King Xiao of Zhou (), personal name Ji Bifang, was the eighth king of the Chinese
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 ...
. Estimated dates of his reign are 891–886 BC or 872–866 BC.
[
]
He was a son of
King Mu and brother of
King Gong.
His reign is poorly documented. He was preceded on the throne by his nephew
King Yì of Zhou and followed by his nephew's son,
King Yí of Zhou.
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 be ...
says that the second Yi was 'restored by the many lords'. This hints at a usurpation, but the matter is not clear.
Noble
Feizi
Feizi (; died 858 BC), also known by the title Qin Ying, was the founder of the ancient Chinese state of Qin, predecessor of the Qin Dynasty that would conquer all other Chinese states and unite China in 221 BC.
Mythical origin of Qin
Accordi ...
was granted a small
fief
A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form ...
at
Qin by King Xiao. King Xiao learned of his reputation and put him in charge of breeding and training
horse
The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million yea ...
s for the Zhou army. To reward his contributions, King Xiao wanted to make Feizi his father's legal heir instead of his half-brother Cheng.
Family
Queens:
* Wang Jing ()
Ancestry
See also
Family tree of ancient Chinese emperors
This is a family tree of Chinese monarchs covering the period of the Five Emperors up through the end of the Spring and Autumn period.
Five Emperors
The legendary Five Emperors were traditionally regarded as the founders of the Chinese state. ...
Sources
886 BC deaths
Zhou dynasty kings
9th-century BC Chinese monarchs
Year of birth unknown
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