Wangcheng was finally conquered in 256 BC, and King Nan travelled to Xianyang to submit to King Zhaoxiang of Qin. West Zhou was then annexed by Qin, whereupon Nan was demoted to Duke of West Zhou. Imprisoned in Wangcheng, he died shortly afterwards, "and the rituals of the Zhou dynasty ceased forever". Qin seized the Nine Tripod Cauldrons and exiled Nan's heir, Ji Wen, to Danhu. Both the royal Ji family and many citizens of West Zhou then fled to East Zhou, where they and the local lords proclaimed Duke Wen of Eastern Zhou the new king. Duke Wen was never recognized king outside of East Zhou, however, so that Nan is generally considered the last rightful King of Zhou. Together with Nan's son Ji Zhao, Wen led the resistance against Qin, but they were defeated in 251 and 249 BC, respectively. East Zhou was annexed by Qin, and none of Nan's sons subsequently laid claim to the Zhou dynastic imperial title. The remaining royal Ji family fled to the State of Wey. Thus ended the Zhou dynasty, whose fall was hardly noted by the people and states of China. However, soon after Nan's death a king of Qin lamented the dynasty's fall as disruptive for the order of Heaven and Earth. Likewise, the scholars of Qin wrote in the Lüshi Chunqiu:

> "Nowadays, the house of Zhou has been destroyed, [the line of] the Sons of Heaven has been severed. There is no greater turmoil than the absence of the Son of Heaven; without the Son of Heaven, the strong overcome the weak, the many lord it over the few, they use arms to harm each other having no rest."
>
>

The title of "Son of Heaven" was eventually adopted by Qin Shi Huang, when he proclaimed himself the First Emperor.