Ping Sien Si - 046 Bo yi kao (15947992030)

Bo Yikao was the eldest son of

King Wen of Zhou King Wen of Zhou (; 1152–1050 BC, the Cultured King) was Count of state of Zhou, Zhou during the late Shang dynasty in ancient China. Although frequently confused with his fourth son Duke of Zhou, also known as "Lord Zhou", they are different hi ...

and the elder brother of King Wu who was the founder of the

Zhou dynasty The Zhou dynasty ( ; Old Chinese ( B&S): *''tiw'') was a royal dynasty of China that followed the Shang dynasty. Having lasted 789 years, the Zhou dynasty was the longest dynastic regime in Chinese history. The military control of China by th ...

ancient China The earliest known written records of the history of China date from as early as 1250 BC, from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC), during the reign of king Wu Ding. Ancient historical texts such as the '' Book of Documents'' (early chapte ...

. As a member of the Zhou royal house, his

family name In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community. Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full name ...

was Ji (姬). "Bo" refers to his status as the oldest son of his father. "Yikao" may have been his

personal name A personal name, or full name, in onomastic terminology also known as prosoponym (from Ancient Greek πρόσωπον / ''prósōpon'' - person, and ὄνομα / ''onoma'' - name), is the set of names by which an individual person is known ...

or a

posthumous name A posthumous name is an honorary name given mostly to the notable dead in East Asian culture. It is predominantly practiced in East Asian countries such as China, Korea, Vietnam, Japan, and Thailand. Reflecting on the person's accomplishments or ...

used for ritual purposes. It is known that he did not inherit his father's realm along the Wei River. Based on later Chinese inheritance laws and legends, it is typically thought that he predeceased his father, e.g. by

Sima Qian Sima Qian (; ; ) was a Chinese historian of the early Han dynasty (206AD220). He is considered the father of Chinese historiography for his ''Records of the Grand Historian'', a general history of China covering more than two thousand years b ...

. Stories such as the ''

Fengshen Yanyi ''The Investiture of the Gods'', also known by its Chinese names () and is a 16th-century Chinese novel and one of the major vernacular Chinese works in the gods and demons (''shenmo'') genre written during the Ming dynasty (1368–1644). Cons ...

'' lay the guilt upon

King Zhou King Zhou (; ) was the pejorative posthumous name given to Di Xin of Shang () or King Shou of Shang (), the last king of the Shang dynasty of ancient China. He is also called Zhou Xin (). In Chinese, his name Zhòu ( 紂) also refers to a horse cr ...

, the last king of the

Shang dynasty The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang (Cheng Tang) that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and ...

, and the traditional account of his death was taken by later Chinese jurists as the first instance of ''

lingchi ''Lingchi'' (; ), translated variously as the slow process, the lingering death, or slow slicing, and also known as death by a thousand cuts, was a form of torture and execution used in China from roughly 900 CE up until the practice ended aro ...

'' (the "death by a thousand cuts"). However, passages in the ''

Book of Rites The ''Book of Rites'', also known as the ''Liji'', is a collection of texts describing the social forms, administration, and ceremonial rites of the Zhou dynasty as they were understood in the Warring States and the early Han periods. The ''Book o ...

'' and the '' Masters of Huainan'' assume that King Wu's inheritance simply represented an aberration or even an older tradition among the Zhou of passing over the eldest son. (In traditional accounts, Bo Yikao's granduncle

Taibo of Wu Taibo () (circa 1150 BCE), or Wu Taibo, was the eldest son of King Tai of Zhou and the legendary founder of the State of Wu. His exact birth and death dates are unknown. Biography According to Sima Qian, Taibo was the founder of the State of ...

had likewise been passed over in favor of a younger son.)

In fiction

In the ''

'',

Xu Zhonglin Xu Zhonglin (; 1567 - c. 1619 or 1620) was a Chinese writer who lived in the Ming dynasty. He is best known as the author of the 16th century semi-mythical novel ''Investiture of the Gods'' (). He was born in Yingtian Prefecture, present-day Nan ...

. ''

'', Ch. 19. Bo Yikao is the oldest and most outstanding son of

Ji Chang King Wen of Zhou (; 1152–1050 BC, the Cultured King) was Count of state of Zhou, Zhou during the late Shang dynasty in ancient China. Although frequently confused with his fourth son Duke of Zhou, also known as "Lord Zhou", they are different hi ...

, the "Duke of the West" of the

. He is well versed in music and the arts, handsome, and filial. The book recounts the story of Chang's imprisonment at

Youli Youli (Chinese: ) was a former settlement in ancient China. It was the location of King Zhou's imprisonment of the Zhou king Wen.Sima Qian. ''Records of the Grand Historian''. It was during this captivity that he was said to have constructed the 64 ...

and (ahistorically) credits Yikao with bringing the bribes to free him. At his audience, King Zhou's concubine

Daji Daji () was the favourite consort of King Zhou of Shang, the last king of the Shang dynasty in History of China, ancient China. In legends and fictions, she is portrayed as a malevolent fox spirit who kills and impersonates the real Daji. Her ide ...

finds Yikao attractive and has the king employ him to teach her how to play the

zither Zithers (; , from the Greek word ''cithara'') are a class of stringed instruments. Historically, the name has been applied to any instrument of the psaltery family, or to an instrument consisting of many strings stretched across a thin, flat bo ...

. During a lesson, Daji attempts to seduce the boy but he rejects and ridicules her. Daji's infatuation turns to hatred: she complains to the king that Yikao molested her and insulted the king in his music. King Zhou is furious and he orders Yikao to be executed, minced into pieces, and made into meat cakes. The king then sends the cakes to Ji Chang. Ji Chang's mastery of divination means he has already foreseen his son's fate but, in order not to arouse the king's suspicion, he hides his sorrow and gleefully consumes the cakes. Thinking his divination incompetent, the king then allows the duke to leave. On the way home, the grieving Ji Chang vomits out the meat, which transforms into three white rabbits that are later brought under the care of the moon goddess

Chang'e Chang'e ( ; , alternatively rendered as Chang-Er or Ch‘ang-o), originally known as Heng'e, is the Chinese goddess of the Moon. She is the subject of several legends in Chinese mythology, most of which incorporate several of the following elem ...

. The horrible death of Bo Yikao has solidified the will of the Zhou people to rebel and overthrow the tyrannical King Zhou. Four years after the death of Ji Chang, Bo Yikao's younger brother

Ji Fa King Wu of Zhou () was the first king of the Zhou dynasty of ancient China. The chronology of his reign is disputed but is generally thought to have begun around 1046 BC and ended three years later in 1043 BC. King Wu's ancestral name was ...

rises up and defeated King Zhou at the

Battle of Muye The Battle of Muye () or Battle of the Mu was a battle fought in ancient China between the rebel Zhou state and the reigning Shang dynasty. The Zhou army, led by Wu of Zhou, defeated the defending army of King Di Xin of Shang at Muye and capt ...

and establishing the

. Bo Yikao's soul is assigned by

Jiang Ziya Jiang Ziya ( century BC – century BC), also known by several other names, was a Chinese noble who helped kings Wen and Wu of Zhou overthrow the Shang in ancient China. Following their victory at Muye, he continued to serve ...

as the

Zi Wei Emperor The Great Emperor of the North Star, also called the Ziwei Emperor and the Beiji Emperor, is one of the highest sky deities and one of the Four Sovereigns (; ) of Taoism. Chinese mythology The Ziwei Emperor resides in the middle of Heaven an ...

, who rules over the

North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distinguish from the Mag ...

Ancestry

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yikao, Bo Investiture of the Gods characters