King Ping of Zhou (; died 720 BC), personal name Ji Yijiu, was the thirteenth king 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 ...

and the first of the

Eastern Zhou The Eastern Zhou (; zh, c=, p=Dōngzhōu, w=Tung1-chou1, t= ; 771–256 BC) was a royal dynasty of China and the second half of the Zhou dynasty. It was divided into two periods: the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States. History In 770 ...

dynasty.

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 ...

. ''

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 ...

'', "Zhou Dynasty Annals".

History

He was the son of

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 ...

and

Queen Shen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mothe ...

(申后). King You had exiled Queen Shen and Ji Yijiu after the king became enamoured with his

concubine Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between a man and a woman in which the couple does not want, or cannot enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar but mutually exclusive. Concubi ...

Bao Si Bao Si () was the concubine of the ancient Chinese sovereign King You of Zhou. She was considered one of the most beautiful Chinese women ever. Life Legends record that during the last years of the Xia dynasty, two dragons entered the palace of ...

and made her

queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

and his son

Bofu Bofu (779 BCE – 771 BCE) (), sometimes referred to as Bopan (伯盘), was the son of Chinese Zhou dynasty monarch King You of Zhou and his concubine Bao Si. After Baosi entered the royal palace, King You deposed Queen Shen (申后) and her son Cr ...

his heir. As a result, Queen Shen’s father, the

Marquess of Shen The Marquess of Shen ( Chinese: , p ''Shēnhóu''; d. 771 BCE) was a Qiang ruler of Shen during China’s Zhou dynasty. A vassal state of the Zhou, Shen state covered the area of modern-day Nanyang in Henan. One of the Marq ...

, teamed with 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 ...

nomads and local satellite states to overthrow King You. In the Battle of Mount Li King You and Bofu were killed, and Bao Si captured. Li Yijiu ascended the throne. At about the same time, Jī Hàn (姬翰), Duke of Guó (虢公), elevated Jī Yúchén (姬余臣) to the throne as

King Xie of Zhou King Xie of Zhou (died 750 BCE) claimed sovereignty during the final stages of the Chinese Western Zhou Dynasty (1046–771 BCE). After King You of Zhou replaced the then Queen Shen with his concubine Bao Si, whilst at the same time substituting Yi ...

(周携王), and the Zhou Dynasty saw a period of two parallel kings until King Xie was killed by

Marquis Wen of Jin Marquis Wen of Jin (, 805–746 BC), ancestral name Ji (姬), given name Chou (仇), was the eleventh ruler of the state of Jin. He was also the first ruler of Jin in the Spring and Autumn period. In 805 BC, Marquis Mu of Jin was battling wi ...

(晋文侯) in 750 BCE. King Ping moved the

Western Zhou The Western Zhou ( zh, c=, p=Xīzhōu; c. 1045 BC – 771 BC) was a royal dynasty of China and the first half of the Zhou dynasty. It began when King Wu of Zhou overthrew the Shang dynasty at the Battle of Muye and ended when the Quanrong noma ...

dynasty's capital east from

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 ...

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 ...

, thus ending the

and beginning the Eastern Zhou dynasty and 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 ...

. He is the first Zhou king to be mentioned in the chronological account of the Zuo Zhuan. Over 14 centuries after King Ping’s death,

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

Empress regnant

Wu Zetian Wu Zetian (17 February 624 – 16 December 705), personal name Wu Zhao, was the ''de facto'' ruler of the Tang dynasty from 665 to 705, ruling first through others and then (from 690) in her own right. From 665 to 690, she was first empres ...

claimed ancestry from King Ping through his son Prince Wu, and changed the dynastic name to Zhou, which was reverted to Tang after her death.Paludan, 101

Family

Sons: * First son, Crown Prince Xiefu (), the father of

King Huan of Zhou King Huan of Zhou (; died 697 BC), personal name Jī Lín (姬林), was the fourteenth king of the Chinese Zhou dynasty and the second of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770–256 BC). King Huan’s father was King Ping's son, Crown Prince Xiefu ...

* Second son, Prince Hu () ** Served as a hostage of

Duke Zhuang of Zheng Duke Zhuang of Zheng (; 757–701 BC) was the third ruler of the State of Zheng during the Spring and Autumn period in ancient China. His ancestral name was Ji (姬), given name Wusheng (寤生), which means "difficult birth" with breech pr ...

* Youngest son, Prince Wu ()

Ancestry

References

720 BC deaths Zhou dynasty kings 8th-century BC Chinese monarchs Year of birth unknown Founding monarchs {{China-royal-stub

History

Family

Ancestry

See also

References