:''Note: names are in simplified characters followed by traditional and
Pinyin
Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...
transliteration.''
Wu Yun (died 484 BC), better known by his
courtesy name
A courtesy name (), also known as a style name, is a name bestowed upon one at adulthood in addition to one's given name. This practice is a tradition in the East Asian cultural sphere, including China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.Ulrich Theobald ...
Zixu, was a Chinese military general and politician of the
Wu kingdom in 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 ...
(722–481 BC). Since his death, he has evolved into a model of loyalty in Chinese culture. He is the best known historical figure with the Chinese family name "
Wu" (). All branches of the Wu clan claim that he was their "first ancestor".
Classical sources
The historical records of Wu are found in the famous Chinese classics: ''
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 ...
'' (史記; Shǐjì) 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 ...
, ''
The Art of War
''The Art of War'' () is an ancient Chinese military treatise dating from the Late Spring and Autumn Period (roughly 5th century BC). The work, which is attributed to the ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu ("Master Sun"), is com ...
'' by
Sun Tzu
Sun Tzu ( ; zh, t=孫子, s=孙子, first= t, p=Sūnzǐ) was a Chinese military general, strategist, philosopher, and writer who lived during the Eastern Zhou period of 771 to 256 BCE. Sun Tzu is traditionally credited as the author of ''The ...
and ''
The Annals of Lü Buwei''. He is also mentioned in ''
Guliang Zhuan
The () is considered one of the classic books of ancient Chinese history. It is traditionally attributed to a writer with the surname of Guliang in the disciple tradition of Zixia, but versions of his name vary and there is no definitive way t ...
'' and ''
Gongyang Zhuan
The ''Gongyang Zhuan'' (), also known as the ''Gongyang Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals'' or the ''Commentary of Gongyang'', is a commentary on the ''Spring and Autumn Annals'', and is thus one of the Chinese classics. Along with the '' ...
''. The accounts differ, showing the significant influence of folklore on his historical character.
Life
Early life
Wu Zixu was the second son of
Wu She
Wu may refer to:
States and regions on modern China's territory
*Wu (state) (; och, *, italic=yes, links=no), a kingdom during the Spring and Autumn Period 771–476 BCE
** Suzhou or Wu (), its eponymous capital
** Wu County (), a former county i ...
, the Grand Tutor of the
crown prince
A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title is crown princess, which may refer either to an heiress apparent or, especially in earlier times, to the wif ...
Jian of the state of
Chu. In 522 BC,
Fei Wuji
Fei Wuji (; died 515 BCE) was a corrupt official of the state of Chu during the reign of King Ping whose persecution of Crown Prince Jian and the family of Wu Zixu led to the defeat and decline of Chu.
Life and death
According to ''Lüshi Chun ...
, a corrupt official was sent to Qin to select a bride for the prince.
King Ping of Chu
King Píng of Chu (, died 516 BC). During the Spring and Autumn period of ancient China, he was king of the State of Chu from 528 BC to 516 BC. He was a son of King Gong of Chu and his consort (a sibling of King Zi'ao).
Born Xiong Qiji (), P ...
received a princess from the state of
Qin Qin may refer to:
Dynasties and states
* Qin (state) (秦), a major state during the Zhou Dynasty of ancient China
* Qin dynasty (秦), founded by the Qin state in 221 BC and ended in 206 BC
* Daqin (大秦), ancient Chinese name for the Roman Emp ...
as a bride for his son, but decided to keep her for himself upon seeing her beauty. Fei Wuji, having gained favour from the King, convinced King Ping that Wu She and the crown prince himself would start a rebellion due to the bride being from Qin, and persuaded the king to execute Wu She. Before his death, Wu She was forced, under duress, to send a letter to his sons, Wu Shang () and Wu Zixu, which asked them to join him in the capital. While both realized that this was a trap, Wu Shang decided to go to the capital to die with his father. Wu Zixu, promising revenge, fled to the state of
Wu.
Escape
Wu Zixu, along with Prince Jian's son, Prince Sheng, hoped to flee to the state of
Wu. Wu Zixu, however, was a wanted man. He and the young prince were constantly pursued by soldiers. King Ping also ordered a very tight controls over the state's borders to catch Wu Zixu. As Wu Zixu approached Zhaoguan (), the last pass to the state of
Wu, he sought the help of the physician Donggao Gong (), who recognized him as Wu She's son. Donggao Gong felt deep sympathy for Wu Zixu's plight and offered to help him escape across the border.
According to legend, Donggao Gong gave refuge to Wu Zixu in his home for a week. Under enormous stress, Wu Zixu's hair turned completely white and his facial features aged greatly. The change was a blessing in disguise as Wu Zixu's changed appearance helped him to escape and head to the state of
Wu.
Campaign Against the State of Chu
In the state of Wu, Wu Zixu became a trusted advisor of Prince Guang and helped him assassinate his uncle (or cousin, according to ''
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 ...
'')
King Liao of Wu
Liao, King of Wu (; died 515 BC), also named Zhouyu, was king of the state of Wu in the Spring and Autumn period.
Biography
Liao was the grandson of King Shoumeng. He took the throne in 526 BC. During his time as king he led several battles agai ...
. Prince Guang ascended the throne and was known as
King Helü of Wu
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
.
In 506 BCE, during the reign of
King Zhao of Chu
King Zhao of Chu (, died 489 BC) was from 515 to 489 BC the king of the State of Chu during the Spring and Autumn period of ancient China. He was born Xiong Zhen () and King Zhao was his posthumous title. Documents unearthed in the former state ...
, King Helü decided to invade Chu. The king personally led the army, along with his younger brother
Fugai, Wu Zixu, as well as
Sun Tzu
Sun Tzu ( ; zh, t=孫子, s=孙子, first= t, p=Sūnzǐ) was a Chinese military general, strategist, philosopher, and writer who lived during the Eastern Zhou period of 771 to 256 BCE. Sun Tzu is traditionally credited as the author of ''The ...
, author of ''
The Art of War
''The Art of War'' () is an ancient Chinese military treatise dating from the Late Spring and Autumn Period (roughly 5th century BC). The work, which is attributed to the ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu ("Master Sun"), is com ...
''. Although Chu had a strong army led by
Nang Wa
Nang or nangs may refer to:
* Nang County, Nyingchi, Tibet, China
* Nang yai, a form of shadow play
* ''Nang!'', a general interest magazine
* Nang, a slang term for nitrous oxide (N2O, laughing gas) when used as a recreational drug; or for whippe ...
and
Shen Yinshu
Shenyin Shu () or Shenyin Xu () (died 506 BC) was a general of the State of Chu during the Spring and Autumn period of ancient China. He was a great-grandson of King Zhuang of Chu.
Killing of Fei Wuji
''Lüshi Chunqiu'', a Chinese classic text ...
, it suffered a heavy defeat at the
Battle of Boju
The Battle of Boju () was the decisive battle of the war fought in 506 BC between Wu and Chu, two major kingdoms during the Spring and Autumn period of ancient China. The Wu forces were led by King Helü, his brother Fugai, and Chu exile Wu ...
. King Zhao of Chu fled to
Sui and the Wu army captured
Ying
Ying may refer to:
People
* Yíng (嬴), a Chinese surname, the ancestral name of Qin Shi Huang, first Emperor of China in the Qin Dynasty, and some contemporary rival royal families such as the Zhaos
* Yīng (应), a Chinese surname from the Z ...
, Chu's capital. After entering Ying, Wu Zixu exhumed King Ping's corpse, and gave it 300 lashes to exact vengeance.
The military victory led to Wu Zixu's elevation to Duke of Shen and his alias Shenxu.
Death
Bo Pi
Bo Pi (; died 473 BC) was an official in the state of Wu in the Spring and Autumn period of ancient China.
His grandfather, Bo Zhouli, who was an official in the state of Chu, was executed, and Bo Pi fled to Wu, where he served as an adviser to ...
, whose grandfather had also been unjustly killed in
Chu, arrived in the state of
Wu. Despite warnings about
Bo Pi
Bo Pi (; died 473 BC) was an official in the state of Wu in the Spring and Autumn period of ancient China.
His grandfather, Bo Zhouli, who was an official in the state of Chu, was executed, and Bo Pi fled to Wu, where he served as an adviser to ...
's character, Wu Zixu recommended him to the king of
Wu, who made
Bo Pi
Bo Pi (; died 473 BC) was an official in the state of Wu in the Spring and Autumn period of ancient China.
His grandfather, Bo Zhouli, who was an official in the state of Chu, was executed, and Bo Pi fled to Wu, where he served as an adviser to ...
a minister.
After the death of King Helü, Wu Zixu did not earn the trust of
King Fuchai
Fuchai (reigned 495–473BC), sometimes also written Fucha, was the last king of the state of Wu during the Spring and Autumn Period of Chinese history. His armies constructed important canals linking the Yellow, Ji, and Huai River systems of ...
, the new monarch of
Wu. Wu Zixu saw the long-term danger of
King Goujian of
Yue and advised the king to conquer that state. The King, however, listened instead to
Bo Pi
Bo Pi (; died 473 BC) was an official in the state of Wu in the Spring and Autumn period of ancient China.
His grandfather, Bo Zhouli, who was an official in the state of Chu, was executed, and Bo Pi fled to Wu, where he served as an adviser to ...
, who had been bribed by the
Yue state. Concerned with the safety of the kingdom, Wu Zixu pleaded with the king to take action against
Yue but was ignored. The King gave Wu Zixu a sword and ordered him to commit suicide on the justification that his behaviour amounted to sabotage. Before he committed suicide, Wu Zixu asked King Fuchai to
remove his eyes after his death and hang them on the city gate so that he could watch the capture of the Wu capital by the Yue army.
Ten years after Wu Zixu's death, as Wu Zixu had predicted,
King Goujian of
Yue conquered the state of
Wu. Faced with the demise of his state, King Fuchai committed suicide. He lamented that he did not heed the counsel of Wu Zixu and covered his face as he died because he dared not face Wu in the afterlife.
Legacy
Wu Zixu is worshipped in eastern China as Taoshen, "God of the Waves".
[. & ] He was also long considered the god of the
tidal bore
Tidal is the adjectival form of tide.
Tidal may also refer to:
* ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple
* Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim
* TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music
* Tidal (servic ...
of the
Qiantang River near
Hangzhou
Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whi ...
and continues to be worshipped, particularly by
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
ese
Taoists
Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the ''Tao ...
, as one of the five
Kings of the Water Immortals
The Shuixian Zunwang are five Chinese Deities worshipped as water and sea deities. They have various names in English including the Honorable Water Immortal Kings and the Lords of the Water. All five deities were formerly famous heros and a ...
.
[ Having assisted King Helü in planning modern ]Suzhou
Suzhou (; ; Suzhounese: ''sou¹ tseu¹'' , Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Soochow, is a major city in southern Jiangsu province, East China. Suzhou is the largest city in Jiangsu, and a major economic center and focal point of trade ...
[ (then known as "Helü City"), Wu is also sometimes credited as the culture hero responsible for the invention of the ]waterwheel
A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a wheel (usually constructed from wood or metal), with a number of blades or buckets ...
.[. & ]
Double Fifth festival
Some Chinese believe that the Dragon Boat Festival
The Dragon Boat Festival ( zh, s=端午节, t=端午節) is a traditional Chinese holiday which occurs on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese calendar, which corresponds to late May or June in the Gregorian calendar.
Names
The Engl ...
(the Double-Fifth festival celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month
In lunar calendars, a lunar month is the time between two successive syzygies of the same type: new moons or full moons. The precise definition varies, especially for the beginning of the month.
Variations
In Shona, Middle Eastern, and Eur ...
) usually associated with the suicide of the poet Qu Yuan
Qu Yuan ( – 278 BCE) was a Chinese poet and politician in the Chu (state), State of Chu during the Warring States period. He is known for his patriotism and contributions to Classical Chinese poetry, classical poetry and verses, ...
(d. 278 BC) originally commemorated the death of Wu Zixu (484 BC), whose body was thrown into a river after his forced suicide. However, there are caveats. First of all, the practice of venerating Wu Zixu as a water deity can only be traced to the time of the Han Dynasty
The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...
(202 BC–220 AD). Furthermore, the Wu Zixu water god cult in the Han Era has not directly connected with dragon boat racing (that is to say, the quoted evidence on the Wu Zixu cult fails to mention dragon boat race or even river race), although "close parallels with the boat competition" have been noted by a 6th-century commentary on the festival calendar, according to one scholar. It is documented that sailing boats did carry ritual dancers to appease Zixu's spirit.[
]
Confucian analysis
The parallel lives of Wu Zixu and Qu Yuan have been noted, not just being cast into water, but being "Confucian martyrs", both deaths being the result of acting as scrupled ministers giving his king cautionary advice. While both were propped up by the "Confucian literati", Zixu seems to be the more favored of the two to Confucian minds, though later Qu Yuan later became more popular and supplanted Zixu as water deity.
The story of Wu Zixu is prominent in 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 ...
's ''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 ...
'', where it is used as a foil of the author's own choice to accept castration for the sake of a greater goal instead of having chosen honorable suicide.
Arts and monuments
Peking
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
and other Chinese opera
Traditional Chinese opera (), or ''Xiqu'', is a form of musical theatre in China with roots going back to the early periods in China. It is an amalgamation of various art forms that existed in ancient China, and evolved gradually over more tha ...
s include several stories based on Wu Zixu's story, among them ''Wen Zhaoguan'' ().
A memorial in honor of Wu Zixu was recently built in Suzhou.archived
See also
*Xi Shi
Xi Shi (Hsi Shih; , ) was, according to legends, one of the renowned Four Beauties of ancient China. She was said to have lived during the end of the Spring and Autumn period in Zhuji, the capital of the ancient State of Yue.
In traditional ...
*Yao Li
Yao Li (要離) was a famed assassin of the state of Wu in the Spring and Autumn period of ancient China. He was recommended to King Helü of Wu by Minister Wu Zixu
:''Note: names are in simplified characters followed by traditional and Pin ...
*Zhuan Zhu
Zhuan Zhu (專諸; died 515 BC) was an assassin in the Spring and Autumn period. As Prince Guang (later King Helü of Wu) wanted to kill King Liao of Wu
Liao, King of Wu (; died 515 BC), also named Zhouyu, was king of the state of Wu in the Spri ...
* Wu as a surname
*Naval history of China
The naval history of China dates back thousands of years, with archives existing since the late Spring and Autumn period regarding the Chinese navy and the various ship types employed in wars.Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 678. The Ming dynasty of Chi ...
Explanatory notes
References
;Citations
;Bibliography
*
* 2011 ed.
->
External links
*
'
*
Biography of Wu Zixu, Shiji Vol. 66
', in Chinese (Wikisource)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wu, Zixu
526 BC births
484 BC deaths
5th-century BC Chinese people
Ancient people who committed suicide
Chinese gods
Chu state people
Deified Chinese people
Suicides in China
Suicides by sharp instrument in China
Wu (state)
Zhou dynasty generals
Zhou dynasty politicians