King Wen of Zhou

Chinese scholars (e.g. Wang Yunwu (王雲五), Li Xueqin (李学勤), etc.) identified King Wen with a 周方白[lower-alpha 1]; Zhōufāng bó; 'Elder of Zhou region' mentioned in inscriptions H11:82 & H11:84 among oracle bones excavated at Zhouyuan (周原), Qishan County.[2]

Painting of King Wen of Zhou by Kanō Sansetsu.
Japan, Edo period, 1632.

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 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.[3] 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 – 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 the West (Western Shang).[4]^: 717 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 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, 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[5] one hundred kilometers east from Mount Qi to Feng, placing 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.[6]

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.[7] 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.[8]^: 15

The theory of political legitimacy that prevailed during the Zhou dynasty and found adherents throughout the following millennia was known as the Mandate of Heaven. According to this theory, Heaven established the sovereign lexically the same way a sovereign would establish a vassal,[8]^: 9 legitimacy flowed from Heaven's will through the person of the ruler to his lords and his family.[9] 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 a new successor, portended by various omens or disasters.[10] King Wen was said to be mandated by Heaven because the virtue of the Shang kings had declined too greatly.[11]^{: 515–516} 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 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.[12]^{: 123–124, 129} One or more of these[13]^: 38 was interpreted by King Wen as a visible sign indicating his divine appointment.[14]^: 30–31 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 the sky" (天有大令).[13]^: 39[lower-alpha 2]

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 the celestial phenomena that formed the seed of what has been called the Zhou dynasty's most important contribution to Chinese political thought[15]^: 291 cannot be securely slotted into King Wen's timeline.

As depicted in the album Portraits of Famous Men c. 1900 CE, housed in the Philadelphia Museum of Art

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 the one in Heaven,
they hurry swiftly within the temple.
Greatly illustrious, greatly honored,
may [King Wen] never be weary of [us] men.

— "Eulogies of Zhou – Clear Temple" (Chinese: 清廟; pinyin: Qīng miào) [16]

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.

Wives:

• Tai Si, of the Youshen lineage of the Si clan (太姒 姒姓 有莘氏)

Concubines:

• Lady, of the Zi clan of Shang (子姓), a daughter of Wen Ding and a younger sister of Di Yi
• Other spouses.

Sons:[18]

• By Tai Si:[19]
  • First son: Bo Yikao;
  • Second son: Fa (發); ruled as King Wu of Zhou;
  • Third son: Xian (鮮), ruled Guan;
  • Fourth son: Dan (旦),
    • Served as Grand Tutor and regent for King Cheng of Zhou;[20]
    • Dan's son Boqin ruled as Duke of Lu;
  • Fifth son: Du (度), ruled Cai;
  • Sixth son: Zhenduo (振鐸), ruled Cao;
  • Seventh son: Wu (武), ruled Cheng (郕);
  • Eight son: Chu (處), ruled Huo;
  • Ninth son: Feng (封), ruled Kang then Wey;
  • Tenth son: Zai (載), ruled Ran (冉) or Dan (聃).
• By other spouses:[21]
  • Ruler of Gao 郜;
  • Count of Yong 雍;
  • Zheng (鄭), Duke of Mao 毛;[22]
  • Xiu (繡), ruler of Teng;[23]
  • Gao 高, ruled as Duke of Bi 畢;[24]
  • Count of Yuan 原
  • Marquis of Feng 酆
  • Count of Xun 郇
  •  Possibly Shi 奭, Duke of Shao 召, ruler of Yan[lower-alpha 3][25][26][27][28]
    • Served as Grand Protector to King Cheng[20]

• Yuanhe Xingzuan "Register of surnames of the Yuanhe reign" lists King Wen's sons in a slightly different order of birth:[29]
  • Eldest son: Bo Yikao (伯邑考)
  • Second son: Fa, King Wu of Zhou (周武王)
  • Third son: Xian, Ruler of Guan (管叔鮮)
  • Fourth son: Dan, Duke of Zhou (周公旦)
  • Fifth son: Du, Ruler of Cai (蔡叔度)[lower-alpha 4]
  • Sixth son: Chu, Ruler of Huo (霍叔處)
  • Seventh son: Wu, Ruler of Cheng (郕叔武)
  • Eight son: Feng, Ruler of Kang then Wey ([衛]康叔封)
  • Ninth son: Zheng, Ruler of Mao (毛叔鄭)
  • Tenth son: Zai, Ruler of Ran (冉[lower-alpha 5]季載)
  • Eleventh son: Ruler of Gao (郜叔)
  • Twelfth son: Count of Yong (雍伯)
  • Thirteenth son: Zhenduo, Ruler of Cao (曹叔振鐸)
  • Fourteenth son: Xiu, Marquis of Teng (滕侯 / 滕叔繡)
  • Fifteenth son: Gao, Duke of Bi (畢公高)
  • Sixteenth son: Count of Yuan (原伯)
  • Seventeenth son: Marquis of Feng (豐侯)[lower-alpha 6]
  • Eighteenth son: Count of Xun (郇伯)[lower-alpha 7]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to King Wen of Zhou.

• Ci Hai Bian Ji Wei Yuan Hui (辞海编辑委员会). Shanghai Ci Shu Chu Ban She (Shanghai), 1979 (in Chinese)
• Wu, K. C. The Chinese Heritage. Crown Publishers (New York), 1982. ISBN 0-517-54475-X.