Duke Huan of Zheng (), was the founder of the state of

Zheng Zheng may refer to: *Zheng (surname), Chinese surname (鄭, 郑, ''Zhèng'') *Zheng County, former name of Zhengzhou, capital of Henan, China *Guzheng (), a Chinese zither with bridges *Qin Shi Huang (259 BC – 210 BC), emperor of the Qin Dynasty, ...

during the early

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 ...

of ancient China. According to the

Records of the Grand Historian ''Records of the Grand Historian'', also known by its Chinese name ''Shiji'', is a monumental history of China that is the first of China's 24 dynastic histories. The ''Records'' was written in the early 1st century by the ancient Chinese hist ...

, he was the son of

King Li of Zhou King Li of Zhou (died in 828 BC) (), personal name Ji Hu, was the tenth king of the Chinese Zhou Dynasty. Estimated dates of his reign are 877–841 BC or 857–842 BC (''Cambridge History of Ancient China''). King Li was a corrupt and decadent k ...

. His ancestral name was Ji (姬), given name You (友), and Duke Huan was his posthumous name. In 806 BC, he was bestowed the land of Zheng (northwest of modern

Hua County Hua County or Huaxian () is a county under the administration of Anyang City, in the north of Henan province, China. Its predecessor administrative area Huazhou/Hua prefecture was first established in 596 during the Sui dynasty. In 606 it w ...

Shaanxi Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see #Name, § Name) is a landlocked Provinces of China, province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichu ...

) by King Xuan of Zhou. In 773 BC, the 33rd year of the reign of Duan Huan of Zheng,

King You of Zhou King You of Zhou (; 795–771 BC), personal name Ji Gongsheng, was the twelfth king of the Chinese Zhou dynasty and the last of Western Zhou Dynasty. He reigned from 781 to 771 BC. History In 780 BC, a major earthquake hit Guanzhong. A sooths ...

gave him the position of '' situ'' (Minister of Land) due to the people's love for him.

State relocation

Due to the instability during the rule of King You of Zhou, Duke Huan of Zheng consulted Taishi Bo (太史伯) on his opinions on state relocation. Duke Huan expressed that he wished to move the country to the west or to the

Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest list of rivers of Asia, river in Asia, the list of rivers by length, third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in th ...

Basin. Taishi Bo indicated that establishing a country in the west would not last long since the people of the west were avaricious and greedy, and that establishing a country in the Yangtze River Basin would be unfavourable for the country since the state of Chu was expanding in the south. In the end, Duke Huan listened to the advice of Taishi Bo and moved the country to the east of

Luoyang Luoyang is a city located in the confluence area of Luo River (Henan), Luo River and Yellow River in the west of Henan province. Governed as a prefecture-level city, it borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the east, Pingdingshan to the ...

, south of the

Yellow River The Yellow River or Huang He (Chinese: , Standard Beijing Mandarin, Mandarin: ''Huáng hé'' ) is the second-longest river in China, after the Yangtze River, and the List of rivers by length, sixth-longest river system in the world at th ...

and the

Ji River The Ji River was a former river in north-eastern China which gave its name to the towns of Jiyuan and Jinan. It disappeared during one of the massive Yellow River floods of 1852, as the Yellow River shifted its course from below the Shandong Peni ...

(濟水), and named it New Zheng (新鄭). After relocating the country, other nearby states such as the state of Kuai (鄶) and

Guo "Guo", written in Chinese: 郭, is one of the most common Chinese surnames and means "the wall that surrounds a city" in Chinese. It can also be transliterated into English as Cok, Gou, Quo, Quach, Quek, Que, Keh, Kuo, Kwo, Kuoch, Kok, Koc, ...

offered Duke Huan ten cities, which were incorporated into the land of his country.

Death

In 771 BC, the 45th of his reign, the

Quanrong The Quanrong () or Dog Rong were an ethnic group, classified by the ancient Chinese as " Qiang", active in the northwestern part of China during and after the Zhou dynasty (1046–221 BCE). Their language or languages are considered to have been me ...

attacked the Zhou capital

Haojing Hao or Haojing (), also called Zongzhou (), was one of the two settlements comprising the capital of the Western Zhou dynasty (1066–770 BCE), the other being Fēng or Fēngjīng (). Together they were known as Fenghao and stood on opposite banks ...

and killed both King You of Zhou and Duke Huan of Zheng. His son, Juetu (掘突) assumed the throne as Duke Wu of Zheng.

State relocation

Death

See also