King Zhuang of Chu (, reigned 613-591 BC) was a monarch 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 ...

State of Chu Chu, or Ch'u in Wade–Giles romanization, (, Hanyu Pinyin: Chǔ, Old Chinese: ''*s-r̥aʔ'') was a Zhou dynasty vassal state. Their first ruler was King Wu of Chu in the early 8th century BCE. Chu was located in the south of the Zhou ...

during the

Spring and Autumn period The Spring and Autumn period was a period in Chinese history from approximately 770 to 476 BC (or according to some authorities until 403 BC) which corresponds roughly to the first half of the Eastern Zhou period. The period's name derives fr ...

in ancient China. 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 know ...

was Xiong Lü (), his

ancestral 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 Mi (), and his posthumous title was King Zhuang. He was one of the five rulers dubbed the Five Hegemons by Xunzi and attempted to wrest control of China from

King Ding of Zhou King Ding of Zhou (), personal name Ji Yu, was the twenty-first king of the Chinese Zhou dynasty and the ninth of Eastern Zhou. He was a son of King Qing of Zhou and brother of King Kuang of Zhou. He sent an official named Wangsun Man to pres ...

. The son of King Mu of Chu, Zhuang ascended the throne in 613 BC. According to a legend in 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 his ...

'', for the first three years of his reign Zhuang wasted time in pleasure seeking, but, when challenged by two courtiers, reformed his ways. The king made

Sunshu Ao Sunshu Ao (孫叔敖, c. 630 – c. 593 BCE) was a Chinese hydraulic engineer and politician. He was a court minister serving the administration of King Zhuang of Chu during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. During his governmental career, Sunshu Ao was ...

his

chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

. Sunshu Ao began a series of major dam-works and an enormous planned reservoir in modern-day northern

Anhui Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze River ...

province. After some military successes, King Zhuang attempted to usurp

. According to a well-known story, probably an invention of the

Warring States period The Warring States period () was an era in ancient Chinese history characterized by warfare, as well as bureaucratic and military reforms and consolidation. It followed the Spring and Autumn period and concluded with the Qin wars of conquest ...

, he asked a messenger from Zhou about the weight of the legendary

Nine Tripod Cauldrons The Nine Tripod Cauldrons () were a collection of ding cast by the legendary Yu the Great of the Xia dynasty of ancient China. They were viewed as symbols of the authority given to the ruler by the mandate of heaven. At the time of the Shang dyn ...

which Zhou possessed, a euphemism for seeking ultimate power in China, but was rebuffed. This incident gave rise to the chengyu "to enquire about ding in the central plains", i.e. to have great ambitions (). In the Battle of Bi, his army defeated the State of Jin. His progress from lazy regent to hegemon gave rise to the Chinese chengyu "amaze therswith one cry" ().

References

591 BC deaths Chinese kings Monarchs of Chu (state) 6th-century BC Chinese monarchs 7th-century BC Chinese monarchs Year of birth unknown {{China-royal-stub