Dan, Duke Wen of Zhou , commonly known as the Duke of Zhou , was a member of the royal family of the early Zhou dynasty who played a major role in consolidating the kingdom established by his elder brother King Wu . He was renowned for acting as a capable and loyal regent for his young nephew King Cheng , and for successfully suppressing the Rebellion of the Three Guards and establishing firm rule of the Zhou dynasty over eastern China. He is also a Chinese culture hero , with the authorship of the I Ching and the Classic of Poetry having traditionally been attributed to him, as well as the establishment of the Rites of Zhou .
34-501: His personal name was Dan ( 旦 ). He was the fourth son of King Wen of Zhou and Queen Tai Si . His eldest brother Bo Yikao predeceased their father (supposedly a victim of cannibalism); the second-eldest defeated the Shang dynasty at the Battle of Muye around 1046 BC, ascending the throne as King Wu . King Wu distributed many fiefs to his relatives and followers and Dan charged with securing
68-610: A 周方白 ; Zhōufāng bó ; 'Elder of Zhou region' mentioned in inscriptions H11:82 & H11:84 among oracle bones excavated at Zhouyuan ( 周原 ), Qishan County . Born Ji Chang ( 姬昌 ), Wen was the son of Tairen and Ji Jili , the Elder of Zhou , a vassal clan 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
102-426: A new successor, portended by various omens or disasters. King Wen was said to be mandated by Heaven because the virtue of the Shang kings had declined too greatly. While this political theory gained a great deal of sophistication over time, it seems to have begun with King Wen reading the skies. In 1059 BCE , two unusual celestial phenomena took place. In May, the densest clustering in five hundred years' time of
136-546: Is attributed to him. The main line of the Duke of Zhou's descendants came from his firstborn son, the State of Lu ruler Bo Qin 's third son Yu ( 魚 ) whose descendants adopted the surname Dongye ( 東野 ). The Duke of Zhou's offspring held the title of Wujing Boshi ( 五經博士 ; Wǔjīng Bóshì). One of the Duke of Zhou's 72 generation descendants family tree was examined and commented on by Song Lian . Duke Huan of Lu 's son through Qingfu ( 慶父 )
170-459: Is now Shandong Province . It was bordered to the north by the powerful state of Qi and to the south by the powerful state of Chu . The position of Lu on the eastern frontiers of the Western Zhou state, facing the non-Zhou peoples in states such as Lai and Xu , was an important consideration in its foundation. William H. Baxter (apud Matisoff , 1995) suggests a semantic connection between
204-510: The Battle of Changshao in 684 BC, Lu would never regain the upper hand against its neighbour. Meanwhile, the power of the dukes of Lu was eventually undermined by the powerful feudal clans of Jisun 季孫, Mengsun 孟孫, and Shusun 叔孫 (called the Three Huan because they were descendants of Duke Huan of Lu ). The domination of the Three Huan was such that Duke Zhao of Lu , in attempting to regain power,
238-481: The nine tripod cauldrons symbolic of royal authority, while the Duke continued to administer the kingdom from the former capital of Haojing . Once Cheng came of age, according to traditional narrative, the Duke of Zhou dutifully gave up the throne without trouble. The duke's eight sons all received land from the king. The eldest son received Lu ; the second succeeded to his father's fief, Zhou [ zh ] . In later centuries, subsequent emperors considered
272-581: The 13th century CE. The 12th-century BCE Duke of Zhou's third son was the ancestor of the Jiangs. King Wen of Zhou King Wen of Zhou ( Chinese : 周文王 ; pinyin : Zhōu Wén Wáng ; 1152–1050 BC, the Cultured King) was the posthumous title given to Ji Chang ( Chinese : 姬昌 ), the patriarch of the Zhou state during the final years of Shang dynasty in ancient China . Ji Chang himself died before
306-584: The Duke of Zhou a paragon of virtue and honored him with posthumous names . The empress Wu Zetian named her short-lived 8th-century Zhou dynasty (known as Wu Zhou in historiography) after him and called him the Honorable and Virtuous King ( 褒 德 王 , Bāodé Wáng ). In 1008, the Zhenzong Emperor gave the Duke the posthumous title King of Exemplary Culture ( traditional Chinese : 文憲王 ; simplified Chinese : 文宪王 ; pinyin : Wénxiàn Wáng ). He
340-591: The Duke of Zhou had managed to defeat the Three Guards and other rebellions and his armies pushed east, bringing more land under Zhou control. The Duke of Zhou was credited with elaborating the doctrine of the Mandate of Heaven , which countered Shang propaganda that as descendants of the god Shangdi they should be restored to power. According to this doctrine, Shang injustice and decadence had so grossly offended Heaven that Heaven had removed their authority and commanded
374-463: The Duke of Zhou." This was meant as a lamentation of how the governmental ideals of the Duke of Zhou had faded, but was later taken literally. In Chinese legends, if an important thing is going to happen to someone, the Duke of Zhou will let the person know through dreams: hence the Chinese expression "Dreaming of Zhou Gong". Zhou Gong's Explanations of Dreams (Chinese: 周公解夢, pinyin: Zhōu gōng jiěmèng )
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#1732854999666408-488: The Mandate of Heaven. According to this theory, Heaven established the sovereign lexically the same way a sovereign would establish a vassal, legitimacy flowed from Heaven's will through the person of the ruler to his lords and his family. The sovereign was held to be Heaven's eldest son in a manner analogous to the patrilineal kin-based society of Predynastic Zhou. If the sovereign was insufficiently virtuous, Heaven would choose
442-738: The Shang under imminent threat. The following year, however, the Overlord of the West died before he could cross the Ford. Nonetheless, that other sources suggest he died in battle during the Zhou campaign against the Shang. Four years after his death, his second son, known as King Wu , followed his footsteps and crushed the Shang at Muye , founding the Zhou dynasty . The name "Wen" now means "the Cultured" or "the Civilizing" and
476-552: The West (Western Shang). Wen offered a piece of his land in Western Luo to King Zhou, who in turn allowed Wen to make one last request. He requested that the Burning Pillar punishment be abolished, and so it was. . Subsequently, upon returning home Wen secretly began to plot to overthrow King Zhou. In his first year as Overlord of the West, he settled a land dispute between the states of Yu and Rui, earning greater recognition among
510-405: The celestial phenomena that formed the seed of what has been called the Zhou dynasty's most important contribution to Chinese political thought cannot be securely slotted into King Wen's timeline. Ah! Solemn is the clear temple, reverent and concordant the illustrious assistants. Dignified, dignified are the many officers, holding fast to the virtue of King Wen. Responding in praise to
544-403: The early Spring and Autumn period , Lu was one of the strongest states and a rival of Qi to its north. Under Duke Yin and Duke Huan of Lu , Lu defeated both Qi and Song on several occasions. At the same time, it undertook expeditions against other minor states. This changed by the middle of the period, as Lu's main rival, Qi, grew increasingly dominant. Although a Qi invasion was defeated in
578-577: The eight 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 . In 196 BC, Han Gaozu gave King Wen the title "Greatest of All Kings". Wives: Concubines: Sons: State of Lu Lu ( Chinese : 魯 , c. 1042 – 249 BC)
612-672: The end of the Zhou-Shang War, and his second son Ji Fa completed the conquest of Shang following the Battle of Muye , and posthumously honored him as the founder of the Zhou dynasty . Many of the hymns of the Classic of Poetry are praises to the legacy of King Wen. Some consider him the first epic hero of Chinese history. Although frequently confused with his fourth son Duke of Zhou , also known as "Lord Zhou", they are different historical persons. Chinese scholars (e.g. Wang Yunwu ( 王雲五 ), Li Xueqin ( 李学勤 ), etc.) identified King Wen with
646-461: The five planets visible to the naked eye could be seen in the constellation of Cancer, followed a few seasons later by an apparition of Comet 1P/Halley . One or more of these was interpreted by King Wen as a visible sign indicating his divine appointment. Early records, such as the inscription on the Da Yu ding , describe Heaven's Mandate in terms of an actual astronomic event: "the great command in
680-410: The former Shang capital region near present-day Luoyang . Only three years after assuming power, King Wu died and left the kingdom to his young son King Cheng . The Duke of Zhou successfully attained the regency and administered the kingdom himself, leading to revolts not only from disgruntled Shang partisans but also from his own relatives, particularly his older brother Guan Shu . Within five years,
714-599: The late 12th century BC, leaving the young Chang as the Elder of the Zhou lineage. Wen married Taisi and fathered ten sons and one daughter by her, plus at least another eight sons with concubines. 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. His eldest son, Bo Yikao , went to King Zhou to plead for his freedom, but
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#1732854999666748-517: 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
782-464: The one in Heaven, they hurry swiftly within the temple. Greatly illustrious, greatly honored, may [King Wen] never be weary of [us] men. Many of the older odes from the 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. King Wen is also credited with having stacked
816-406: The reluctant Zhou to replace the Shang and restore order. On a more practical level, the Duke of Zhou expanded and codified his brother's system of territorial administration , granting titles to loyal Shang clansmen and even establishing a new capital city at Chengzhou around 1038 BC. Laid out according to exact geomantic principles , Chengzhou was the home of King Cheng, the Shang nobility, and
850-425: The sky" ( 天有大令 ). The transmitted record does not place King Wen's receipt of the Mandate in his biography, although the widespread traditions that hold the idea of its existence to be true universally agree that he did receive it at some point during his career. While his conquests, imprisonment, establishments, and rebellion form a traditional relative chronology, the absolute date calculated by modern scholars of
884-614: The states of the Eastern Zhou and in history. The Annals of Spring and Autumn , for instance, was written with the Lu rulers' years as their basis. Another great work of Chinese history, the Zuo Zhuan or Commentary of Zuo , was traditionally considered to have been written in Lu by Zuo Qiuming . The state's capital was in Qufu and its territory mainly covered the central and southwest regions of what
918-570: The three of them. The following year, he attacked Li, a puppet of Shang, and the next year he attacked 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 one hundred kilometers east from Mount Qi to Feng , placing
952-515: The toponym 魯 Lǔ and its homophone 鹵 lǔ "salty, rock salt " (< OC * C-rāʔ ) since that region was a salt marsh in ancient times. Lu was one of several states founded in eastern China at the very beginning of the Zhou dynasty, in order to extend Zhou rule far from its capital at Zongzhou and power base in the Guanzhong region. Throughout Western Zhou times, it played an important role in stabilising Zhou control in modern-day Shandong. During
986-569: Was a vassal state during the Zhou dynasty of ancient China located around modern Shandong . Founded in the 11th century BC, its rulers were from a cadet branch of the House of Ji ( 姬 ) that ruled the Zhou dynasty. The first duke was Boqin , a son of the Duke of Zhou , who was brother of King Wu of Zhou and regent to King Cheng of Zhou . Lu was the home state of Confucius as well as Mozi , and, as such, has an outsized cultural influence among
1020-525: Was also known as the First Sage ( traditional Chinese : 元聖 ; simplified Chinese : 元圣 ; pinyin : Yuán Shèng ). In 2004, Chinese archaeologists reported that they may have found his tomb complex in Qishan County , Shaanxi . Duke of Zhou is also known as the "God of Dreams". The Analects record Confucius saying, "How I have gone downhill! It has been such a long time since I dreamt of
1054-450: 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 – including gold, horses, and women – that he released Wen, and also bestowed upon him his personal weapons and invested him with the special rank of Overlord of
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1088-504: Was exiled by them and never returned. It would not be until Duke Mu of Lu 's reign, in the early Warring States period , that power eventually returned to the dukes again. In 249 BC King Kaolie of the state of Chu invaded and annexed Lu. Duke Qing, the last ruler of Lu, became a commoner. The main line of the Duke of Zhou's descendants came from his firstborn son, the State of Lu ruler Bo Qin 's third son Yu (魚) whose descendants adopted
1122-409: 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. The theory of political legitimacy that prevailed during the Zhou dynasty and found adherents throughout the following millennia was known as
1156-559: Was the ancestor of Mencius . He was descended from Duke Yang of the State of Lu 魯煬公 Duke Yang was the son of Bo Qin , who was the son of the Duke of Zhou. The genealogy is found in the Mencius family tree ( 孟子世家大宗世系 ). The Zhikou Jiangs (also romanized as "Chiangs") such as Chiang Kai-shek were descended from Jiang Shijie who during the 17th century moved there from Fenghua District , whose ancestors in turn came to southeastern China's Zhejiang province after moving out of Northern China in
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