Character Profile
The Duke of Zhou, surnamed Ji and named Dan, was the fourth son of King Wen of Zhou, Ji Chang, and the younger brother of King Wu of Zhou, Ji Fa, who twice assisted King Wu of Zhou in his eastern conquest of King Zhou and made rites and music. He was called the Duke of Zhou because he had his cemetery in Zhou and his title was Shang Gong. The Duke of Zhou was an outstanding politician, military man, thinker and educator at the beginning of the Western Zhou Dynasty, and is revered as a “Yuan sage” and a pioneer of Confucianism.
The achievements of the Duke of Zhou in his life are summarized in the Shangshu-Da Zhuan as follows: “In one year, he saved the chaos, in two years, he grasped Yin, in three years, he trampled on Am, in four years, he built Houwei, in five years, he set up Cheng Zhou, in six years, he made rituals and music, and in seven years, he gave his administration to King Cheng.”
The Duke of Zhou, in his seven years of regency, proposed various aspects with fundamental rules and regulations, improved the patriarchal system, the feudal system, the law of succession of the first-born son and the well field system. The most important feature of these systems was that they integrated family and state, politics and ethics, with the patriarchal bloodline as the bond, which had a great influence on Chinese feudal society and laid the foundation for the 800-year rule of the Zhou Dynasty.
Biography
Assisting King Wu
Zhou Gong Dan was the brother of King Wu of Zhou, Ji Fa. When King Wen of Zhou Ji Chang was still alive, the Duke of Zhou was very filial, loyal and benevolent. By the time Ji Fa reigned, the Duke of Zhou often helped and assisted Ji Fa in many political affairs. At the time of King Wen of Zhou, the Zhou people had already begun to circle and struggle with the Shang dynasty. At the beginning, Ji Chang gained the trust of Emperor Di Xin, the king of Zhou of Shang, and the king of Yin gave Ji Chang a bow and axe, so that he could have the power of conquest. When Ji Chang died seven years after being ordered to do so, Ji Fa assumed the throne, still with Taigongwang (Jiang Shang) as the state teacher and the Duke of Zhou as the auxiliary minister. Taigong and Duke of Zhou were the most powerful assistants of King Wu. The Duke of Zhou was King Wu’s sibling brother, so he always discussed with the Duke of Zhou on military and state affairs, as well as other difficult and trivial matters.
In the second month of the year of King Wu’s official reign, King Wu secretly contacted the Duke of Zhou at Fengdi. King Wu thought about the destruction of Shang day and night, and quietly considered how to get the cooperation and response of the lords. King Wu was worried that the time to overthrow the Shang dynasty would be easily lost when it came, just like in the autumn when the crops were ripe and if he did not go to harvest, the grains would automatically fall to the ground. The Duke of Zhou replied, “The deciding factor lies in virtue. For the Zhou people, the most important thing is to respect and honor the Mandate of Heaven, and not to offend the lords near and far, and not to lose the lords who have already made peace. We must continue to cultivate morality and not be comfortable and inactive, otherwise it will be difficult to manage”. King Wu planned to destroy Shang, but he was also worried that some things would not be done well. On a day in January of the second year of his reign, King Wu again summoned the Duke of Zhou to his side and said to him, “Yu has been jealous of Shang for a long time and does not know the pole. To listen in order to diligence the world.” He said that he was always on guard against the Yin people, but he did not know the best way. King Wu asked the Duke of Zhou for advice, so that he could listen to him and work diligently for the world. The Duke of Zhou then advised King Wu to be obedient and diligent in his endeavors.
In the ninth year of King Wu’s reign, with the assistance of the Duke of Zhou, King Wu conquered Shang in the east. When the troops arrived at Mengjin, the Zhou army made a divine lord of King Wen and carried it in a car, placing it in the middle army. King Wu called himself “Prince Fa”, indicating that he was on the order of King Wen to carry out the expedition and dared not do it by himself. Then he told all the officials to be respectful and pious, and to inherit the virtues of his ancestors, and also set out the rewards and punishments so as to better accomplish the task. This military observation was apparently of a drill nature, which facilitated familiarization with the terrain and route for the future northern expedition of the army across the river, as well as testing the reality of the Shang Dynasty and the reaction of the lords. In this alliance, 800 lords arrived unexpectedly. This was a better incentive for King Wu to strengthen his determination to destroy Shang and continue to cultivate virtue for the time.
The idea of the Duke of Zhou honoring virtue was also reflected in the meeting and vow held in Mengjin (Mengjin County, Luoyang City, Henan Province, today). King Wu first sacrificed to the gods of heaven and went eastward to review his army until he reached Mengjin. This action was the first large-scale outing of King Wu after his reign.
Yin Jianzhou
King Zhou of Shang did not deeply realize the penetration of the Zhou people to the East, and continued to frequently conquer the Eastern barbarians externally, refusing to admonish and decorate the wrong people internally, drinking wine and women, drinking pools and meat forests, making the domestic politics a chaos. After the death of King Wen of Zhou, King Wu took the throne, with the Duke of Zhou as his main right-hand man, and with the help of Duke Zhaogong and Duke Bi, he watched the military in Mengjin and met with all the lords of the world, which was a kind of general rehearsal before the attack, and also a kind of test.
In the eleventh year of King Wu’s reign, in December of the second year after observing the army, King Wu, with the help of the Duke of Zhou and others, led 300 chariots, 3,000 Huben, and 45,000 armorers across the Mengjin to the Shang kingdom of Makino. In the early morning of the first day of the second month of the year 1046 BC, King Wu gathered all the people in the Shang suburb of Muye to take an oath, and the oath was the “Oath of Muye” in the “Shang Shu”.
King Zhou sent his troops to resist, but they turned their spears around and charged back, and Zhou’s army was defeated. King Zhou climbed the deer platform and burned himself to death, and the Shang Dynasty fell. The next day, the Duke of Zhou took the big battle-axe and the Duke of Zhaogong took the small battle-axe and announced the crimes of King Zhou to the heaven and the people of Yin, officially announcing the demise of Yin Dynasty and the replacement of Zhou Dynasty with King Wu as the Son of Heaven. At this time, the status of the Duke of Zhou was second only to that of King Wu, and the great battle-axe that the Duke of Zhou held was a symbol of power.
After the destruction of the Shang Dynasty, King Wu divided the area directly ruled by the Shang Dynasty into three parts: Name was in charge of King Zhou’s son, Wu Geng Lu Fu. The feudal state was headed by Wu Geng Lu Fu, son of King Zhou, while the feudal state was headed by Cai Shu Du, and the feudal state was headed by Guan Shu Xian, known as the “Three Supervisors” (some say that Guan Shu, Cai Shu, and Huo Shu were called the “Three Supervisors”. However, Huo Shu was one of the “Three Supervisors”, which is not contained in “Historical Records” and “Book of Han”). Guan Shu’s fief was in Guan, and Cai Shu’s fief was in Cai. Bo Zu, the son of Duke of Zhou, was enfeoffed in Am. Sealed Tai Gong Wang in Yingqiu. Sealed Zhaogong Shi in Yan.
divide and conquer
When King Wu died two years after the destruction of Shang, King Cheng was still in infancy. The Duke of Zhou, fearing that the world would hear of King Wu’s death and betray the court, ascended to the throne to take over the administration and preside over the state for King Cheng. Guan Shu and his brothers spread rumors in the state that “the Duke of Zhou would be against King Cheng.” The Duke of Zhou then told Tai Gongwang and Zhaogong Shi (shì, style), “King Wu died prematurely and King Cheng was young, and it is only to accomplish the great task of stabilizing the Zhou dynasty that I am doing this.” In the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the Duke of Zhou assisted King Cheng of the Heavenly Son Zhou in his eastern expedition to destroy the state of Am, which had joined the rebellion of Wu Geng, and then he divided his eldest son, Bo Zu, in the former land of Am, and established the state of Lu under the title of “Lu” in the original fief of the Duke of Zhou, with the capital at Qu Fu, south of Mount Tai, in the southern part of modern Shandong Province.
At that time, the world was very unstable in the Western Zhou Dynasty, so Zhou Gong Dan and Zhaogong Shi decided to divide and rule Shaanxi. Shaanxi” means the area around Sanmenxia today, and the “Water Classic” says it is the area around the old Shaanzhou city (Shaanmu), while the “Bracket Earth” says it refers to the Shaanxi Plateau (Zhang Bian Plateau in Shaanxi County, Sanmenxia today). When Zhou and Zhaogong agreed, they cut a stone pillar three and a half meters high and planted it at the boundary, which was called “pillar for the boundary”. The Duke of Zhou and the Duke of Zhaogong took “Shaanxi” as the dividing line and divided the ruling area of the Zhou Dynasty into two administrative regions, the Duke of Zhou managed the east of Shaanxi and the Duke of Zhaogong managed the west of Shaanxi (the name Shaanxi originated from here). This stone pillar, which was planted at the boundary, is the earliest boundary stone in China.
After Zhou Zhaoshao’s division of Shaanxi, Zhou Gongdan could devote his main attention to preventing the rebellion of the Yin Shang remnants and stabilizing the newly expanded territories in the east; while Zhaogong Shi’s responsibility was to further develop agricultural production in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, establish a consolidated economic backbone, and relieve the Zhou dynasty of its worries in further expanding its territory.
The Second Eastern Expedition
Suspecting that the Duke of Zhou had the intention to usurp the throne, Guan Shu and Cai Shu colluded with King Zhou’s son Wu Geng and united with the eastern barbarian tribes to rebel against the Zhou Dynasty, which was called the Rebellion of the Three Supervisors. On the order of King Cheng, the Duke of Zhou raised his troops to the east and wrote the Great Letters. The Duke of Zhou successfully defeated the rebellion of the Three Supervisors by executing Guan Shu, killing Wu Geng and exiling Cai Shu. He also sent Kang Shu to Wei and Weizi to Song to perform the sacrifices of Yin. After the Duke of Zhou pacified Guan and Cai, he marched to the east and destroyed more than fifty countries, including Am (Qufu in Shandong province), and drove Fei Lian to the sea and killed him. From then on, the power of Zhou extended to the sea. The pacification of Huaiyi and other areas in the east was all done in two years. All the vassals were subservient to the Zhou Dynasty.
King Wu’s conquest of Shang only struck at the core of the Shang dynasty, and it was not until the Duke of Zhou’s eastern expedition that its peripheral forces were cleared. Although there were about fifty states destroyed during the three-year Eastern Expedition, the consolidation and expansion of the occupied territories was still after the enfeoffment of the same surname. After the Eastern Expedition, the Zhou people were no longer the “small state of Zhou” in the west, but became a great power from the east to the sea, from the south to the Huai River basin, and from the north to Liaodong. The Duke of Zhou’s Eastern Expedition swept the lower reaches of the Great River like a storm, disturbing the pattern of the original clans and tribes. A part of Xu fled to Jiangnan (now Jiangxi); a part of Dongyi was driven to the Huai River basin; Ying moved west; and Chu fled to Danshui basin. The battle in the East was brutal and fierce. The warriors followed the Duke of Zhou’s East expedition, and the axe cut out the gaps, even though they had suffered a lot from the battle, they were lucky to be alive. The warriors on the Eastern Expedition missed their homeland, and once they were relieved of their armor and returned to their fields, their hearts were filled with all kinds of reveries, and the poem “Shi Jing – Bin Feng – Dong Shan” is a vivid depiction of this mentality. It is no longer the situation of “the wind and the rain are shaking, and I only have the sound to chew” before the battle.
with a fence around
After putting down the rebellion, Duke Dan of Zhou formally advised King Cheng of Zhou to move the capital to Luoyi (present-day Luoyang) in Cheng Zhou in order to strengthen his control over the East. At the same time, he moved a large number of Shang nobles captured in the war, the “Yin naughty people”, to Luoyi, and sent Duke Zhaogong to station eight divisions of troops in Luoyi to strengthen their supervision. How to rule over the conquered areas was a big problem after the war was won. The destruction of Xia by the Yin and Yin by the Zhou was caused by the destruction of the neighboring fiefdoms, such as Wei, Gu and Kunwu, which were all vassals with different surnames at the end of Xia. At the end of the Shang Dynasty, Li, Yu and Chong were the defenders of the western part of the Shang Dynasty. After King Wen of the Zhou Dynasty destroyed them, King Wu was able to drive straight to the Shang capital near Muye to destroy Zhou. The rebellion of Wu Geng, Am and Huai Yi showed that the old clan leaders could not be used in important areas, and the most reliable members of the Zhou clan had to be assigned to the periphery of the capital to guard the king’s capital, which was essentially different from the feudalization in King Wu’s time.
After establishing the capital of Luoyi, Duke Dan of Zhou began to implement the policy of feudal states. He set up seventy-one feudal states, and sent fifteen brothers of King Wu and sixteen meritorious officials to the feudal states as vassals to defend the royal family. In addition, the well field system was widely implemented in the feudal states, and the land was planned in a unified manner, which consolidated and strengthened the economic foundation of the Zhou Dynasty.
Zhou Gongdan made his younger brother Kang Shu the ruler of Wei and made him stationed at the old Shang market to manage the remnants of the Shang dynasty there. He was given seven clans of Yin people: Tao, Shi, Fan, FOH, Fan, Hungry, and Final Kwai, which were mostly clans with some kind of handicraft expertise. Kang not only had a large fiefdom, but also had eight divisions of soldiers to prevent the Yin people from rebelling again. Jiang Taigong was originally appointed as the Marquis of Qi, and his capital was Yingqiu (north of Linzi, Shandong Province). The Duke of Zhou told the Duke of Zhaogong to give him the land “from the east to the sea, from the west to the river, from the south to Muling, and from the north to Wu Di.” At the same time also has the privilege of conquest and invasion, “five marquises and nine boars, actually have to conquer the.” There were many small states near Yingqiu, and the people of Dongyilai competed with him for land when Tai Gong was enthroned. Qi successively destroyed these small states and became a great power in the east. The eldest son of Duke Zhaogong, who had the same surname of Zhou, was enfeoffed to Yan, and the capital was built in Ji (around Beijing today) only after the rebellion was put down. Yan was a barrier to the northeast of the Zhou dynasty. Its establishment would cut off the old clan of Yin Shang and his northern state of Luzhu with the same surname.
Feudal relatives, with a vassal to screen the week
Weizi did not participate in the rebellion of the Three Supervisors. After the rebellion, he was appointed to represent the descendants of the Yin people and to worship the previous kings of Yin, and set up a state in Song (present-day Shangqiu, Henan Province), which later became a famous great state. To the west of Song was the state of Qi, a descendant of Xia Yu (today’s Qixian County, Henan Province), to the southwest was the state of Chen, a descendant of Yu Shun (today’s Huaiyang, Henan Province), and to the north were some other small states. Song was surrounded by all the states.
In addition to the above-mentioned countries, the Duke of Zhou also divided a large number of countries with the same surname and countries with different surnames. According to Xunzi – Confucian Effectiveness, the Duke of Zhou “established seventy-one states, with fifty-three people with the surname Ji living alone.” In the 24th year of Duke Xi of Zuo Zhuan, Fuliang said, “The Duke of Zhou’s younger brother, Er Shu, was not salty, so he feuded and built relatives to vassalize Zhou. Guan, Cai, Cheng, Huo, Lu, Wei, Mao, Dan, Gao, Yong, Cao, Teng, Bi, Yuan, Feng, and Jun, Wen’s Zhao also. Gan, Jin, Ying, Han, Wu’s Mu also. Where, Jiang, Xing, Mao, blessing, sacrifice, the Duke of Zhou’s Yin also.” It can be seen that the Duke of Zhou divided the number of small and large countries, not less.
Budu Ding Ding
According to the inscription of He Zun, after King Wu of the Zhou Dynasty destroyed the Shang Dynasty, the idea of building a capital in the center of the world was proposed because the capital of the Zhou Dynasty was to the west and could not control the eastern region where the old Yin Shang clan was widely distributed. The King of Wu was unable to sleep at night and sighed to the Duke of Zhou, “I have no time to sleep before I decide on the protection of heaven. In order to consolidate his new regime, King Wu of Zhou inspected the area around the two waters of Yi and Luo and prepared to build a new capital there, but he died before he could fully implement it. After the Duke of Zhou conquered Yin for the second time, he was desperate to move the center of gravity eastward as he explored the vast territory in the east. The Duke of Zhou, following the legacy of King Wu, built Luoyi, and after the Eastern conquest to put down the rebellion, the matter became more urgent. Said: this world, the four sides into the tribute, the road is even.”
Luoyi is located in the center of the Yiluo basin through which the Ishui and Luo waters flow, with flat terrain and fertile soil, looking south at Longmen Mountain and leaning north against Mang Mountain, surrounded by mountains and in a dangerous terrain. The four waters of Yi, Luo, Chanshui and Jian flow in between. According to the East-West traffic choke point. The river can be followed down to the hometown of the Yin people. Following the Luo River, it can reach Qi and Lu. In the south, the two waters of Ru and Ying can reach Xuyi and Huaiyi. The Yi and Luo basins were indeed a good place to build a capital.
In the fifth year of his reign, the Duke of Zhou began to build the city of Luo Yi on a large scale. On the fifth day of March, Duke Zhaoge came to Luoyi and determined the site of the city at the confluence of Jianshui and Luohui, and planned the location of the city, the temple, the dynasty and the city. On the next day, the Duke of Zhou came to Luoyi, inspected the planning of the new capital, and re-diagnosed the situation. The process of building Luoyi by the Duke of Zhou is also briefly described in the Shangshu: According to the Shangshu Zhaogu, on a day in February 1039 B.C., King Cheng of Zhou dispatched the eunuch Zhaogu to Luoyi to survey the base of the capital, which was called “Xiangzhai”. On the 5th of March, the Duke of Zhou arrived at Luoyi, and after receiving auspicious omens from the “house of divination”, he officially laid the foundation stone and started the construction. On March 12 of the same year, the Duke of Zhou arrived at Luoyi. On the 21st, after a grand ceremony, he issued an order for the construction of Luoyi to the nobles of Yin Shang and the heads of the vassal states. This was the beginning of the large-scale construction of the “Daeup Zhou”.
Luoyi, which was built under the auspices of the Duke of Zhou, was called “Cheng Zhou” or “Xinyi”, and was a large capital city, according to the Book of Yi Zhou. According to the book of Yi Zhou. To be the world’s largest pile”, “set up Qiu Zhaozhao in the southern suburbs, built a large community in the country”. The main buildings in the city were the “five palaces” such as the temple of the Emperor, the temple of the clan (the temple of King Wen), the palace of the court (the temple of King Wu), the road bed, and the hall of the Ming. The architectural structures of these palaces and temples were “four aces, anti-goblet, heavy hyper, heavy lang, often tired, compound frame, algae tax, set shift, brigade pillar, painting brigade” and so on, and there were different passages in the city such as “inner steps, xuan steps, dike tang, Yingmen, Kutai, and xuan yin”. It took about one year to build. The place was originally known as Eyi and was also known as Jia functioning place because of the 郏山 in the north. The new capital was the residence of the king of the Zhou Dynasty and was also called the “King City”. The eastern suburbs of Xinyi, east of the Chanshui River, where the Yin people lived, were called “Cheng Zhou”.
According to “Shang Shu – Luo Ge”, “In December of that year, Luo Yi was initially completed. The Zhou dynasty held a grand celebration ceremony. The Duke of Zhou led all the officials so that they could familiarize themselves with the rituals in the old capital before following the king to the new eup. King Cheng of Zhou began to receive the lords with Yin rites at the new capital, Luoyi, and sacrificed to King Wen in the new capital, and these rites were very solemn and orderly.
make rites and music
After the completion of Luoyi, the Duke of Zhou summoned the lords of the world to a grand celebration. Here, he officially enthroned all the lords of the world and announced various rules and regulations to plan for the long-term stability of the Zhou Dynasty.
According to “Shang Shu Da Zhuan – Kang Hao” said: “The Duke of Zhou lived in the regency for three years, the system of rites and music, the Duke of Zhou will make rites and music, you can not make three years, the gentleman is ashamed of its words and not seen from, ashamed of its line and not seen with. Will be a big work, afraid that the world does not know the items. Then the lords of the four quarters led their groups and each attacked the court. The Duke of Zhou said: ‘Showed by the force of service and still to, let alone guide it to the rituals and music? Then he dared to make rites and music.”
During his regency, the Duke of Zhou, on the basis of inheriting the “Wan” dance, presided over the production of the “Elephant”, a martial dance to praise the martial achievements of King Wu, and the “Discretion”, a literary dance to express the duties and rule of the Duke of Zhou and Zhaoge, in the sixth year of making rituals and music, together called “Da Wu”.
“Ritual” emphasizes “separation”, which is called “respect”; “music” serves to The function of “music” is to “harmonize”, which is called “kinship”. Difference and harmony are the two aspects that consolidate the internal unity of the Zhou people. The central issue to be solved by the rites was the distinction between superiority and inferiority, i.e., the patriarchal system, and furthermore, the establishment of the succession system. Without a strict succession system, the Duke of Zhou could certainly be called “King of Ham”, and Guan and Cai could betray the royal family by competing for the throne. The small state of Zhou could not disregard the lessons of the large state of Yin, and the Duke of Zhou knew the history of Xia and Yin very well. The Yin dynasty was divided into first and second generations, and the sons were given priority by their mothers, judging from the limited number of special sacrifices by their parents and brothers. The coexistence of a brother and a son in Yin led to the “nine generations of chaos”. It was the law of biology that a brother should eventually pass on his son. This is the law of biology. There is a contradiction between the transmission of sons and brothers, and the transmission of youngsters and sages. The son of a brother has a contradiction with the son of a brother. The existence of these conflicts often led to royal strife, which in turn led to the decline of royal power and a short period of statehood. In the Yin Dynasty, after Kang Ding, through Wu B, Wen Ding, Di B, and Di Xin (Zhou), the patriarchal system was clearly abolished and the sonship system was established. The patriarchal system inevitably led to a strict hierarchy of rituals that maintained the superiority of the father over the son, the superiority of the brother over the brother, and the superiority of the son over the vassal. This ritual was the externalization of the subordination. In turn, it plays a role in consolidating the patriarchal system, the purpose of which is to maintain the patriarchal system, to maintain the rule of the son of Zhou, who violated the specific provisions of etiquette, room, clothing, utensils, etc., will be considered rude, illegal. If the Zhou emperor could grant the people a territory, it must be based on the premise of land ownership. “Under the heaven, there is no other land than the king’s land, and on the shores of the land, there is no other subject than the king’s subject.” (Shi Jing – Xiao Ya – Bei Shan) It is not a fiction that the Duke of Zhou was a great ruler of the country and a great warrior. I’m afraid that the “no sale in the field”, which is derived from this, also comes from the Duke of Zhou. If the Duke of Zhou could grant Jiang Taigong the privilege of conquest and expedition, then I am afraid that the “rites and music of conquest and expedition came from the Son of Heaven” was established in the time of the Duke of Zhou or earlier, and was legislated by the Duke of Zhou. In order to strengthen the rule of the central dynasty over the local areas, the system of enfeoffment, hunting, pilgrimage and tribute was also probably established by the Duke of Zhou on the basis of the experience of previous generations.
To King Cheng
After six years of regency, when the king had grown up, he decided to return his rule to King Cheng. Before returning to power, the Duke of Zhou wrote “Wu Yi”, using the fall of Yin and Shang as a precedent, warning King Cheng to be aware of the “hardships of harvest” and not to indulge in sex, pleasure, amusement and hunting. He then “returned the government to King Cheng and took his position as a minister in the north”. After his abdication, Zhou Gongdan devoted his main attention to making rites and music and continued to improve various rules and regulations. In the second year of making rituals and music, which was the seventh year of the Duke of Zhou’s reign, the Duke of Zhou handed over the throne to King Cheng completely. The dialogue between the Duke of Zhou and King Cheng in the Shang Shu – Zhaogu, Shang Shu – Luogu, was probably recorded by the historian during the ceremony of holding the abdication of the Duke of Zhou and the view of King Cheng. When the country was in danger, he stepped forward without avoiding hardship and took up the heavy responsibility of the king; when the country turned from danger to peace and embarked on smooth development, he resolutely gave up the throne, a fearless and selfless spirit that has always been praised by future generations.
However, the Duke of Zhou did not let go of the throne because of his abdication. King Cheng certainly retained him, and he also kept giving advice to King Cheng, the most famous one being “Shang Shu – Wu Yi”. At the beginning of “Wu Yi”, it is said that only when one knows the hard work of farming can one understand the “little man”. When parents worked hard at farming and their children did not know the hardships of farming, they would be greedy for comfort and even be presumptuous, even insulting their parents by saying, “Old people, they know nothing.” Such unfilial words were never allowed to be spoken in those days. It is also mentioned in the Kanga that those who are unfilial and unfriendly should be punished. To be a supreme ruler one must know the hidden sufferings of the people below him, otherwise he would do absurd things. The Duke of Zhou went on to cite the famous kings of the Yin Dynasty, Taewu, Emperor Wu Ding, and Zu Jia, the grandson of Shang Tang, who were either solemn and fearful, diligent in restraining themselves, “not daring to be desolate,” or, having been small men for a long time, were able to protect the small people, not daring to insult the widows and widowers, and they all enjoyed the state for a long time. The subsequent kings of Yin were born comfortable and did not know the hard work of farming, but only wanted to enjoy themselves, so they did not enjoy their kingdom for long. The Duke of Zhou then goes on to cite the modesty and fear of King Tai and King Ji of the Zhou, especially mentioning that King Wen wore poor clothes, was frugal, participated in agricultural work, and was able to “protect the small people and benefit the widows and widowers”, sometimes not even having time to eat from morning to noon, in order to unite all the people. He did not dare to spend time in leisure and hunting and did not ask for extra things, so he enjoyed his kingdom for a long time. The Duke of Zhou warned his descendants not to indulge in “Yu Guan, Yu Yi, Yu You, and Yu Tian (field hunting)”, and not to indulge themselves by saying, “Let’s enjoy ourselves for a while, and not to be confused with wine like Shang Zhou. If you do not listen, you will disrupt the law of the previous king and incur the resentment and curse of the people. Someone told, “The villain hates and curses you.” You must say that you have made a mistake, examine yourself deeply, and do not contain your anger, or kill the innocent or punish the innocent indiscriminately. Otherwise, the same resentment will be concentrated on you alone, and the consequences will be unthinkable.
Before he died, the Duke of Zhou instructed: “I must be buried in Cheng Zhou, to show that I cannot leave King Cheng until I die”. When the Duke of Zhou died, King Cheng wanted to bury him in Cheng Zhou, the sky was thunderstormed with wind, the grain was laid down, the big wood was plucked, and the country was terrified.
Major Achievements
In terms of military achievements, the Duke of Zhou was able to overcome Yin for the second time, unify the East and establish a military center with Cheng Zhou as the center.
Military Achievements
Secondary Kern
In the third year after the destruction of Yin, in 1024 B.C., Guan Shu and Cai Shu encouraged Wu Geng and Lu Fu to join the rebellion against Zhou. In response, dozens of states in the East, such as Xu, Am and Huaiyi, who had close relations with the Shang, rose up. This was a very heavy blow to the Zhou dynasty, which had just been established for more than three years. If the rebellion was not overcome, the Zhou dynasty would face great difficulties and the success that King Wen of Zhou had built up for decades would be ruined. The Zhou royal family was in a precarious situation. There were also people within the royal family who were skeptical of the Duke of Zhou’s claim to the throne. This situation of internal and external attack made the Duke of Zhou in a very difficult situation. The Duke of Zhou first stabilized the internal situation and maintained unity by convincing Tai Gongwang and Zhaogong Shi. After unifying the internal opinions, the Duke of Zhou held an eastern expedition in the next year (1023 BC) to crush Guan, Cai and Wu Geng and stabilize the Zhou dynasty.
Learning from the fall of the Shang Dynasty and the armed rebellions of the “Three Supervisors”, the Duke of Zhou paid special attention to the political and moral education of the slave-owning nobles and their sons and daughters. “The “enjoining” was the most important part of the slave-owning nobles’ education. “It also proposed the principle of examining and selecting officials by their performance.
Eight Division Garrison
After the second conquest of Yin, the Zhou Dynasty recognized the need to expand the armed forces directly under the state, so the army of the three superintendents was integrated and another eight divisions, mainly composed of Zhou people, were built to guard the political center of the newly constructed Chengzou, the center of the Heiluo region, and to guard the Son of Zhou, hence the name “Chengzou Eight Divisions”. The Eight Divisions of Chengzou were the army stationed in Chengzou (Luoyi, present-day Luoyang, Henan Province) after the Duke of Zhou’s Eastern Expedition in the Western Zhou Dynasty. It was about 20,000 men. The main task was to pacify the southern barbarians.
The Duke of Zhou moved the Yin immigrants to the city of Cheng Zhou and collected the troops that had been stationed in the Shang homeland during the Western Zhou period and established the Eight Divisions of Yin, with about 20,000 men. The main task of the division was to pacify the East and watch over the remnants of Yin.
At the same time, the Six Western Divisions were formed to defend the western land of the Zhou’s emergence, centered on Haojing, which was called the “Six Western Divisions” because it was located in the west, and consisted mainly of Zhou people.
The eight divisions of Cheng Zhou, the eight divisions of Yin, and the six divisions of Xi were commanded by great nobles or great bureaucrats personally appointed by the son of Zhou. Thus, it can be seen that the army at the disposal of the Son of Zhou was as large as tens of thousands of men, which effectively ensured the proper functioning of the slave state apparatus.
Political Economy
In terms of the construction of the regime and various systems, the Duke of Zhou inherited the system of the previous generations and formulated a complete set of rules and regulations, such as the feudal system, the patriarchal system and the well field system, which were well organized, so that politically there was a distinction between the ruler and the ministers, and there was a distinction between equal poles: in the patriarchal system there was a distinction between large and small clans; in the economic system there was a distinction between public and private fields, so that the people would not lose their farming.
Zhou did not establish the primogeniture system even before the Duke of Zhou, and the successor to King Tai was not Tai Bo or Zhong Yong, but Ji Li. King Wu had a brother named Bo Yi Kao, but King Wen took King Wu Ji Fa as his prince. Since the Duke of Zhou, King Cheng, King Kang, King Zhao, King Mu, King Gong, King Yi, except for King Xiaoyu, all the kings of the kingdom passed on their sons, which is no accident. After the establishment of the first-born son succession system, only the first-born son had the right of succession, which legally prevented the brothers from competing for the throne and played a role in stabilizing and consolidating the ruling class order. The first-born son succession system is the core of the patriarchal system. The Duke of Zhou combined the patriarchal system with the political system and created a complete set of superstructure to serve the slavery system. The son of Zhou was the great clan of the world, while the vassals of the Ji surname were the minor clans to the son of Zhou. These vassals were the major clans within their own fiefs, and the vassals of the same surname were the minor clans, thus forming a pagoda-shaped structure, the top of which was the Son of Zhou. One of the goals of the Zhou Dynasty was to form a power structure united by blood ties, which was a big step forward from the alliance form of the Yin Dynasty. The Zhou dynasty did not marry vassals with the same surname, and the Zhou tianzi treated vassals with different surnames as nephews and uncles. The blood-marriage relationship formed the ruling system of the Zhou.
Cultural Achievements
In culture, the Duke of Zhou put forward the moral code of “Ming De and Deliberate Punishment” and formulated a complete ritual. His words are found in the Shang Shu, such as the Golden Cord and Wu Yi. The Duke of Zhou also contributed to the creation of the I Ching. The Duke of Zhou was highly respected by Confucius and was revered as a sage by Confucianism. The thought of Duke Zhou played a foundational role in the formation of Confucianism, and Confucianists in the Han Dynasty called Duke Zhou and Confucius together.
Perfecting Rituals and Music
The making of rites by the Duke of Zhou was one of the most important achievements of his life. The origin of rites is extremely early. The word “ritual” already appeared in the oracle bone inscriptions during the Yin and Shang dynasties, and according to “Shuowen Jiezi”, the word “ritual” was also used to serve the gods and bring blessings. The Duke of Zhou’s “rituals” were designed to meet the need of arranging the ritual order and to set different rules of behavior between the superior and inferior, between the elder and the younger, and between the relatives according to blood relations and hierarchical status. The “rituals” of the Duke of Zhou diluted the original meaning of rituals as “serving the gods and bringing blessings”, and started from stipulating the rituals to be followed by people of different status, which eventually became the basis and standard of the patriarchal hierarchy.
Confucius once said, “The rites and music of the early Zhou Dynasty were inherited from the Xia and Shang dynasties, but at the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty, the nobles of the Western Zhou Dynasty, led by the Duke of Zhou, successively defined, added to, and brought together the rites and music, which gradually became a legal system. The Book of Rites – Rituals” cloud: “300 rituals, 3,000 rituals.” The rites and music of the Xia and Shang dynasties were mainly used for worshiping the gods and celebrations; “Shuowen Jiezi” says: “Rites are also performed, so they serve the gods and bring blessings.” Xunzi – Theory of Rituals: “To serve heaven from above, to serve earth from below, to honor the ancestors and to honor the ruler and teachers, are the three bases of rituals.” The rituals and music revised by the Duke of Zhou were mainly used to maintain the social hierarchy and promote moral ideals.
The Duke of Zhou made rites and music, not only to transform the Yin rituals and replace the music songs used in the ceremonies, but also to involve all aspects of ideology and social system. Wang Guowei said: “The Zhou system is very different from the Shang, one is the establishment of the son of the first system, from which is born the patriarchal funeral system, and from which is the system of feudal sons and daughters, the ruler of the son of heaven minister vassal system. Second, the system of temple number. Third, the system of non-marriage with the same name.” Although these social systems, which were different from those of the Yin, were not necessarily formulated by the Duke of Zhou himself when he made rites and music, but were gradually formed in concrete practice, what the Duke of Zhou did during his regency laid the foundation of the social system of the Zhou Dynasty.
It can be seen that the Duke of Zhou made rituals and music, not because of no previous creation, but on the basis of summing up the experience of previous generations, the old rituals of Xia and Shang, combined with the original customs of the Zhou clan, developed a set of adjustment of the patriarchal system of human ethics and code of conduct system.
Music, as a “human emotion,” has evolved with human civilization. In China, music has been in China for at least 9,000 years since the Jiahu bone flute formed a complete scale, reflecting and expressing human emotions as well as showing a variety of functional meanings, but the use of music for ritual purposes should be so obvious from the Duke of Zhou. There is no such thing as ritual and customary music, but when music and ritual rituals are necessary and fixed for use to form a common style and style, when the use process is based on the concept of hierarchy, according to the number of musical instruments and the number of music and dance bearers, it also becomes the “for use” concept of the fixed trend. The Chinese music tradition thus formed two major veins or two major systems, namely, ritual music and popular music. The so-called music is divided into ritual and vulgar, precisely because there is a ritual system of music to show the meaning of vulgar music without ritual, there is no such thing as vulgar, in this sense, Zhou openly national sense of functional classification of music.
To Heaven and protect the people
The Duke of Zhou did not limit his rites to the lords, but paid more attention to the common people. After he pacified the rebellion of the three governors, the Duke of Zhou installed his younger brother Kang Shu in the Shang capital of Chaoge. In order to consolidate the rule of Zhou, the Duke of Zhou issued various announcements, from which we can see that the Duke of Zhou summed up the experience of Xia and Yin in ruling and formulated various policies. The Duke of Zhou gave Wei Kang Shu three proclamations, namely, “Letters of Kang”, “Letters of Wine”, and “Zicai”.
He warned the young Kang Shu that the reason for the fall of the Shang dynasty was that King Zhou was drunk on wine and lusted after women, so that the dynasty was in disarray and the lords rose in righteousness. He instructed, “When you go to the ruins of Yin, first of all, visit the wise elders there and ask them to teach you the reasons for the rise and fall of the Shang dynasty; secondly, be sure to love the people.” The Duke of Zhou also wrote the above-mentioned instructions into three texts, “Letters of Kang,” “Letters of Wine,” and “Zicai,” which he gave to Kang Shu as a rule of law. The reason for the Duke of Zhou to write the three encyclicals was that Kang Shu ruled in the heart of the Yin people, where the problems were the most acute and complicated; the second reason was that the Duke of Zhou first conquered the place where the Yin people were concentrated, which was also the place where the three governors rebelled against the Zhou, and Kang Shu was enthroned earlier after the victory. The “Letters of Kang,” “Letters of Wine,” and “Zicai” can be regarded as the Duke of Zhou’s administrative program for the newly conquered areas. The main theme of the three books is “respect for heaven and protect the people” and “clear virtue and prudent punishment”, in order to stabilize the Yin people after two consecutive major upheavals and to enable them to engage in normal agricultural production and commercial activities. However, he was not always accommodating, and he was not shy about drinking and being unfilial. After arriving at Yinxu, Kang Shu remembered the advice of Zhou Gongdan and lived a frugal life and loved the people, so that the local officials and people could live and work in peace and happiness.
The purpose of the Letters of Kang is to stabilize the people of Yin, and the whole text is just about “clear virtue and prudent punishment”. It was because King Wen of the Zhou Dynasty was so clear about his virtue and prudent in punishing widows and widowers that he was able to have the world. The “first philosopher kings” of the Yin dynasty were also to stabilize the people and protect them. One of the specific elements of “Mingde” was to “protect the people of Yin”. The “prudent punishment” was to act in accordance with the law, which included the reasonable elements of Yin law. The punishment should not be abused, and some cases had to be considered for five or six days, or ten or so days, before they could be decided. As for the murder of people, “unfilial and unfriendly”, to “punishment without pardon”. The text repeatedly emphasizes “Kang people”, “protect the people”, “Yu people”, “common people”. Warned Kang Shu to be diligent, not greedy for comfort. The “Mandate of Heaven” is not fixed, but it is only when one can be “clear in virtue and prudent in punishment” that there is a Mandate of Heaven. “It is only when one can be “clear in virtue and prudent in punishment” that there is a mandate from Heaven.
The “Letters of Wine” were issued in response to the Yin people’s drinking habits. The Zhou people, who started out as agriculturalists, could not tolerate such a drinking habit because of the large amount of grain used to make wine. The Duke of Zhou did not ban wine completely, but he did allow a little drinking during rituals and celebrations. It was not allowed to drink in groups, and they were not to be spared, but to be caught and “returned to the Zhou” and “given to be killed”. “I will kill them” means I will kill them, not necessarily kill them. Therefore, the idea of “returning them to Zhou” was not to give the Yin people the impression that “the boy had killed the criminal”. This is in line with the principle of “protecting the people” and “securing the people”. The Yin people should be guided to grow crops, and also to “lead cattle and cattle, and to serve their parents in business”. The previous kings of the Yin Dynasty, from Cheng Tang to Di B, did not dare to “fend for themselves”, let alone dare to gather and drink wine. As for the artisans who drank wine, it was a different matter, not to kill them, but to educate them first. The difference in policy is very distinct.
The “Zicai” also advocates “Mingde” and opposes “the murder of the queen king”. As for the people, they should not kill each other and abuse each other, but “respect widows and widowers, and women should be treated with tolerance”. If the top and bottom of the hierarchy do not abuse and kill each other, but “respect widows”, and “cooperate with each other in order to tolerate”, a stable situation will naturally arise. The formation of such a situation is not easy to obtain, but it requires diligent weeding, tilling the land, and repairing the ditches of the field boundaries, just like a farmer; diligent repairing of the walls, painting the walls with mud, and covering the roof with grass, just like a craftsman treating a vessel, and diligently repairing it, and then painting it with black and red lacquer. In short, diligent use of virtue and protection of the people, in order to “ten thousand years but (for) the king”.
One basic idea running through the three books is to stabilize the Yin people, not to give them a sadistic image, and to punish them with caution and according to the law. As for the reformation of bad habits – alcoholism, one is to restrict, two is to guide, and three is to treat it differently. As a ruler, one should be diligent in the process.
The “Letters of Kang”, “Letters of Wine”, and “Zicai” are the political strategies of the Duke of Zhou for the conquered areas, while the “Doshis” are the policies for the Yin recalcitrant people who moved to Luo Yi. After the completion of Luoyi, the question of how to deal with the Yin recalcitrant people who had built the city was on the agenda. This was a question on the agenda. The “Dosi” is a document issued by the Duke of Zhou to the Yin recalcitrant people. The text is divided into two major paragraphs. The first paragraph is an attack on the hearts of the Yin people to make them submit to the rule of the Zhou. The reason for this is that you Yin soldiers are no good, for Heaven has given me a great destiny to “the small state of Zhou”, and I am not the one who “dares to take the Yin order” or “dares to seek a position”. This is the same as your ancestor, Cheng Tang, who replaced the immoral Xia Jie, but also “God did not protect” Xia Jie. I have moved you from the “Heavenly (Great) Euphemism” to the western land. In the second paragraph, it is announced that they will be given a way out of life, and they will be allowed to live in the land, and they will have your fields and your dwellings. If you are obedient and obedient and virtuous, you are still appointed. Heaven will have mercy on you; otherwise, not only will you lose your land, but I will also put the punishment of Heaven on you.
Myeongdo Hajj
In ancient times, the capital city was built in the Yang position of the country, to set up a building that takes the image of heaven and earth and is rounded below and surrounded by water. It was called Mingtang, which was a palace of government, with four doors and eight windows, so that sound and education could reach all four sides. Zheng’s note: “Mingtang is the hall of government and education.” Cai Yong’s “Mingtang” (The Monthly Order of the Mingtang) records its various functions: “Mingtang is the great temple of the Son of Heaven, so the sacrifice. After the Xia’s family room, Yin’s heavy house, Zhou’s Ming Hall, the feast, pension, teaching, selection of the scholar are in it. Therefore, the language to take the appearance of the main room is said to be a large temple, take its main room is said to be a large room, to take its hall is said to Ming Hall, to take its four times of learning is said to the University, to take its round water is said to Puyong, although the name is different but the same.” The poem “Zhou Song – I will” indicates that had “sacrificed to King Wen in Ming Tang”.
Mingtang was used for the most important pilgrimage to vassals in the early Zhou Dynasty. When the vassals and lords of the square country to meet the Duke of Zhou, the Duke of Zhou to the identity of the Son of Heaven, carrying the axe pattern screen, facing south, the nobles of the vassals and lords according to their public, marquis, Bo, son, male five ranking high and low, in turn, standing in the middle step opposite the Duke of Zhou, East and West steps and doors East and West, Yi, barbarian, Rong, Di stand in the East, South, West, North four doors outside, the more distant Jiucai stand in the South should be outside the door, very far away from the four sai each world a come to the court, told the new ruler to assume the throne And already, do not arrange a fixed station.
This meticulous and carefully arranged rituals of the lords’ pilgrimage to the Son of Heaven can undoubtedly be very clear about the hierarchy of respect between the Son of Heaven and the lords, so that each is in its place to maintain the ruling order, which is the goal of the Duke of Zhou’s rituals. About the time content of this Mingtang activity, “Mingtang Bit” said that the Duke of Zhou “six years, the lords and vassals in Mingtang, rituals and music, issued the measure, and the world was greatly served.” The “Ode to the Zhou – Qing Temple Preface” says: “Qing Temple, sacrifice to King Wen also. When the Duke of Zhou became a lord of Luoyi, he made a pilgrimage to the lords, and the rate of sacrifice was to the King of Wen.” Kong Yingda’s “Shu”: “If the Duke of Zhou becomes a lord in five years, he will be a lord in six years, so it is clear that the lord of Zhou and the lord of Mingtang are one and the same.” In addition, he also led the lords to pay homage to King Wen at the temple, issued the measure, and promoted the uniformity of governmental orders, and made rites and music as the focus of his work in that year. As a result, “the world was greatly subdued” and the Duke of Zhou’s career reached the peak of success.
Historical Evaluation
Jia Yi, a great thinker in the early Han Dynasty, said of the Duke of Zhou: “King Wen had great virtue but his work was not yet done, King Wu had great work but his rule was not yet done, but the Duke of Zhou set great virtue and great work and great rule in one. Before Confucius and after the Yellow Emperor, the Duke of Zhou was the only one who had a great relationship with China.” The Duke of Zhou had assisted King Wu of Zhou to destroy the Shang Dynasty and King Cheng of Zhou to rule the country. After King Wu’s death, King Cheng was young and he was the regent of the kingdom. After pacifying the rebellion of the three superintendents, he carried out the feudal construction, built the Zhou Dynasty (Luo Yi), made rites and music, and returned the government to King Cheng, playing a key role in consolidating and developing the rule of the Zhou Dynasty, which had a profound impact on the development of Chinese history.
The Duke of Zhou was not only a politician and military man at that time, but also a versatile poet and scholar. His brothers Guan Shu, Cai Shu and Huo Shu colluded with Wu Geng Lu Fu, son of Shang Zhou, and other eastern barbarians such as Xu and Am to rebel. He was ordered to go out and put down the rebellion after three years, and expanded his power to the sea. Later, he built Luo Yi. According to legend, he made rituals and music, formulated and improved the patriarchal system, feudal system and other systems, and further consolidated the slavery system in the Western Zhou.
Since the Spring and Autumn Period, the Duke of Zhou has been regarded as a saint by rulers and scholars throughout the ages. He is revered as the founder of Confucianism and one of the most revered ancient saints of Confucius, as recorded in the Analects of Confucius’ remarks: “Even more, I am declining! I have not dreamed of seeing the Duke of Zhou for a long time.” Mencius first called the Duke of Zhou “the ancient sage”, and he discussed the Duke of Zhou with Confucius, which shows how much he revered him. Xunzi regarded the Duke of Zhou as a great Confucian, and praised his virtues and talents in Xunzi – Confucian Effect. During the Han Dynasty, Liu Xin and Wang Mang renamed the “Zhou Guan” as the “Zhou Li” and considered it to be written by the Duke of Zhou, who was responsible for bringing the Western Zhou Dynasty to a peaceful and prosperous period, placing the Duke of Zhou above Confucius. It was not until the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty that Emperor Tang Xuanzong, who had a strong desire for power, could not tolerate the Duke of Zhou’s rule during the death of King Wu and the young age of King Cheng, as well as the “Zhou Zhaoguang Republic” after King Li ran away at the end of the Western Zhou Dynasty, so he ordered the disqualification of the Duke of Zhou from the Temple of Literature and replaced it with Confucius as the main subject. During the Tang Dynasty, Han Yu, in order to dispel Buddhism and Lao, vigorously promoted Confucianism as the “Taoist system” and proposed a unified order of Yao, Shun, Yu, Tang, Wen, Wu, Duke of Zhou, Confucius and Mencius.
Zhou Gongdan “made rituals and music” and developed and implemented a set of rules and regulations to maintain the patriarchal system of rulers and ministers and the hierarchy of superiors and ministers. The first-born son succession system was established, which stipulated that the eldest son would inherit the throne of the Son of Zhou by blood ties. At the same time, other common sons were divided into vassals and vassals. The relationship between them and the Son of Heaven was that of local and central, minor and major clans, strengthening the rule of the central authority, which is known as the system of ritual and music, and it was this orderly society that Confucius pursued throughout his life and influenced future generations for thousands of years.
Family Members
Grandparents
Grandfather: Ji Li, real name Ji Li, known as King Tai of Zhou, also known as Wang Ji, King Ji of Zhou
Grandmother: Tai Ren
Parents
Father: Ji Chang, historically known as King Wen of Zhou, Marquis of Xibo, Xibo Chang
Mother: Tai Si
Brothers
Brother: Bo Yi Kao, King Wu of Zhou (Ji Fa), Guan Shu Xian
Brothers: Cai Shudu, Huo Shudi, Shi Shi Wu, Wei Kang Shu, Mao Shu Zheng, Ran Ji Zai, Gao Shu, Yong Bo, Cao Shu Zhenduo, Teng Shu Xiu, Bi Gong Gao, Yuan Shu (Yuan Feng), Feng Shu, and Xian Shu.
offspring
Sons: Bo Avian, Jun Chen, Fan Bo, Jiang Bo Ling, Xing Peng Shu, Mao Hou, blessing Bo, sacrifice Bo
Later generations: The sons of Zhou Gongdan were appointed as the rulers of Zhou, Lu, Fan, Jiang, Xing, Mao, Sacrifice and other states, and the descendants of their rulers were all after Zhou Gongdan. In the twenty-fourth year of Duke Hao of Lu (256 BC), King Kauli of Chu moved Duke Hao of Lu to Xianyi (now Dangshan County, Anhui Province) as a citizen, and the state of Lu was destroyed. The son of Ji Zu, Ji Hi, lived near the tombs of the dukes of the state of Lu. During the period of Emperor Ping of Han Dynasty, Gong Zi Kuan, the eighth grandson of Duke Hao of Lu, was appointed as the Marquis of Bao Lu, and was dedicated to the sacrifice of Duke Zhou.
Allusions and Anecdotes
the god of Zhou spits out his milk
The Duke of Zhou spits out his milk, and the world returns to his heart. This is a reference to “The Records of the Grand Historian – Volume 33 – The Family of Duke Zhou of Lu”. The Duke of Zhou, Ji Dan, sent his eldest son, Bo Zu (also called Avian Father), to manage the land of Lu (Lu was the feudal state of Duke Ji Dan, and the first ruler of Lu was Bo Zu, who did not go to the feudal state to be the ruler). But I had to hold my hair up three times to wash it, spit out the food I was chewing three times to eat a meal, and get up to receive the wise men, so I was afraid of losing the wise men of the world. When you come to Lu, do not be arrogant because you have a country.” The Duke of Zhou was so courteous to the wise and so eager to seek talent that he spat out his food several times when eating and stopped eating, eager to welcome his guests. Later on, the saying “Duke of Zhou spits out food” was used to refer to the reigning person’s courtesy to the virtuous.
Fear of Rumors
Zhou Gong’s fear of rumors is alluded to by Bai Juyi in the Tang Dynasty in his “Five Songs of Putting on Words” (No. 3).
I will give you a method to solve your doubts, without drilling tortoise and wishing yarrow.
Test jade to burn three days full, identify the material must wait for seven years.
The Duke of Zhou was afraid of rumors, and Wang Mang was modest when he did not usurp.
If I had died in the beginning, who would have known the truth or falsity of my life?
This idiom refers to two people: Ji Dan in the Western Zhou Dynasty and Wang Mang (Emperor Jianxing of the New Dynasty) in the Western Han Dynasty.
The Duke of Zhou was so virtuous that he assisted his brother King Wu Ji Fa to conquer the Shang Dynasty and pacify the world, thus setting the foundation of the Zhou Dynasty. When King Wu fell ill, the Duke of Zhou wrote a book to heaven, willing to take his place. He hid his book in Jinteng, and no one knew the content. Later, King Wu died and his son, King Cheng, was young. The Duke of Zhou assisted him with all his heart and carried King Cheng on his lap and met with the lords. At that time, his concubine brothers, Guan Shu and Cai Shu, were plotting mischief, but they were afraid of the Duke of Zhou, so they spread rumors among the states that the Duke of Zhou was bullying the young lord and plotting to usurp the throne. After a long time, King Cheng of Zhou became suspicious. The Duke of Zhou resigned from his ministerial post to avoid trouble and took refuge in the eastern kingdom with fear in his heart. Later, one day, when the sky was raining heavily and lightning struck open the golden teng, King Cheng saw the text of the book and recognized his loyalty and treachery, killed Guan Shu and Cai Shu, and welcomed Duke Zhou back to his position. Suppose when Guan Shu and Cai Shu were spreading rumors that the Duke of Zhou had a rebellious heart, the Duke of Zhou fell ill and died; suppose the text of the Golden Teng was never known to King Cheng, then it was not clear whether the Duke of Zhou Ji Dan was loyal or treacherous. In the history books of later generations, the Duke of Zhou would have become a traitor.
Wang Mang, the word Jujun, was the nephew of Wang Zhengjun, the empress of Han Yuandi and the cousin of Han Chengdi Liu骜. He was a treacherous person, relying on the dictatorship of relatives, plotting to seize the world of the Han family Liu. But he was afraid that the people would not be convinced, so he was modest and respectful in advance, courteous and virtuous, pretending to be benevolent and righteous, and at that time the world was praising Wang Mang’s sage and benevolent name. Later on, Wang Mang finally got the Jade Seal from Empress Dowager Wang and made himself emperor. Assuming that Wang Mang died before he became emperor on behalf of Han, no one would have known his heart of disobedience. In the subsequent history books, Wang Mang became a wise minister and became famous in history.
This poem says that there is truth and falsity in human character, and one must know the beauty of evil and the goodness of evil.
Punish the former to prevent the latter
After the death of King Wu of Zhou, Ji Fa, his son Ji Chant succeeded to the throne and was called King Cheng of Zhou. Since King Cheng was too young to handle state affairs himself, he was assisted by the Duke of Zhou, Ji Dan, to handle government affairs. King Wu’s other two brothers, Guan Shu and Cai Shu, were ambitious men who wanted to usurp the throne and seize power, but were afraid of the Duke of Zhou, so they conspired to frame the Duke of Zhou, and they spread rumors everywhere that the Duke of Zhou was going to plot against King Cheng. They spread rumors everywhere that the Duke of Zhou would try to kill King Cheng and seize the throne. The young King Cheng kept hearing these rumors and became less trustful of the Duke of Zhou. The Duke of Zhou, who was determined to assist King Cheng, was slandered. In order to avoid suspicion and let King Cheng recognize the truth, he resigned from the capital, Haojing, and went to Luoyang. Later, King Cheng understood the truth and repented for listening to the slander, so he invited the Duke of Zhou back with a grand ceremony.
They conspired with King Zhou’s son Wu Geng to start a rebellion and plotted to seize power. King Cheng ordered the Duke of Zhou to lead an army to suppress the rebellion. The Duke of Zhou led the army and soon put down the rebellion started by Guan Shu, Cai Shu and Wu Geng. After King Cheng grew up, the Duke of Zhou returned the power to King Cheng and made him take charge of the state. On the day King Cheng formally took over the reign, he went to the ancestral temple to pay respects to his ancestors. During the ritual ceremony, King Cheng summarized the lessons learned from the past and said to the civil and military officials with great emotion, “I must learn from the previous punishments to prevent future problems.”
The Rites of the Duke of Zhou
The ancient talk of performing the rites of the week refers to the practice of intercourse.
According to legend, in the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty, men and women were promiscuous, but the Duke of Zhou found that this would not work, so it was stipulated that men and women could not have casual sexual relations before marriage, except on the wedding day. This was later called the “Rite of the Duke of Zhou”. The “rite of the Duke of Zhou” commonly refers to the couple having sex together, making love, and having sexual relations. “It is a euphemism for sexual relations in Chinese, with a somewhat playful meaning.
Zhou Gong’s Dream
In China, where Confucianism has long dominated culture, the Duke of Zhou is inevitably directly associated with dreams, which are often called “the dream of the Duke of Zhou” or “dreaming of the Duke of Zhou. This shows that the Duke of Zhou enjoyed a high status in Confucian culture, and Confucius used the words “I no longer dream of seeing the Duke of Zhou” as a metaphor for the loss of ritual culture in the Zhou Dynasty.
the God of Zhou, the false king
When he returned from the destruction of the Shang Dynasty, King Wu talked with the Duke of Zhou in the capital of Ho about establishing a new capital in the plain between Luo and Yishui in order to control the East. As King Wu was seriously ill due to day and night exertion, the Duke of Zhou prayed reverently to his ancestors, King Tai, King Ji and King Wen. He said: Your Yuan Sun Mou is critically violent and seriously ill, if you owe a child to Heaven, then let me go in his place. I am benevolent and multi-talented. Your Gensun-so is not as versatile as I am, and cannot serve the spirits. It seems to us that this prayer is funny, but to the Zhou people who believed in the heavenly order of the ghosts and gods more than 3,000 years ago, it was very sincere and selfless. After the prayer, King Wu’s illness improved, but he died soon afterwards. On his deathbed, King Wu was willing to pass the throne to the virtuous and talented Shu Dan, the Duke of Zhou, and said that he did not need to divine the matter, but could decide it in person. The Duke of Zhou sobbed and refused to accept. After the death of King Wu, Prince Chant succeeded to the throne and became King Cheng. King Cheng was just a teenage boy. Faced with the complicated situation that the country was newly established and not yet stable, internal and external troubles came one after another, King Cheng was absolutely unable to cope with it. The Book of Shang-Shu-Da-Guo says, “There is a great difficulty in the western land, and the people of the western land are not quiet.” The Historical Records – Zhou Benji also says, “The group of princes were afraid, and Mu Bu.” The death of King Wu caused the whole country to lose its center of gravity, and the situation urgently needed a person with both talent and prestige who could deal with the problem in time to clean up the situation, and this responsibility fell on the shoulders of the Duke of Zhou. The Duke of Zhou ruled as king and played the role of a king. This was a natural thing at that time. There are many records of the Duke of Zhou being the king in ancient books, but in the Han Dynasty, after the formation of the great unification and the supremacy of the monarchy, it became unbelievable that the Duke of Zhou was the “regent” and the “false king”.
When King Wu of Zhou died and his son, King Cheng, was still young, there were many different opinions about how the Duke of Zhou, as his uncle, handled the political situation of the dynasty at that time, from the Spring and Autumn Period. According to Zuo Zhuan – Xi Gong 26, the Duke of Zhou “supported the royal family of Zhou, and assisted King Cheng in his transmission”; Zuo Zhuan – Ding Gong 4, it is also recorded that when King Cheng succeeded the throne after King Wu, “the Duke of Zhou phased the royal family to Yin the world”; Shi Ji – Zhou Ben Ji also contains that since the world had just been As the world had just been stabilized and King Cheng was still a teenager, “the Duke of Zhou …… took the administration and became the kingdom”. From these, it can be understood that the Duke of Zhou only “assisted” or “assisted” King Cheng and “took over the administration”, and did not mean to usurp the throne. Mencius – Wanzhang” says in more detail, “The Duke of Zhou had the world”.
interpretation of dreams by Zhou Gong
The “Interpretation of Dreams by the Duke of Zhou”, which was written by later generations under the name of Zhou Gong Dan, is a book of dream interpretation passed down in the folklore. It is difficult to find the art of dream interpretation listed here in the history of arts and mathematics, only because dream culture is very popular among the people and can predict good and bad fortune from dreams.
Documented
The Records of the Grand Duke of Zhou
The Book of Shang Shu (see the relevant chapter of the Book of Zhou in the Book of Shang Shu)
The Book of Songs – Bin Feng – Broken Axe
The He Zun Inscription (The He Zun Inscription records the historical facts of the establishment of the Zhou Dynasty at the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty)
Tsinghua Jane’s “Year of the Lineage
Posterity Memorial
Luoyang Zhou Gong Temple and Shaanxi Qishan, Shandong Qufu Zhou Gong Temple, and known as the three major Zhou Gong Temple, are worshiped in the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the son of King Wen, brother of King Wu, the uncle of King Cheng – the ancestral temple of the Duke of Zhou Ji Dan, also known as the Temple of Yuan Sheng.
Luoyang Zhou Gong Temple
Luoyang Zhou Gong Temple was built in the late Sui and early Tang dynasties (618) by the Sui general Wang Shichong. In order to resist Li Mi’s Wagang army, Wang Shichong fraudulently claimed that Zhang Yongtong, the left army guard, had three dreams of Zhou Gong and prayed for the Zhou Gong Temple whenever he went out to the army. The Zhou Gong Temple is located in the east side of Yingtian Gate, the main gate of the palace of Luoyang City, the eastern capital of Sui and Tang dynasties, and was rebuilt during the years of Emperor Taizong and Emperor Xuanzong. It was rebuilt during the reign of Emperor Taizong and Emperor Xuanzong. The “Henan Prefectural Magazine” recorded the “Tang Kaiyuan Rebuilt Zhou Gong Temple Monument”. According to the General Records of Henan, it was rebuilt at the old site in the fourth year of the Ming Dynasty (1525) and rebuilt in the forty-seventh year of the Wanli era (1619). In 1674, Wang Laikeng, the governor of Henan Province, overhauled the Zhou Gong Temple, which had only the Ding Ding Hall left. Since 1992, the Ming built Ding Ding Hall, the Qing built Huizhong Temple (now Reile Hall) and the three halls, two compartments, have been repaired one after another.
Shaanxi Zhou Gong Temple
The Zhou Gong Temple Scenic Spot is located at the southern foot of Phoenix Mountain, six kilometers northwest of Qishan County, Shaanxi Province. It was built in the first year of Wu De of Tang Dynasty (618) to commemorate Ji Dan, the politician of Western Zhou Dynasty. In addition to the Hall of Justice of Zhou, there are also supporting halls for ancestors of the Zhou people such as Zhaogong, Taigong, and meritorious generals, as well as the Hanbai jade statues of military generals and other monuments and attractions. The temple area has more than 30 existing ancient buildings, covering an area of about 7 hectares, with symmetrical layout, majestic halls and exquisite pavilions. There are many existing monuments and stone carvings in the temple, and many ancient trees in Han, Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming.
Qufu Zhou Gong Temple
The Zhou Gong Temple in Qufu, Shandong Province, is located in the northeast of Qufu City, also known as the Temple of King Wen Xian, also known as the Temple of Yuan Sheng, is a temple dedicated to the Duke of Zhou. The temple is also known as the Temple of Yuan Sheng, because the feudal emperor had named the Duke of Zhou as “Yuan Sheng”. In 1008 A.D., the Duke of Zhou was posthumously named King Wenxian, and a new temple was rebuilt at the old site of the Imperial Temple. It was built for many times in Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties and reached its present scale. The Zhou Gong Temple now covers an area of 28,000 square meters, with three courtyards, 13 Ming and Qing buildings such as gates, plazas, pavilions and halls, and 57 rooms. The ancient trees such as cypress, cypress, regular and acacia trees shade the temple, which is very spectacular. The gate of Zhou Gong Temple is titled “Latticework Gate”. A stone square is erected on the left and right of the gate, and the front of the east square is engraved with “The Heaven and the Earth”, while the front of the west square is engraved with “Making Rites and Music”, praising the virtues of Zhou Gong. Yuan Sheng Hall is the central building of Zhou Gong Temple. Inside the hall, there is a statue of Duke of Zhou, and the plaque of “Ming De Qin Shi” is hanging in the middle.